From Sacha to Napo

Goodbye to Sacha, a walk out through the rainforest to another motorboat and another canoe ride up another tributary. This time to Napo Lodge, the first to be founded and run by the indigenous people. From the boat, we saw the parrot licks, standing off while flocks of them flapped and squawked their way in and out, perching on trees while they waited. Later, a walk through to another lick and watering place, where we waited in vain for their visit, but had to content ourselves with one or two daring loners not put off by the chatterers in the hide.

Best was meeting some of the indigenous women. This tribe is doing something unprecedented – training the womenfolk to take part, and soon, to act as guides as well. Their tourist centre is a little primitive – and pricey – but a great initiative. In the hut where their cooking and food storage pots are displayed, we watched while the local shaman ‘purified’ a Bolivian volunteer. The shaman looked extremely bored while he waited, but was quite convincing once he got going. The girl with the baby looked so young – and so sad. No allowances here for post-natal depression. Later, in another hut, the women shyly danced for us. I had to make a collage, and even so, have to leave out the ride back down the river, dropping the ladies off on the way – the meal prepared for us – the walk through the forest later with so many beautiful funghi and flowers, minute, brilliantly coloured and poisonous frogs, a highly venomous snake curled up and almost invisible beside the path. So many treasures....