You can bearly see it in this picture but there were several river dolphins, Botas, frolicking right at the mixing of the two. We did not see the famous and rare giant pink Botas that inhabit the Amazon. Jacque Cousteau was the first to study them.
| This is were the black waters of the Rio Negro meet the lighter colored
river of the Simones. Black water is more acidic because it has more decaying
matter in it. It therefore supports less life and has less mosquitos.
We stayed on a black water lake that was just off of the lighter water
river.
You can bearly see it in this picture but there were several river dolphins, Botas, frolicking right at the mixing of the two. We did not see the famous and rare giant pink Botas that inhabit the Amazon. Jacque Cousteau was the first to study them. |
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This picture is of a stuffed fish in a museum in Manaus. We were shocked
by how ugly the fish were that lived in the river. They seemed prehistoric
in their armament against predators. The skin of this fish for example
is all hard plates and spikes.
We were glad that we never saw the little fish that feeds on its human victim by eating their way in through the genitals. Really .... we are not kidding. It just couldn't be more horrific. It is the type of thing you read in a Steven King novel. |
| Here Tiffany poses with a typical alligator. "Come here litle girl...." |  |
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We went alligator hunting in the middle of the night. Which was very
cool since all the stars are brightly lit. Well ...... it was cool until
our guides could not get the engine to our little rickety boat started
and we were stranded in the middle of the Amazon river. Who knows what
is lurking just around the corner. What if we tipped over or our boat sank?
It is amazing how creative your mind gets when you start to panic.
Here Hans is holding an alligator the guides caught once we finally
got the boat moving. You can see spot dozens of alligator by shining a
flashlight on the banks of the river. Their eyes light up and you start
to head in their direction. On one occasion we had to quickly retreat from
the shore because the guide mentioned that he can only catch those that
have smaller necks than his grabbing hands. Yeah, good idea, let's back
off that one......
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| Two nights later .... Tiffany was hesitant to go again for fearing
for her life ...... we caught another smaller alligator that was
very fiesty. Our trusty guide, Agnaldo, explained that the smaller ones
have to be more aggressive to survive and that they will bite more. Kind
of explains things, heh, Tiffany :-)
Agnaldo has been in the jungle all his life. He is a native of the Amazon and has caught everything there is to catch. Great Leopard safari stories. He's mellowed though. Used to be he'd jump off the canoes and dive underneath the alligator and stand up while holding it in a bear hug and at night of course. .Hmmmmm, maybe he's smokin too much guarana roots for lunch. |
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