Quick jungle tour recap

After our intense Salkantay trek we headed to Manu National Park for a jungle trek. Our first day included a nature walk where we saw a gazillion butterflies (and the theme of the rest of the trip) But these are beautiful with stunning colours. And we saw a bunch of different ones. We also saw a roadside hawk, oro pendulas and the main bird of the day was Peru's National Bird also known as the Cock of the Rock...yup. thats right. Its beautiful though, a bright red colour.
We stayed in an eco-lodge and we were with an Irish couple. We were the only 4 besides our guide in the lodge (low-season). That night we went to bed beneath our mosquito nets, quite nervous about the night sounds. Our guide, Ronald, reassured us there was nothing out there to get us. At about 1am Katie woke me up thinking there was something in our room. We turned on our flashlights (electricity is only turned on between 6-9pm) and didnt see anything, so we went back to bed. Then we heard the Irish couple say something about a mouse. About an hour later Kates and I both sat up because this time there was most definately something on our night table, which we had placed a snack pack on. We shined our lights on it and didnt see anything but knew that we had to get rid of the snacks, which Katie threw outside in the garbage. The next morning, we found out that the night visitor was a possom, who had visited the Irish couple ate through the plastic bag to half a banana and some of their chocolate bar, gnawed through our toothpaste tube and started on our plastic bag but had also gnawed a hole into our guide's backpack! We learned our lesson not to leave snacks out.

Day 2 - We took another nature walk in the morning, saw more birds and butterflies. We also hoped back on the bus to visit a bakery in the middle of the jungle. The kids were adorable and the freshest most delicious bread ever. We also stopped at a self-sustaining farm that grew everything from cocoa leaves to sell, pineapples, limes, a bunch of local fruits that we tried, bananas etc. Afterwards, we went white water rafting and swam in the Rio Madre de Dios. It was so refreshing. And we were at a point where two rivers meet and one was incredibly dirty and the other super clear (the side you can swim on) and there is a distinct line where they meet. It was pretty cool. During our rafting we saw a wolf spider. They are large and apparently can jump. Our second lodge is only accessible by boat so we took a long motorboat over. and that afternoon slash evening we went for a walk. Half way through the walk the sun set and it was pitch black in the middle of the jungle. All the sounds came out again, plus smells. Our guide showed us different smells for when a SNAKE is near, a wild pig and others. We freaked out everytime the air changed because we definately felt snakes were near. We managed to see the eyes of white cayman alligators before heading back to the lodge.

Day 3 - Woke up super early to go to a cliff wall to see parakeets, parrots, macaws etc. They come early to eat the clay in the cliffs that gives them nutrients. The parakeets would hide in the trees before going to eat and when there was a predator around they would all come flying out, squawking. Also the best part of the morning was seeing a gorgeous white toucan. Its beak was huge and we could see it so perfectly. On the way back to the lodge, we also saw some howler monkeys just hanging out in the trees. very cool. (and the only large mammal we got to see unfortunately). Afterwards we went canopy zipping which is very fun, and saw some more spiders and toads along the way. Oh right, the Irish girl opened her pack of equipment and out came a baby tarantula! Yeah we were all a bit freaked out but then started taking photos like crazy.
In the afternoon, we went lake rafting. We went to a lake where we got on a raft (old skool styles). About 5 logs across and our guide using a pole to push us along the lake. It was amazing because it was pretty marshy on the sides and we got to see some really cool birds. I have a picture of one that is bright blue. We were supposed to see river otters but no such luck.

Day 4 - Heading home on our drive, we saw some lizards and a snake just calmly slithering across the road. Bright bright green.

So unfortuantely no big mammals but a very fun if not nerve racking trip (at least in the evenings).