Day 13: Coca and the Napo River
After arriving from Galapagos, we overnighted near the Quito airport, and took a flight to the town of Coca, the next morning. Coca is the primary port on the Napo river, which is a tributary of the Amazon, and is the starting point for river cruises on the "Ecuadorean Amazon".
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| Our cruise was the "3 Nights Itinerary" |
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| Canyons near Quito, just after takeoff |
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| The Andes, between Quito and Coca |
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| Farmland near Coca |
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| Part of Coca from the air |
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| We flew on Generic Airlines (actually Aeroregional, which has a fleet of 3 planes) |
After landing in Coca, we went to the office of the river cruise line (
Anakonda Amazon Cruises) near the river. Below are a few pictures from around
Coca, which has a population of about 50,000.
From the Anakonda Amazon Cruises office, we got on a large motorized canoe (or "speed boat" as described in the itinerary) and traveled for about 2 hours to reach the river boat.
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| Getting on the motorized canoe |
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| Napo River Bridge, in Coca |
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| We passed lots of barges along the way |
Our boat was the
Manatee Amazon Explorer, one of two boats owned by Anakonda River Cruises.
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| Manatee Amazon Explorer (the boat on the left) |
The boat was nicer than the one that we had on our Galapagos cruise. It had a capacity of about 40 passengers, but there were only 6 passengers (us and two Swiss couples) booked on this trip, so we got a lot of personal attention.
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| Our cabin |
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| The Bridge (if that's what they call it on a river boat) |
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| On the top deck. That's not real grass. |
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| The lounge, with more than enough room for 6 passengers |
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| The dining room, again with a lot more space than we needed. |
After boarding the boat, we headed down the Napo River
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| All of our fellow passengers at dinner. |
After dinner (the food was excellent), we went on a night-time hike.
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| A snake of some sort |
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| A grasshopper-like insect |
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| A tarantula |
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| To give you an idea of how big the tarantula was |
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| The thing that looks like a little leaf on the bigger leaf is actually an insect |
After returning from the hike, we had a "welcome reception". On the left below is Kevin, our local guide, who was from a small village on the Napo river. The ship's captain was a woman, whose name (unfortunately) I don' remember.
Day 14: Panacocha Biological Corridor
This morning we traveled down the river and went ashore for a "nature hike". We saw some wildlife along the way, but in general it was much farther away and harder to spot than in the Galapagos. As a result, some of the wildlife pictures will be a little fuzzy.
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| A house on the Napo river |
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| Another view of the boat--it looks nicer in person that it does in this picture |
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| We encountered lots of barges carrying tanker trucks |
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| A couple of riverside residents |
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| The big bulge is actually a colony of insects |
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| Bats on a tree trunk |
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| Our guide referred to this as a "stinky turkey". I believe the formal name is a Hoatzin. |
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| More animals or insects on a tree trunk |
Eventually, we arrived at a lodge, where we went ashore for our hike.
The lodge was temporarily (or permanently) closed, but we had lunch in the main building.
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| Cabins at the lodge |
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| Recovering after the hike |
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| Flora at the lodge |
We got back in our motorized canoe and headed back to the boat, stopping along the way to do some fishing for piranha. We were totally unsuccessful in that endeavor.
Next--
Days 15-16: More of the Napo River and Back Home
