Allen Chartier

All in all, it was a good trip. Getting to and from Kapawi Lodge is too unpredictable to include with any additional days on an itinerary. The lodge was very nice, and comfortable, and there was a lot of good pristine rainforest all around, with lots of microhabitats easily accessible. Anyone doing this area should allow a couple extra days for departure delays. Allen ended up reorganizing the trip for the group in March 1998, with three days at Sacha Lodge instead of at Kapawi.

After leaving 20 passengers behind in order to take on more fuel, due to an apparent refuelers strike in Quito, our 5:10 p.m. American Airlines flight was under way at about 6:00 p.m. We arrived in Quito at 9:30 p.m.and were met by Mercedes of Neblina Forest. Not surprisingly, the arrangements for tomorrow, and our last day, had changed. So much for insisting on written confirmations! We got settled into the Embassy Hotel by 10:40 p.m. after a climb up 3 flights of stairs (welcome to 9300 feet elevation!).

Consistent with all our past experiences with Neblina Forest, this was not what the arrangements really were, and we received a call at 6 a.m. from the bus driver who was waiting in the lobby to drive us 200 kilometers to Shell (a 6 hour drive), where we were to meet our charter flight! The hotel was apparently supposed to give us a fax telling us of the last minute changes (apparently made after 10 p.m.), but had not done so. There were 14 people that were going to Kapawi, and we drove around Quito to several hotels, picking up other dazed, equally uninformed participants. After everyone was on board, we had to stop and switch busses (I don't know what the problem was, but the new bus was definitely a downgrade).

We finally got under way at 8:00 a.m. It was a long ride, but the part between Baños and Puyo was particularly interesting (but no birding stops). We arrived at the airport in Shell around 2:30 p.m. and were told it would be a 1 1/2 hour wait for the larger plane (which would hold 12 people), but two people could go in a small Cessna right away. Our guide asked us if we would be interested, and we said yes. We would be arriving much earlier than the rest of the group, and would have time for some birding in the afternoon at Kapawi.

We flew over rainforest continuously for about 45 minutes, then landed at a small dirt airstrip that was barely visible until a few seconds before we landed. After a short boat ride of a few minutes, we arrived at Kapawi Lodge and met our guide, Chris Canaday, and were shown to our room. We dropped our luggage, assembled the birding equipment, and met Chris for a short walk around the self-guiding trail behind the lodge. Dinner was late, around 8:00 p.m., to accommodate the rest of the group's late arrival. After dinner, we met with Chris to discuss our itinerary for the next four days. The cabins are on the edge of a small oxbow lake off a tributary of the Rio Pastaza, and we were treated to lots and lots of loudly calling frogs all night long, just outside our window!

After lunch, we went to the edge of the Rio Kusutkau, where a non-motorized dugout canoe had been left for us. The Giant Otters on the tributary leading off the Kusutkau don't tolerate motors, and the lodge forbids motors on this tributary. We only had to go upstream for about 15 minutes before we encountered one, and had a wonderful experience as it approached the boat to within 30 feet, and frequently popped its head far out of the water and snorted at us like a horse! A magnificent animal, and quite large. This one was every bit of 6 feet long, and possibly more. 

We turned around and had a long paddle back to the lodge. Luckily, we were heading downstream, but the current wasn't very swift. Soon after we started downstream, it started to rain. Then it started to rain really hard. We got soaked to the skin in spite of our raingear. We all had to help paddle  the dugout canoe (the first time we have done so) during the torrential rains. After about 30 minutes, the downpour stopped and we investigated another small oxbow lake, then headed back to the lodge amid more rain. We arrived in time for a shower and dinner. The frog chorus had subsided some this evening, as the lake level had dropped considerably, and we were no longer right at the water's edge. The frog chorus was enhanced by owls calling near our cabin.

We waited out the rain until 3:00 p.m., then walked the self-guiding trail to the turnoff for the Lalo Cocha trail. We eventually had to give up on this trail, as it was too hilly with slippery mud for us to be able to concentrate on anything except staying upright. The Field Guides, Inc. group that was on tour here tried to get out to Quito today, but didn't succeed. Their luggage did make it, however, and they were stranded with nothing! The Sharamentsa airstrip was waterlogged and muddy, as was the Kapawi airstrip. Only the Ishpingo airstrip had enough clay content to dry reasonably quickly between rain showers, and the group would try this one tomorrow. We all had dinner together again.

When the plane arrived, it was quickly refueled, and we all had to shout out our weights on the runway, for all to hear, in order for them to determine the optimum amount of fuel to use. We departed at 1:00 p.m., flying through rain most of the way, and arrived at Macas at 1:40 p.m. We ended up missing lunch, and the possibilities at the Macas airport were limited. Our jet to Quito arrived and we departed at 3:00 p.m. We were met at the airport by Mercedes, and on the ride to the hotel we discussed changes that needed to be made in the itinerary for the group in March (in other words, everything needed to be redone). We walked up the street a short distance to a small restaurant for dinner, then walked to the Hotel Colon to see if the Libri Mundi was open (it wasn't) as the one near our hotel was closed. I guess New Year's Eve isn't prime time for bookstores!