The next day was an early departure – a 2.5 hour drive and then a 11 hour boat ride to get into Manu's reserved zone. The boat was basic but suited our needs. We sat 2 by 2 with plenty of leg room, with a roof-type shelter and could take in the jungle and mountain surrounds. The river went from fast moving and icy in the cloud forrest (sub-tropical) to slower paced and muddy once we hit the tropical rainforrest zone. We had breakfast, morning snack, lunch and late afternoon snack on the boat. Time passed quickly enough – our enthusiasm at seeing different species of monkey (Bernard spotted Howler monkey – a great find so early on), birds or little turtles sunning themselves in the sun was enough to sustain us during the long day.
We arrived at dusk to our cabins which were mesh windows (so no privacy) but allowed maximum air flow in the high humidity. After quick refreshment we headed off for dusk walk. Hearing the sound of the rainforrest was amazing – a big bunch of squirrel monkeys weren't particularly happy to see us – but put on an impressive show as they bounced over our heads from branch to branch. We arrived to an Oxbow lake for a little caimen spotting, but when we arrived the boat was full of water and took our lads a full 15 minutes to empty the boat. We only saw a few younger caiman as the water level was exceptionally high but we did get to see a prehistoric catfish that can live out of water for hours (ie in evolution terms, its an example of a species moving from fish to amphibian).
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