Monday 18th August - Flight to Trinidad

 We were flying to Trinidad this morning , but as the flight wasn’t until 1.00 pm Nick organised a trip to Curichi la Madre, a protected forest area about 20 mins away. When we got there the gate wasn’t really open even though it was 8.10 but we were let in after a few minutes and walked fairly rapidly along the track, looking for Titi Monkeys. There were a few stops along the way for a couple of  Sloths, Purplish crested jays among others. A Squirrel monkey was seen by some but had disappeared into the undergrowth very quickly. We had Orange-breasted falcons flying around and perching and a Black- faced Spider monkey which swung through the trees showing its skills. 

We reached the end of the track and turned round to make our way back. One stop had an Amazon Squirrel in a palm nibbling something. 

As we had no luck with Titi monkey, Nick took us down a track which led to a swinging rope bridge, in slight disrepair, (we weren’t supposed to go down the track) We carefully negotiated the bridges and came back out onto the main track, still no luck. Nick went to fetch Linda, who had waited at the start of the track and told us there were some Squirrel Monkeys back along the track, so we went back, up a small side tack and checked out the bushes. A troupe of Squirrel Monkeys made their way through the trees, jumping and running along branches. I didn’t get any useful photos as the camera was refusing to focus.

As we made our way back towards the entrance Nick suddenly started gesturing to come quickly, he had managed to find a Titi monkey in the branches above us. The monkey sat on the branches and gave us really good views. 

So a real clean up in the Curriche Reserve. We then had to go back to the van, get back to the hotel, collect our luggage and head to the airport for our flight to Trinidad.

We arrived at the domestic airport, checked my bag in, went through security and waited for our flight. The flight to Trinidad took about ¾ hour, we picked up our luggage, which came through quite quickly, left it at the hotel  and went straight to the boat, about a 20 minute drive away. They parked the cars in the shade, walked down to the boat and got on board. The boat was named the Yacare.

We first went down river about 200 yds past the village, with Neotropic Comorants, an Amazon and Ringed Kingfisher, a Grey-cowled Wood Rail and a Great Black Hawk. We turned round and headed the other way. As we passed a houseboat the boatman pointed out water activity, which was a small pod of Pink River Dolphins. The boat drove round the dolphins in a corralling pattern, which stirs up the river giving food which the dolphins enjoy, until they had enough when they just disappeared downriver. Lunch was served in the boat, it was fish with veg. We carried on up the river seeing Hooded Capuchins, Bolivian Red Howlers,  Cocoi and Striated Herons, a Green Kingfisher and Golden-winged Cacique. A log floating from the shore was covered in Yellow-spotted River Turtles. 

After a while we asked about the possibility of seeing Hoatzen, but we would have a 15 minute walk and wouldn’t be able to go any further. We agreed to go for the Hoatzin so the boat drove further up the river, parked, we scrambled up the bank to the top. As we gathered on the bank, the guide grabbed some fruit from a tree, opened them up and started to crush the seeds inside. He came across and started painting my face with the red fluid from the fruit. Once he’d finished, he then painted Sarah’s face. After some hilarity and some photos, we walked to the lagoon on a forest path, with a stop to have the use of some reeds for arrows explained to us. It was about 15 minutes and e we’re on the edge of a large lagoon. There was a boat, named The Hoatzen, moored on the edge. We climbed on board, and within 2 minutes  we were looking at a Hoatzen, then 2. In all we saw 6 Hoatzins flying across the lake and between the bushes. We also had some Jacana and a few Dragonflies with banded wings. We turned back to the mooring, walked back to the river, scrambled down the bank and back on the boat, returned back  to the village with a short view of a couple of Dolphins and climbed up to cars to drive back to the hotel.

Dinner out in a local restaurant, the ‘best restaurant in Trinidad’ apparently, where I chose a garlic chicken dish. It came in a bowl, wrapped up in foil and was very hot. It was a thin garlicky soup with chunks of chicken and tasted quite nice and the chips were good. Back at the hotel I set the alarm for 3.40 for a 4.00am drive out to the Blue-chinned macaw reserve.