The Purple Penguin

Woke up to sound of the rain. It started around 2 or 3 this morning and was pouring it down all morning. Well, it is the rainy season and it is a rain forest.

So we skipped the orientation tour again (I guess we can do it Friday morning before we leave), instead sitting on the veranda and watching the wildlife and day tourists come in. The rain slowed down so we headed out along a walk and got to see a toucan. Lovely. Joe got some good photos once he finally found the bird!

We had lunch then got ready to head out to Caroni to see the scarlet ibis. There is a group here from the US and they had their swamp trip planned so the centre stuck us onto their trip. This worked out very well, though they headed off in two vans and Joe and I had our own van we all shared the same boat and had that to ourselves. So only 11 of us in the boat. On the way to the swamp we stopped at a water treatment plant and bird watched. There were Spectacled Caiman at the treatment centre and they were lovely. There were also a lot of birds and dragonflies. We then got to the swamp and got into our boat and headed out. Saw loads on the way out – crabs, two boas, and loads more birds. Once out we got to see several scarlet ibis. However, the best time to see the ibis is in December, January or February as they fly in in the thousands and roost in the trees. The worst time to see the ibis is in June when they have started nesting and don’t fly in their thousands and do not roost. Also it’s the start of the rainy season so you get wet. And there are zillions of mosquitoes. We were coated in deet but still had to fend off the beasts.

But we had a good time and saw loads. I can’t begin to list the birds I’ve seen. The group we were with was lovely and a lot of fun. We even had our rum punches out on the boat. So a very fun day but tiring. Off to bed!