What a fantastic day, our best
yet, with some most memorable, special moments that I shall never forget. This
lodge has something really special, it is a combination of location, the hosts
and staff and the wildlife. After a lovely early breakfast we set off in a
large 4*4, some of us sat in the back as we drove from the camp into the wide
expanse of the savannah. We could see for miles across open grass plains to the
distant mountains, it was truly magnificent. As the light improved we stopped
to watch few birds, one special bird was the Pinnated Bittern and other sightings
included Yellow-Grassfinch, Savannah Sparrow and the gorgeous White Hawk. But
our main target species this morning was a mammal not a bird, the Giant
Anteater.
.JPG)
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| THIS SHOT SHOWS JUST HOW CLOSE THE ANIMAL CAME TO US |
It wasn’t long before our guide
spotted one and drove us nearer to this impressive beast. The guides stood in
the pathway of the beast and steered it towards us, it came to within a few feet
of us and stopped. It has very poor eyesight so it sniffed the air and walked
around us to continue on its way. We were completely spellbound by this
encounter and will treasure the moment forever. From there we drove to some
marshes to look for another specialist species, the Crested Doradito which we duly
found. Red-breasted Blackbirds were everywhere as well as Ruddy-chested
Seedeaters and in a small scrub copse we found: Plain-breasted Ground Dove,
White-Tailed Nightjar and Lesser Nighthawks.
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| GRASSLAND SPARROW |
To complete this magical morning
we drove to a small area of bush woodland where our excellent guide, Jasper
called a few birds to us. We had close views of Spotted Puffbird and decent
views of a number of other woodland species.
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| SPOTTED PUFFBIRD - A TRUE BEAUTY |
We returned to camp just before
lunch and spent the next few hours eating lunch and chilling before our late
afternoon excursion.
For the afternoon excursion we
decided to take to the river again and for 3 hours we had the most wonderful
wildlife experience. The sky was clear, not a whiff of air stirred the water
and only the sound of birds disturbed the silence as we drifted through endless
meanders of the beautiful Rupununi River.
Some special sightings included close views of the exquisite Rufous and
Green Kingfisher, also Grey-necked Wood Rail, both the Spectacled and the Black
Caiman, Giant River Otter and lots and lots of herons. But it was the return
journey that captured the essence of the river, we had a magnificent sunset as
clouds of egrets passed over us through an orange skyline, silhouetted as they
passed beneath the orange orb of the setting sun. Then as it grew dark hundreds
of Band-tailed Nightjars joined hoards of Bats as they hawked insects over the
water, it was truly incredible.
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| PINNATED BITTERN |
The pilot of the boat steered us
safely through narrow channels whilst shining his powerful torch onto the
riverbank, the twin reflection of Caiman’s eyes was quite eerie especially as
they disappeared below the surface. Our final memorable sighting was of a
family party of Capybara, these huge rodents grazed along the riverside in
complete darkness totally oblivious of our presence.
This superb outing was indeed one
of the highlights of the whole tour and is an absolute must for future trips.
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| A VIEW ACROSS THE SAVANNAH |
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| RED-BREASTED BLACKBIRD - A 1CY MALE |
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