Visiting a Mammal Clay Lick in the Amazon Rainforest

Our final expedition on our trip in the Amazon Rainforest was hiking to a mammal clay lick deep in the jungle.

On this trip we hiked 45 minutes into the jungle. Again, I was pretty sure that we were walking along the same paths as the jaguar from the web-cams we watched at the lodge.  I distracted myself from this thought by looking for unusual trees. In the above photo you can see a huge vine winding itself around the tree trunk.

This palm tree developed spikes to keep other trees, vines and animals from damaging it.

We were quite relieved to reach the blind because it was Hot and Humid! We all just sat down, dripping in sweat, waiting to cool down. Since we weren’t directly in the sun, it wasn’t as bad as being on top of the canopy tower.

While we were sitting quietly waiting for any animals to show up I decided to make a short video to capture all of the sounds of the forest.

The only mammal that showed up was a capybara. We had all ready seen quite a few of these on our boat rides. Our guide, Alfredo, was continually scanning the area trying to find something new for us to see. His persistence paid off. He suddenly perked up and said, “Follow me! Be Quiet!” He ran off into the jungle and we all got up and ran after him as quietly as we could.

High in one of the trees he had spotted a Harpy Eagle (eating a monkey….gross). There was another guide there who told us that it is very rare to see the eagle (the biggest bird in the rainforest). He had spent an entire week, for hours each day, with a man intent on seeing the eagle. It never happened.

Alfredo was able to take these pictures using my iPhone and a monocular. Although they are a bit blurry, I was happy to have them. The eagle was up high and we could only spot it through the foliage of many trees. I did not have a telephoto lens on my camera at the time, so you really can’t tell what you are looking at in my pictures.

Here are some interesting facts about Harpy Eagles. They can grow up to 41 inches tall, with talons up to 5 inches long. The eagles are strong enough to snatch monkeys, up to 17 pounds, out of trees. They can spot their prey from 220 yards away. Their lifespan can be up to 35 years in the wild.

We spent so much time watching the eagle that we ended up hiking as the sun went down. I think we all preferred that, as the humidity and heat had lessened considerably by then.

The next morning after breakfast we headed back the way we had come. Hiking through the rainforest to the river and riding the boat upstream one last time to the bus which, along with our police escort, took us back to the office of Rainforest Expeditions. Here we collected our luggage, then took a van ride to the Puerto Maldonado airport. We flew to Cusco to start the second half of our grand adventure in Peru.

As always, wishing you happy travels and fantastic adventures in this thing called life.

(All pictures are available for purchase as Fine Art or Digital Downloads at full resolution through Alamy. If you see something you like, click on the link. If you are unable to find it, use the Contact Me page and I will make sure the image is available.)

More Amazon Adventures

Hiking Through the Amazon Rainforest to Oxbow Lake

Chunco Macaw Clay Lick

Canopy Tree Top Tour

Amazon Rainforest Hike

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