I Wish it Weren’t So

Tragedy sometimes occurs unexpectedly when adventuring, just as in life in general.

I wish it weren’t so.

Part 1-Into the Andes

In 2010 I was invited to participate in a specialty bird tour of Peru.  The tour was organized by one of the top listers (a person who has seen a very large list of species in the world). Although I had been to Peru 3 times previously, the proposed trip was completely about areas I had never birded.  I accepted with eagerness.  The trip was organized with the top bird tour operator in Peru-Manu Expeditions and its legendary owner/birding guide Barry Walker.

I had been on other trips with a number of the 9 folks signed up for the tour, and some who were new, but all were serious listers. I was excited.  The tour began with 18 days on the central highway leading to the central Andes. Then a full day’s pelagic trip out the port of Callao into  the Humboldt current 50 miles off the coast of Peru, followed by 8 days in Amazonian Peru starting at the city of Iquitos.  The following makeshift map should give you some idea of Peruvian geography.

The whole point of this particular arrangement was to go places that most birding tours do not go. First, a few days were spent  up the coast from Lima in the mountains at a place called Huaraz.

Habitat at Huaraz

Then we came back to Lima and  started on the road out of Lima-the Central Highway that immediately goes into the coastal mountains that are the backdrop to Lima.  Within 4 hours we were at Marcapomacocha at an altitude of almost 15,000 feet.

Lake Marcapomacocha at 15,000 Feet

After checking out the fantastic specialty birds at that location we continued on.   We were  transported in the Manu Expeditions tour bus.

We needed nightly accommodation and there were some rather basic hotels along the road that provided our shelter on most nights.

And of course we shared rooms.

During the day, it was inconvenient to find a town to get our meals, so Manu Expeditions typically provided them in the open air.

On more than one occasion, we needed to get to the far shore of a lake or pond to see specific species.  We were provided with inflatable rafts for getting there.

The mountain roads were a sight to see and traverse.

Some of the locations were not easily accessed by the bus, so we had to walk.

At one of the locations called Bosque Unchog we had to go in by mule.

We were at Bosque Unchog for several days, so we had to camp.

And I was on that wonderful excursion into the mountains.

Yes, the trip was about birds, and there were many at Bosque Unchog.  Here is one beautiful example-the Golden-collared Tanager

The following map shows some of the locations we visited in highlights.

On our way back to Lima, we encountered many caravans of cars waving flags.  We were told that some kind of election was going on and that the voters had to return to the town of their birth to vote.  Ouch.

We arrived in Lima in time for a comfortable night at the Manhattan hotel.