25th.January, River Walk
With the same guide as before (Felix) I walked again part way down to the beach and then cut through to a river bed which we walked along. It is best to walk in the water because there can be snakes hidden under the fallen leaves on the banks. I had borrowed wellington boots for this purpose from the lodge. The idea is to see snakes and frogs but we only saw one species of poison dart frog in yellow and black. There exists a large highly poisonous snake known as the Fer der Lance which can grow up to 2.5m long. Perhaps it is just as well that we did not find one. We contented ourselves with observing much smaller objects such as fungi and a very tiny furry caterpillar.
The walk finishes by a lagoon on the beach where we were told one can swim, but the sand bank had been partly washed away so thatthe water had become too shallow.I asked the guide if we could continue along the beach to another small river where there was a 25m high waterfall only 10min. from the beach. This also needed wellingtons or waterproof sandals to reach it. It is quite impressive since one can clamber up the rocks and stand next to the main fall as the pool is only shallow. I was well equipped with suitable sandals attached to my new camera rucksack which had been ideal for the holiday. Also attached were walking poles which could double as monopods. My guide was interested in these and I so gave one to him. We met a couple at the waterfall who had by chance arrived at the same time. They had come with their guide on horseback along the beach from another lodge some distance away.
The afternoon was again spent resting and reading. For my last day I booked the 5.30am bird walk again in the hope of a better scarlet macaw photo.