- Troubled night bus ride to Puerto Maldonado
- Car ride and river crossing to Chuncho Lodge
- Combined evening and night walk with sighting of many insects, frogs, a bamboo rat and a mouse
After some sleep, a tire bursts at 1.30 a.m. and forces us to take a break. After the repair you can go to countless curves ever deeper down. Unfortunately, sleep is hardly to be thought of. At first it gets pretty cold always hotter in the bus. Only when we reach the last flat kilometers in the early morning hours can we sleep again.
With two hours late we reach Puerto Maldonado, the capital of the province of Madre de Dios. We are already expected by Jorge and driven straight to the office. While we are having breakfast, he briefly organizes the rest of the things, then we can start.
On the well-developed Interoceanica, which crosses the continent across Brazil and Peru, we drive west again. Then we turn on one old, bumpy lumberjack slope one that can only get through thanks to 4 × 4 and high ground clearance. Here we meet a troop of prospectors. Shaken vigorously, we finally arrive at an unsafe bridge. From there we drag our luggage a few meters to the Bank of the Tambopata River. All that follows is a quick river crossing and we're at that practically brand new lodge. The rooms are simple but clean and cozy.
But for now there is one longer break hip, trendy, popular. After all, we are both hardly closed during the rough night bus ride sleep came. We can at least catch up on some of this now. In the adjacent forest, Niki discovers monkeys doing gymnastics. Then the late and long-awaited lunch awaits us.
Wrapped up in long clothes and mosquito repellent, you go for one first, short tour through the jungle. In the crowns of the giants of the jungle near the Chuncho Lodge we discover numerous species of birds, like macaws and a toucan, which we can easily observe with a telescope. Just a few steps in the jungle we discover some Titi monkey (also called spring monkeys) in dense bamboo.
The sun can only shine in the treetops so that we can watch the last rays of the sun over the calmly flowing river.
Then it goes straight to the first night walk. The starry sky is once again remarkable, even the Milky Way can easily be made out. Jorge's trained eye discovers all kinds of insects, including spiders, numerous frogs, one Bamboo rat, one mouse and one good and happy 20 cm long snail. At night you just discover something interesting every time! Back at the lodge, dinner awaits before we sink into the realm of dreams.
