- Day tour to the Chaparri nature reserve
- Observe spectacled bears in spacious enclosures
- Night bus ride across the border to Guayaquil, Ecuador
At 8:20 am the luggage is loaded onto the tour bus and it goes to the Moche Tours office. Here we deposit the massive pieces during our excursion. We charge three more French people with babies. Great, we still think to ourselves, you don't go on such an excursion with a toddler! We're going through inland Nile valley-like fields towards the mountains. In Chongoyape we leave the paved road, load our guide - unfortunately only Spanish-speaking - and turn onto one rough gravel road with the aim of the private reserve.
That has been the case since 1997 Chaparri Reserve as a protected zone and has been a species ever since Showcase model for sustainable tourism, which gives the local population a job that protects the fragile flora and fauna of the Bosque Seco (dry forest) so that the further desertification of the region stops and thus offers a way out of poverty.
The 34,412 hectare area is one of the few areas in which the rare spectacled bears live so close to the coast in an arid climate. In species-appropriate enclosures, the bears are often kept as domestic or circus animals accustomed to their natural habitat again to release them - if possible - later. Another program includes rearing the guanacos that are now extinct in the region. The reserve is also inhabited by pumas, Andean condors, peccaries, white-winged guans, Sechuan foxes and many more.
The area is seasonal above average greenwhich will make sightings of animals even more difficult. The savanna-like dry forest is currently reminiscent of certain areas of East Africa or the Brazilian Cerrado. After the French are finally ready, we march off. In the great heat, we will - for the sake of the child - only hike the short path. Immediately afterwards we reach the Visitors Center, where there is a lot of information (also in English) about the reserve, flora and fauna.
A little further we reach the EcoLodge, which offers overnight stays in the reserve, which is probably the more sensible option, so our flying visit. An aggressive collar peccary is kept in a separate enclosure. It follows a terrarium, where local venomous snakes and spiders are kept, which scares the Frenchwoman when she realizes that such animals live here. The good one would have been better off staying in town!
At a shelter we will Pictures of the numerous camera traps of the reserve. Pumas, spectacled bears in particular, but also ocelots and the rare pampas cat were captured on it.
We continue walking through the dry forest and finally reach a spacious enclosure where we see our first spectacled bear. The only bear species in South America is considered endangered, Loss of habitat and hunting affect the Andean bears. The bear is 95 percent vegetarian and almost two-thirds live on fruit.
Our beloved French woman actually arrives at the electric fence and screams like a stick. Jeez the poor is really out of place here =) That scares even the lazy Master Petz so much that he ends his nap and comes straight to the fence.
We take some pictures and watch the bear. Well hidden in the undergrowth there is another member of the same species in the shade. Unfortunately, despite our inquiries, we don't go any further ... for the sake of the child. Niki is allowed to feed the she-bear named Cholitta a mandarin wedge. The poor animal was kept as a dancing bear in a circus and can no longer be released into the wild. After just under an hour we are back at the lodge. Combined with the long journey, the day trip is a joke, but it was exciting to see one of the rare spectacled bears in its natural habitat.
After we have eaten the snack we brought with us, we head back for a long time. At least that's how we should catch our night bus! After Complain we get back half of the tour price. Our desired luxury bus from Civa is already booked out. So we have to deal with that Take the easy alternative. This is of course only moderately comfortable and loud from the usual blockbuster film for them almost 13-hour night drive to Ecuador.
