Off to the Sacha Rainforest Tower; back in 4 weeks!

Well, actually I'm visiting a lot of the rest of Ecuador too, but it's one place I'm especially looking forward to, not least because I dread high places, and this walkway (linking three fifty metre high towers) was so amazing - and stable - that I forgot to be scared. 

Epiphytes high above the canopy.

The tower is owned by Sacha lodge, a beautiful and sensitively run ecotourism lodge on the edge of the superb Yasuní National Park.

The experience of being above - and alongside - the primary rainforest canopy was totally absorbing in itself; we spent hours there, including watching a tropical storm coming and passing over.

In the midst of the storm (above) and the rising mist in its wake (below).

However the real thrill is the parade of life that comes past, apparently oblivious to us watching. Here are just a few examples.

Masked Tanager; there is a seemingly endless parade of glorious tanagers everywhere in Ecuador.

Bare-necked Fruit-crow.

Blue-throated Piping-Guan.

Double-toothed Kite; this bird approved of the provision of the cables as a convenient
perch to bring a succession of canopy lizards to munch on.

Gilded Barbets.

Ivory-billed Aracaris; the aracaris form a group of small toucans.

Black-mantled Tamarin; small monkey, not very close...

I'll have lots more to talk about in the coming months from this trip, as well as on lots of other things; please don't forget me in my absence!

BACK ON 10 DECEMBER.