La Selva
The Selva near Siona Lodge Ecuador felt more like secondary rainforest as opposed to primary but was still a beautiful place to visit. Siona lodge was on the fresh water lake with Caiman swimming underneath the lodge watching for food to be thrown out. Eoin and I fished for baby Piranha and when encouraged to swim in the river I was understandably cautious with Caiman and Piranha nearby. I had done it on my first trip to Ecuador at the Sacha lodge so did not feel the need to repeat the experience and tempt fate in the shape of a giant hungry Caiman! Needless to say my friend Eoin jumped right in! The food at Siona lodge was simple but delicious and catered for western tastes. We reached our lodge by dugout canoe and it felt very unsafe when a large person got onboard and the canoe would shift from side to side. Early morning we would hear the howler monkeys whose voices boomed over the lake. We saw many birds but very few animals whose existence has been threatened because of the oil spills by the petroleum companies who have poisoned this region. The name ‘Amazon’ is said to have arisen from a war the Spanish conquistador, Francisco de Orellana, fought with a tribe of Tapuyas. The women of the tribe fought alongside the men. This inspired Orellana to give them the name ‘Amazonas’. cuyabeno river. We visited the Siona Indian Community of Puerto Bolivar, the largest ethnic group in the Reserve and learnt about their customs , traditions and way of life and we heard from their Shaman. Night navigation for watching Caymans. On our treks we found a great variety of species of plants and trees. Along the river we found monkeys, toucans, parrots, snakes, pink dolphins and the exuberant Amazonian vegetation.
