Manu Park, Amazon, Peru

8/11/2016

05/11/2016 - 08/11/2016

Nous voici parties pour 4 jours dans la fôret d'Amazonie, plus exactement dans le Parc National Manu, qui est réputé pour être la partie de jungle la plus immaculée et la mieux préservée dans le monde. Ce site de l'Unesco est l'un des meilleurs endroit d’Amérique du Sud pour observer la vie sauvage tropicale.
Nous partons en circuit privé avec l'agence Quechuas Expeditions. Nous avons Néfi comme guide, le meilleur guide de circuit que nous avons eu jusqu'à présent, Domingo comme chef cuistot le meilleur également, Alex notre chauffeur, Boa le capitaine et Carlos l'assistant Capitaine.
On a pu observer pendant ces 4 jours tout un tas d'animaux et d'oiseaux, aussi beaux et colorés les uns que les autres. C'était magique. Cependant la plupart du temps c'était à travers les jumelles ou au télescope. Il était donc difficile de prendre des photos pour les partager avec vous. Aussi l'ambiance de la jungle étant difficilement transmissible par photo, j'ai décidé de partager cette expérience avec vous à travers des vidéos (accrochez vous et soyez patients, il y en a un gros paquet ! mieux vaut prévoir un jour de RTT ! :-) )
Aussi selon vos paramètres Youtube, il se peut que les vidéos soient diffusées sur votre ordinateur en mode basse résolution. Si vous avez une bonne connexion, vous pouvez modifier ça très facilement en bas à droite de chaque fenêtre youtube en mode 720p voir 1080p)
Les videos sont principalement en Francais, il y aura donc une courte explication écrite en anglais.
J'ai mis beaucoup de temps avant de pouvoir diffuser cet article car ici, c'est une bataille de tous les jours pour transférer les vidéos sur internet avec leur connexion. Promis la prochaine fois, ça sera plus court !
Bon visionnage !!

We are now on route for 4 days to the Amazonian forest, more exactly in the Manu National Parc, which is widely regarded as the most pristine and well-preserved thatch of jungle in the world. This Unesco Natural Heritage site is one of the best spots in South America to see tropical wildlife.
We are doing a private tour with the agency Quechuas expeditions. We have Nefi as guide, the best tour guide we had so far, Domingo our chef, the best also, Alex our driver, Boa our captain and Carlos our captain assistant.
We managed to see during these 4 days animals and birds as beautiful than colorful. It was magical. However most of the time it was through binoculars or the telescope. It was therefore difficult to take pictures and share them with you. Also the atmosphere of the jungle being not easy to translate into photographs, I've decided to share this experience with you through videos (hold on tight and be patient, there are a loooot of them! you might want to take a day-off to watch them :-) )
Also, depending on your youtube parameters, the videos might appear in a very low resolution. If you have a good internet connexion, you can change easily the resolution by clicking on the bottom right of each youtube windows to 720 or even 1080p).
The videos are mainly in French but I will explain them in writing in English.
I know that I've taken a long time before publishing this article, it's a daily battle here to upload things on the net with the poor connection. I promise next time the article will be shorter !
Enjoy the videos !

Jour 1 / Day 1

we are en route for 4 days in the Amazon in the Parc of Manu

we can see the start of the cloud forest

We have just stopped in the middle of the road to have lunch. Domingo prepared us a very tasty meal.

Video in English.
Notre 1ère nuit au bamboo lodge avec présentation de la cuisine et de la chambre.

Under the mosquito net, I feel sooooo safe under it but still with Deet repellent, bracelet repellent andlong socks

We are in the kitchen of the Bamboo lodge and Domingo is cooking for us some fish.

Jour 2 / Day 2

Video in English
Moi j'ai bien dormi avec mes boules quies, mais les filles se sont fait reveillées par des oiseaux à 5h du matin qui chantaient "one oclock"

We are behind the bamboo lodge and there is a plantation of coca leaves. Coca leave is used by the peruvians against the altitude sickness. It is also used by the Columbians to produce cocaine drugs.

This is a plant called sensitive plant and also called "look at me but do not touch me"

Locals come to this market to buy or exchange food against others.

Refuge for animal where I'm being attacked by a parrot :)

We can see in blue there the port of Atalaya where our boat is waiting for us.

Behind that last chain of mountains, it's a flat Amazon behind.

We are unloading the car and loading the boat. It's the end of the driving road for us, now starts the river road.

Our private boat. We say goodbye to Alex our driver, and hello to Boa and Carlos our captains.

First feelings on the boat. The wind on the face is refreshing. We are heading to our lodge for tonight Soga del Oro

We have now arrived to our 2nd lodge Soga del Oro in the jungle. Visiting the kitchen and the room.

First real walk in the jungle. It's not that humid at the moment. We have seen citronella, banana tree so far.

Quizz : who made those holes ? Batman ! They make these holes to hold onto it and sleep upside down.

If ever you feel hungry in the jungle and trying to survive, eat the leaves which have holes... those already eaten by the insects... you will be sure that they are edible. Most of the trees produce leave with toxic substance in it, so if an insect has eaten in it, you will be safe too.

These ants have a relationship with the tree. They live inside the trunk and in exchange protect the tree against other insects. Peruvians used to tie thiefs and adulterous women on these trees with biting ants.

We are trying to be silent not to scare the animals around so that we get a chance to see them. It's really really really hot i'm sweating crazy but there are lot of mosquitoes around.

Ecoutez la musique de la jungle
Listen to the music of the Jungle

Radeau à la tombée de la nuit
Raft at dawn

Video in English
Nous découvrons une termite. Notre guide nous demande de tester les fourmis.

Jungle at night and we are heading home. No light at all and it's only 7pm. Luckily we have our headlights. And I almost fell.:)

Scorpion-spider. It's massive : each leg is the size of my hand. I discovered the following night that one was on the wall next to my bed.
J'ai decouvert la nuit suivante qu'une d'entre elle était sur le mur près de ma tête de lit.

Wontons are usually eaten as a savoury dish in Europe. Here our cook prepared them as a sweet snacks with banana inside (not apple as I said in the video)

A tarentula in the garden of our lodge. The owner of the lodge saw it and called us. We can only see the bottom of the spider on the video.

Jour 3 / Day 3

We woke up this morning at 4.30am and took the boat here. Every morning, parrots come to this wall to eat clay. Indeed they usually eat unriped fruits which produce toxine. To neutralize the toxine they eat clay. We can also see a group of researchers who has been studying the activity of the parrots on this wall for 8 years.

We have just crossed this stream coming from the hotsprings. The water is really hot. I'm not sure why we go to bath in the hotsprings as it's already really hot outside.