Sadly we had to depart the Manu Wildlife Center. No matter how much time is spent there, it never seems to be enough! However, the river summoned and we were off! We made our way downriver to a small “ferry crossing” where we found this pick-up being transported across.All the small ‘peka-pekas’ were line up…

Festive Coquette The afternoon brought an invitation from the lodge manager to be the first to visit a new project about 30 minutes upstream. Recently acquired land was already planted with many hummingbird attracting plants, and they were working on turning it into a hummingbird garden for their visitors. Upon arrival we were greeted with…

Saddle-back Tamarin As we gathered our gear to head off to the next canopy tower, just a short walk from the lodge, we heard the chips and twitters of, not birds but primates, Saddle-back Tamarins to be exact. They gathered at a fruiting tree to enjoy a snack, posing for picks! Saddle-back Tamarin However, this…

Black-capped Donacobius As we continued along our quiet boat ride (other than the drunken donkey calls of the Horned Screamers) a few Black-capped Donacobius offered wonderful, close observations. Great Black Hawk and Tropical Kingbirds As a Great Black Hawk sailed by a pair of Tropical Kingbirds took flight to harrass the large raptor. It landed…

Hoatzin After our canopy tower adventure we headed of to the first of two oxbow lake boat trips. Many Hoatzins were seen, but in the heat of the day we did not see too much else… so we headed off into a shady area of the lake. As we enjoyed the shade, one of our…

Great Potoo chick This Great Potoo chick was one of many great sightings on a beautiful morning in Manu! He hasn’t quite learned to “be the tree” as yet! Masked Crimson Tanager Standing out even more, brilliantly colored Masked Crimson Tanagers came through our tree in a small flock. They offered great looks from all…

Black-and-White Hawk-Eagle We crossed the bridge and there it was. We had just begun an afternoon hike in the forest surrounding the Manu Wildlife Center and the hawk-eagle was perched over the creek behind my cabana. We enjoyed the view for quite a while! The hawk-eagle took flight, but only a short distance to another…

Capped Heron  Motoring along the river this mid-morning offered more fun sites including Capped Herons (above) and Ladder-tailed Nightjars (below). Ladder-tailed Nightjar Coecias Metalmark  Butterflies were again quite common with this Coecias Metalmark a nice highlight. text and photos © Kevin Loughlin

Day 5 / Jan 9 – We were on a mission this morning and were the first group on our assigned track. Told to hang on, we made a beeline down Track 5 as Pankaj got inside information that tigress had been seen for the first time with her young cubs. Once inside her territory…

Day 4 / Jan 8 – Wrapped in blankets as the thermometer read one degree celsius, we got Track 4 once more. As we get a different canter for each game drive, this one barely had enough power to get it up the steep incline that leads us through the forest and into the more…

Day 3 / Jan 7 – We were conveniently based for five nights at the appropriately named Tiger Den for our visit to Ranthambhore National Park. We embarked on the first of seven game drives inside the 390 sq km park working the core zone around the three lakes and 10th century hill fort. Sher…

Day 2 / Jan 6 – Brrrrrr…..it is cold, barely breaking freezing over night! We returned to the Palace of the Wind, one of Jaipur’s famous landmarks, and were lucky enough to have the sun break through the fog and light up the facade for us to photograph. Driving passed the Water Palace we remarked…