The Wilkinson Tour, July 2009.
After a night stay at our Bed and Breakfast in Lima, Tom Wilkinson and his daughter, Alissa, transferred back to the Lima Airport for their flight to the Jungle.
Meeting the planeTom and Alissa’s flight from Lima took approximately two hours, with a brief layover in Cusco to refuel and take on those passengers going on the next leg of their journey down into the jungle. We met them at the airport in Puerto Maldonado and took them directly to their hotel in town.
The clock tower in the Plaza de Armas in Puerto MaldonadoAfter settling them into their hotel room, we took them to see a little bit of the city. After Pizza dinner and a good nights sleep, we were off to the Brazilian border to sample the streams going north from Puerto Maldonado.
Here is our “Burro”. Four Wheel Drive and plenty of space for us and our gear:
Crossing the Madre de dios River by ferry
After driving for 3 hours north from Puerto Maldonado on the newly paved highway, we made it to the border crossing at Inapari. We had made plans to stay in Villa Assis, just across the Rio Acre in Brazil. The accommodations were extremely limited on the Peruvian side of the border, so it made the decision easier.
The new bridge spanning the Peru-Brazil border at the Rio Acre
There is a “Zona Libre” or free area at the border that does not require obtaining a Brazilian Visa to enter. This is the guesthouse that we stayed in when in Villa Assis.
While we waited for one of our crew to recover from a high fever we had time for this:
The Rio Acre at sunset. Peru is on the left, Brazil on the right.
In the cool of the evening we had a chance to walk back to the border and watch the sun set from the border crossing bridge. The next morning we were headed back to Puerto Maldonado sampling streams as we went.
Our Driver, Edgardo, standing on the brand new paved highway that runs north to the border with Brazil. This makes the trip much smoother and faster, thereby allowing us to cover much more collecting territory!!
Tom in search of Apistogramma rubrolineata. As we headed south we sampled many creeks along the highway however the previous night’s rain had raised the water levels in all of these streams, making collection much more difficult.
Here’s what he found.
An outstanding fish!
Incredible butterflies!!
The “dry” season in 2009 was considered unusual in terms of how wet it truly was. Many of the streams we would typically find easy to collect in at this time of year were high and muddy!
Storm over the Rio Madre de Dios at Puerto Maldonado
Alissa is showing us all how to catch Apistogramma luellingi!!!
Crenicara spp. aff. punctulatum.
Apistogramma leullingi male
When it was time for them to leave, they didn’t want to go home, and we wanted them to stay! Thanks Tom and Alissa! We are looking forward to your next collecting trip to the Madre de Dios region!!!
