May 4
First walk in the rain forest
We had breakfast at 5:30 and were walking in the rain forest by 6am. After a 20 minute walk we came to the tower and headed up, slowly. It has three levels, 20, 30 and 50 meters (approximately 60, 90 and 150 feet high). At each level, we stopped and looked at the forest and our guide, Brad, would explain what we were seeing. Our longest stop, on top, we sat and talked and each time a bird would fly by and land or monkeys would be calling, Brad would explain what we were seeing and hearing. He set up a telescope so that we could see many close-up. We saw Red-crested Macaws preening themselves, Scarlet Macaws which were red, blue and yellow (see pic), Blue-headed Parrots and even a relatively rare Crested Eagle which stands about 2 feet high and has a wingspan of over 4 feet. Even Brad had only seen it five times.
On the walk back we saw the muddy area where the pigs, called White-lipped Peccary, butterflies and some birds come to get their vitamins. The fruits don’t give them any minerals, so they eat some mud to get their needed dose. Fascinating. In that and other areas we saw Cicada mounds. The larva live underground for about 6-10 years. Near their hatching time, they start pushing up the earth into these pointed mounds. After they hatch, they live and make the loud Cicada noise that we are used to for two to three weeks, during which time they mate, then die. We also saw several interesting spiders and their webs. One was the Funnel Spider as its web is in the shape of a funnel to trap the insects inside.
First walk in the rain forest
We had breakfast at 5:30 and were walking in the rain forest by 6am. After a 20 minute walk we came to the tower and headed up, slowly. It has three levels, 20, 30 and 50 meters (approximately 60, 90 and 150 feet high). At each level, we stopped and looked at the forest and our guide, Brad, would explain what we were seeing. Our longest stop, on top, we sat and talked and each time a bird would fly by and land or monkeys would be calling, Brad would explain what we were seeing and hearing. He set up a telescope so that we could see many close-up. We saw Red-crested Macaws preening themselves, Scarlet Macaws which were red, blue and yellow (see pic), Blue-headed Parrots and even a relatively rare Crested Eagle which stands about 2 feet high and has a wingspan of over 4 feet. Even Brad had only seen it five times.
On the walk back we saw the muddy area where the pigs, called White-lipped Peccary, butterflies and some birds come to get their vitamins. The fruits don’t give them any minerals, so they eat some mud to get their needed dose. Fascinating. In that and other areas we saw Cicada mounds. The larva live underground for about 6-10 years. Near their hatching time, they start pushing up the earth into these pointed mounds. After they hatch, they live and make the loud Cicada noise that we are used to for two to three weeks, during which time they mate, then die. We also saw several interesting spiders and their webs. One was the Funnel Spider as its web is in the shape of a funnel to trap the insects inside.
We also saw a fig tree that had started in the top of another tree, grown it’s vine down to the ground, put in roots, then grown around and overtaken the host tree (see pic). The competition between all species is fascinating in the jungle. Just before we returned, we saw spider monkeys playing in the canopy above (see pic). They have very long, skinny arms and legs and a long tail.
The soil is not good, so the root structures are wide and not deep. We see many buttressed trunks and multiple trunk systems that were common to different species of trees. One palm has prickly bumps coming out of its roots. The guide has heard that indigenous people used to use these roots as nature’s scrubbing brush to clean fish and food. We also saw palm with needles coming out to protect it as animals know that heart of palm is good eating.
The Cristalino Jungle Lodge where we are staying is a private reserve over 7000 hectares (17,500 acres) to preserve the rainforest. It abuts a state park area over 50,000 hectares. See cristalinolodge.com.br for more information.
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