Animal life in Ecuador's Cuyabeno rainforest

We visited the home of a 12-foot anaconda.

The diversity of animal life in the Cuyabeno, part of the Amazonian ecosystem, is amazing. A sampling of animals we saw on my trip: a poisonous frog, a 12-foot anaconda, and even the rare pink dolphin that lives in the Amazon.

OLD TRAVEL JOURNAL #2

The Place: Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, Ecuador (tour pickup in Lago Agrio)

The Dates: Feb. 18-21, 2008 (Monday-Thursday)

Journal Date: Feb. 25, 2008

You get around the forest by boat...

“We got into line to enter the boat that would take us to our lodge ... “It’s like the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland – only real!” I said. It was amazing. We saw a colony of monkeys crossing the river in the treetops above.

That night we went on a jungle walk. … We saw stick insects, spiders, and frogs, a tiny one of which jumped on my jeans. I placed my hand near it and cooed, “Come on, come on,” and when it hopped on my hand I yelled, “Ahh, it’s on me, it’s on me!” But the freakout lasted for one second. Then I held it up for others to take pictures.

The next day we went on a strenuous three-hour hike that involved tramping through pretty deep mud (which I did with a hole in my left boot), and then piranha fishing and caiman (alligator) searching. We saw turtles, plenty of birds, went to a tree to peek at the 12-foot-long anaconda that lives there (“just stick you head in,” Nacer [our guide], told us), caught only 3 piranhas out of the 10 of us, and held a baby caiman that Nacer caught.

And by tramping through mud.

Cute poisonous frog.

After that we went on a walk only notable for the fact I held a poisonous frog. Nacer was ahead, apparently heard the frog, and then told Eloise, “Wait here – I’m going to get a poisonous frog,” as though it were the most natural thing in the world. He came back with a beautiful, colorful, tiny frog on his hand. As the frog hopped up to his collar, he explained how it’s only poisonous if it touches the blood, which is why the natives would poison their darts with it. When he asked if anyone wanted to hold it, I immediately stuck out my hand.

On our last day, we got up at the crack of dawn to spot even more birds, which wasn’t that interesting … What made the whole experience worth it, however, was that we spotted a pink dolphin. I never thought we’d actually get to see a dolphin! … I missed seeing its snout and head, but there was a point when a fish twice jumped out of the water, just a shade in front of the dolphin. It was fishing.

…The atmosphere was wonderful. I think we were all a bit disappointed with how rustic [the camp] looked, but after awhile I liked having to light candles to see, knowing there was a tarantula living on the roof … sleeping under a mosquito net (which made me feel like a princess) and trapping cockroaches. We accidentally discovered that cockroaches were attracted to wine when I left a glass out and several of them became trapped. Eloise made me let them go, citing their wildlife status, which Nacer declared a mistake, citing their role as scum of the earth. I set out two more cockroach traps, and left several struggling roaches in them when I left. Hopefully someone poisoned them.”

What You Should Know: Tours can be booked in Quito. You can either take a one-hour flight from Quito, or an overnight bus to Lago Agrio. The cost of my four-day all-inclusive trip was $180.

Cockroaches in a cup.

Piranha fishing. We only caught three but threw them back.

Cuyabeno at dawn.

Cuyabeno at dusk.

This looks funny, right? It's not just me?

Nacer with a caiman.