Probably anyone who has ever had pets would agree that animals definitely show emotion, but do they smile? One look at animals will remove any doubt as to whether they actually do smile. They most certainly do smile and they do it quite often. This week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge is the letter H with a topic of Happy. One of our favorite memories of visiting Sun Island on Lake Titicaca in Bolivia was of a llama that was curiously observing us as we walked among the ruins. The question isn’t really whether he was smiling, but what was he thinking of us? Did he just think we were strange looking creatures that didn’t belong on his island?
Very CuriousHint of a Grin?Are You Following Me?Happy Llama
One of the favorite things that we did during our time in Ecuador was to climb up a twelve story tower in the rainforest to watch for wildlife. Like most days that we spent at the Napo Wildlife Center in the Amazon, we were woken up at 4:30 am to have a quick breakfast and jump into a canoe to paddle to our destination. Obviously, the best times to see wildlife anyplace is at dusk and dawn when animals are most active and the same is true of animals in the jungle.
Spider MonkeysColorful BirdToucan Barely Visible
Once we beached our canoe, it was a relatively short hike through the forest to reach the observation tower. Standing at the bottom of the tower will certainly test any potential fear of heights, but it was an easier climb up the stairs than we had at first anticipated. We climbed up through the tree tops as well as the fog and arrived to see an amazing view of the jungle below us. It didn’t take long for the group to start spotting birds. The goal was to act as a team, each of us looking through binoculars and zoom lenses searching for motion that might be from an animal. Once someone saw something, our guides would point their telescopes at it and determine what we were looking at.
At the Base of the TowerScarlet Macaws in FlightView from the Tower
We were able to see so many amazing animals from macaws, toucans, and various monkeys. Overall, during our time in the jungle, we saw over 52 types of birds, 5 different monkeys, 2 tree sloths, as well as caimans. We weren’t able to take photos of everything because of the denseness of the forest, but we will treasure our memories of seeing them forever. We had several wonderful adventures during our time in Ecuador, but this day was definitely one that was extremely memorable.
Working as a TeamHawkScarlet MacawsLooking Down from the Tower
When you think of otters, you usually think of cute sea otters playing like puppies in the water. Giant river otters are definitely not as cute, although they do play and wrestle with one another. During our time at the Napo Wildlife Center in the Amazon rainforest we were fortunate enough to see a family of giant river otters on two separate occasions. They spent most of their time growling at us as we watched them from our canoe, but they still chased each other and rolled around on the ground playfully. Perhaps it is the harshness of living in the environment of the jungle that makes them a little more fierce and not as cute as other otters. They are also larger than most other otters, apparently as large as 70 pounds, which that adds to their impression. They are considered to be endangered, so seeing them is quite rare and we were very fortunate to have that opportunity more than once. We took a lot of photos and videos of them, but it probably won’t truly demonstrate what it was like to sit in a canoe just a few feet away from these fascinating creatures.
Growling at UsFamily MembersOur Very First View of the OttersLarge and FastGiving Us a Dirty LookHeading into the Trees
