More wildlife...

Here are some interesting specimen that found themselves up to thigh-deep in swamp for about 6 hours on the second day of our trip. The aim of the game was to find an anaconda (yes, one of the snakes which grow up to 12 metres long and eat choked alligator for breakfast). Unfortunately they were staying out of sight due to the lack of sun, but our Steve (Sabino is his real name) was determined to find one. In the end we gave up and headed back to camp exhausted.

The swamp is called the pampas by locals and, particularly along the river, is absolutely teeming with life. Birds, monkeys, capybaras (the largest rodents in the world), alligators, they larger cousins the cayman, turtles, river dolphins and snakes live here in almost ludicrous abundance. Most of these exist on the fish found in the river, of which there are a large variety including the infamous piranhas (see photo of fellow tour members with catch) and a fish with an interesting and rather Darwin-Award-winning trait of leaping out of the water and into passing boats, generally aiming at one of the occupants. My brother got hit square in the chest no less than three times, and I was lucky enough to have one deflect off the passenger in front of me into my face.

The boat itself was really the seventh member of our little group, it having a character entirely of its own. How we managed to get all of our packs plus supplies of the river on the three hour long cruise upriver was nothing short of a small miracle. This was not the first seeming impossibility witnessed - for my money, watching five-foot-nothing Sabino carry three heavy packs while walking along the edge of the boat is right up there with any biblical marvel you care to point at. In the end, the boat was pretty good most of the time, working as a great transport and at one point an excellent diving board. Only one incident panned out as it had threatened to - and of course on this occasion is was me who was tipped, camera and all, into the river. Luckily after drying out, the thing still works - just another on the long list of maltreatments that it has received from me.