Brazilian Amazon
In June 2017 I was part of a two-week cruise through the Amazon basin led by Fiona Reid and Jon Hall, in search of some of the rarest and most range-restricted mammals in the world, especially primates. Previous to the trip I spent a few days in and around Manaus, searching for the endangered Pied Tamarin, and took a day trip to a Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock lek, one of the most stunning birds I’ve seen anywhere. After the cruise, I spent a few days at the Rio Cristalino lodge in Mato Grosso.
The cruise took us through the Rio Negro and several of its tributaries on board the Dorinha, a small but surprisingly comfortable Amazon Cruiser (I’ve included some iPhone pics to show it). We spent most of our time searching for rarely-seen mammals in the flooded forest. We did see most of our primate targets, although getting decent images was a different matter: many of these tiny marmosets are very shy and live in thick, dense forest. Larger monkeys such as sakis and uakaris are heavily hunted for food, and are understandably terrified of humans. Most of what I got were record shots, still worth keeping for such rare and unusual animals.
You can see Jon Hall’s detailed report at www.mammalwatching.com/2017/08/14/amazon-expedition-2017/
Category
South America
