Since we'll be doing the Amazon trip before Machu Picchu perhaps I should concentrate on that first. I'm reading one of OAT's recommended books:
Life in the Treetops, Adventures of a Woman in Field Biology by Margaret D. Lowman. It is my kind of biography: only 214 pages and no footnotes to speak of, although my inner child would have liked more photos and illustrations. I'm reading it to prepare myself for the Canopy Walk which is on Day 6 of the trip: We take an early morning boat trip to the somewhat primitive
ExplorNapo Lodge where we have breakfast and then hike for about an hour to the
Amazon Conservatory for Tropical Studies (ACTS) and to the Canopy Walkway, a system of aerial platforms and cableways more than 1,500 feet long, the longest treetop walkway in the world.
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| Canopy Walkway |
Meg Lowman is one of the advisors for the Canopy Walkway and you can learn more about the canopy in this
Scientific American video. Each July Meg Lowman takes a group of Citizen Scientists on an
Amazon workshop in the Explorama Lodges to help her do research in the canopy, in case you'd rather sign up for that instead of the OAT trip. But some of the nights are spent at the more rustic
ExplorNapo Lodge and ACTS campsite.
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| Explorama Lodge |
Fortunately we are staying at the more civilized
Explorama Lodge (with flush toilets and running water) and then the
Ceiba Tops resort (hot water and air conditioning), if things go as planned. I hope they don't change the accommodations at the last minute.
Exporama has a video about its lodges and the related activities that is fairly informative and pretty much covers everything OAT has in its brochure. Google Maps also has a lot of photos of each lodge. Don't expect the Hilton and do expect high humidity.
Here's a map of where the various lodges are located relative to Iquitos. If you look them up on Google Maps, there's just a lot of green and no roads.
