A Walk on the Wild Side - Part 1

Apologies in advance ... I'm now having problems with Argentinian keyboards!
As most of you probably know I'm interested in natural history so I thought I would relate a few animal encounters ...
Highlight has been the Tamarins that we have seen at various points whilst in parts of the Atlantic rainforest. These dudes are small monkeys but way cuter than your average Bubbles. Long tails, smaller than Koalas and kinda like gremlins before they become gremlins! Seeing them leap out of trees and onto a fence to be hand fed banana on top of Rio's sugarloaf was a highlight!

The Iguazu falls were packed with wildlife. Thousands of swifts hunt insects around the falls and overhead dozens of great dark vultures wheel away in the sky. More fun or terrifying if you're Katherine are the large 4ft lizards that regularly cross your path. I was yanked back in dog-on-a-leash fashion when trying to pursue one into a thicket. I'm told they're harmless ... Not so are the coatis that you literally have to step over. Racoon like, these little critters scavenge everything they can from the zillions of daily tourists and they don't mind having a full domestic in front of everybody either. Or taking the occasional pop at an intrusve tourist.

We're gonna experience the Amazon in Peru. So far we have mostly encountered the remnants of the once equally impressive Atlantic rainforest now cleared heavily to make way for Brazil's coastal cities. What we have seen has been impressive though. My plant knowledge is non-existent but we have seen some stunning trees and flowers and some giant butterflies, particularly near to Iguazu where they flock in their 100s and land all over you. Amazing.

Okay, enough for now. Hopefully Katherine will post some pictures to properly do justice to these words. We're off to Patagonia on Sunday for 6 weeks trekking and whale watching on the valdes peninsular. For those of you in the know this is where the killer whale phenomenon of beaching themselves to catch seals occurs. Wish us luck on witnessing this! All the best.