This is the other part following on from my previous blog; Brazil Part 1. A university trip for the final year module, Tropical Ecology.
All aboard the two house boats in Manaus, Brazil. As we were a large group of students, we were split between the boats, with a plan to move at night and dock in the day to explore.
Up at 5am every morning to bird watch. Madness, I know but I needed to make to most of every minute. Watching the sun rise up every day, see the mist settled on the water whilst having that eerie feeling and witnessing such beauty is unmissable.
Day one started with a night canoe ride to look for night life from the ease of the water. Equipped with head torches each and a large flood light per canoe, we were on a mission to spot eye shine and get our sharp eyes ready to see anything we could. We were lucky to see an abundance of diversity from sloths, black collared hawks, bats, frogs, snakes, festive parrots, greater arni's, Columbus kite, caracara, juvenile black caiman, green vine snake and so many more species. So, as you can see, we were so spoilt and welcomed by a vast array of species on the first night. A lot more than what we experienced in the fragmented forest of Reserva Duke.
The photos to the left are just a mere snippet of the species spotted on the night ride.
Manaus is a well known destination for those who want to see the meeting of the waters. For those who don't know what that is, it is where the 'white' waters of the Amazon and the 'black' waters of the Rio Negro meet. Due to pH, temperature and particulate matter, the waters do not mix until many kilometres down river. The white waters of the Amazon are full of nutrients flowing from the Andes whilst the black waters of the Rio Negro were full of humid acid from the leaching from the forest. The different water attracts different flora and fauna. This was our main topic of interest. A natural phenomenon that needs to be seen and I had the privilege of visiting it and learning about it all first hand.
Although this was a trip of a lifetime, beautiful sights where you want to savour every minute, we had work to do. Notes to write, lectures to attend, data to collect, educational trips to have and assignments to write.
We stopped off on islands in the white waters which were dominated by grasses, some taller than 3m, towering above you. There were so many mosquitoes and insects here as the grasses create an enclosed microhabitat whilst not allowing anything else to grow beneath. There are sandy beaches and the vegetation seems a lot drier. The habitats on these waters were visibly more abundant with fauna but not as much diversity of flora. This is my personal observation and not a result of a thorough study. The nutrients must have an influence on the ecosystems starting from a micro level.
We learnt about succession, the formation of islands and the colonisation of these by pioneering species. You see these little clusters of vegetation floating down river and no doubt they are full of invertebrates and seeds. Actually, there are studies on these and they confirm the abundance of invertebrates within. So in my head, I can imagine these landing on a newly formed sandy island and all these inverts climbing off and colonising the new patch. Planting their little flag and cheering. Okay, so at times your mind does wander and things turn into a cartoon. We also learnt about non flooding of forests and flooding forests, the varzea (flooded forest on the white water) and the igapo (flooded forest on the black river).
The black waters had a completely different look. The vegetation went right up, if not submerged in the water. There were more trees, canopy cover, more opened understory, leaf litter, orchids, less grasses and a more rain forest look to it. The trees here have adapted to periodic flooding. We stopped off and wandered up to the hill top where we reached a campina: vegetation on sandy soils. Sand was a coarse and fine mix. The vegetation is sclarophylic, that can grow on sandy soils, small shrubby bushes with a few scattered larger trees. Mosses and sponges were seen in clusters on the floor. It was very open and hot here but so interesting to see the differentiation of habitats.
Wow, I loved being up early every morning. Getting that extra time to spot something new, go on that extra canoe ride with specialists and friends. The mist was low and beautiful but gave off the feeling like you were in a horror movie. Watching the birds socialise, males trying to attract females, macaws flying over head hearing their squawks. Every day had a new surprise from seeing a new species to being treated to a new activity. We swam in the middle of the Rio Negro, went piranha fishing, swimming in waterfalls and rapids, looking for neon tetras in their natural habitat to chasing down dragonflies to get that perfect shot.
During our down time...
So we visited a pirarucu farm. Pirarucu are a large, carnivorous boney-tongued fish from the Amazon/Negro rivers. A large part of the diet of those who live along the rivers. You can pay a few pennies and you can feed the fish with smaller fish and if you can land a pirarucu, without a hook and just with their bite-force, you can keep it. It was interesting to see how they are farmed by submerging large nets into the rivers for them to live in whilst they get all the nutrients naturally from the flowing waters.
Next stop was, swimming with the PINK RIVER DOLPHINS! No, not a money making industry where dolphins are enclosed in a small pen and are forced and trained to swim with you. These dolphins swim wild and naturally and we got in the river with them whilst a local villager threw in a few fish and there they were, swimming amongst us. The villagers used to cut the rainforest down and sell the wood etc. Now they ask for a payment for you to swim with the dolphins for an income. So, the dolphins are fed and protected and the forest remains intact!
To learn immersed in the Amazon, it was a privelage to learn about the people who live and rely on the forest. We visited two Native American villages, one being a westernised one and one that has not been influenced by such. The first, had concrete and brick buildings, domestic animals and livestock wandering around and a turtle hatchery. This is because they rely on the turtle meat as a source of protein and in order for it to be sustainable, they look after the population size by protecting nursery sites. NGO's have funded a library and education centre along with medical facilities along with clothes donations. This then slowly takes away the culture where people then become reliant on the new facilities and veer away from their natural heritage. They had a pet howler monkey who was fascinated by our boats and wouldn't leave. This was the only howler we were able to see close up after hearing them daily. We played football with the villagers and they obviously won as we were a team of players and non players like myself. They had lovely crafts for sale as a source of income and we were given a tour to learn how they make their traditional foods and live.
The second Native American village we visited was AMAZING! We we greeted by the whole tribe, guided into a huge grass shelter where we were seated around the edge and greeted by the chief. They were all dressed in native wear with headrests full of feathers, grass skirts and barefoot. We had a translator and the chief would tell us a story and the tribe would give us a dance relating to the story. No ways can I remember every story but the one that stuck in my head was the one of the pink river dolphins. I cannot tell it as good as the chief told us nor can I recite it the same but if you are interested in it, have a read of it here. The singing and the dancing was mesmerising and after about a handful of stories and dances, we were sitting there lost in the entertainment only to be lured in to join in the last dance. After the final dance and cheers, we mingled, took photos, had temporary tattoos painted on us and bought souvenirs. My tattoo can be seen in the photos below meant - me in the centre surrounded by wildlife.
What a trip, finish off with a last canoe ride, greeted by a troop of squirrel monkeys, other usual birds but the most beautiful ones seen were the hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin). They are just strange looking birds that kind of reminded me of a peacock and pheasant cross cross cross. Just so pretty with their array of colours and crown.
Well, the trip was finished off with drinks and a BBQ, watching the sunset. It may be a bit too long but have a watch of the video I made of the whole trip below.
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