After a three hour bus ride to the city of Coca, a gritty city built up in the 1990’s oil boom, we waited around for other passengers who would make the 3.5 hour trip down the Rio Napo to the Sani Lodge. The long covered boat was tiring at the end of a long day, and then we to the fifteen minute walk on boardwalk to a small tributary where indigenous paddlers brought us to the lodge – which is perched on the water and deep in the rainforest.
Our guide was intense but an expert at spotting birds – and after birding, very interesting and funny.
We saw a lot of birds from the canoes — as well as a Caiman, monkeys, a sloth, and for a few, a big otter.
The next post will tell how a pilot, afraid of heights, climbed a 150-foot observation tower – for the birds.