So Dick's friend, Christian, came back to Suriname since their first time meeting here, which was about 4 years ago. He is staying until the beginning of July and wants some serious adventure time in the jungle.
Therefore we decided to take him to Fredberg as a reintroduction of what is yet to come. Yesterday we left for the mountain, although this was not the final destination. We went quickly up the mountain to watch the nice view for half an hour or so, and then continued to a second mountain nearby. About a two hour walk from the Fredberg, we found the top of the mountain and made camp right next to the plateau. The view from this place is amazing! Looking over a pointy mountain and endless greens on either side, we're just full of joy and happy we made it this far. Then just as the sun began the set we hear Macaws calling in the area. We look up and we see them flying in our direction. They didn't change direction at all and in a few seconds we were able to see four Blue-And-Yellow Macaws right above us! A species we hadn't seen before in this area! Not long after that some Red-And_Yellow Macaws landed in a tree on the top of the mountain, which gave us the upportunity to make some great photos!
Therefore we decided to take him to Fredberg as a reintroduction of what is yet to come. Yesterday we left for the mountain, although this was not the final destination. We went quickly up the mountain to watch the nice view for half an hour or so, and then continued to a second mountain nearby. About a two hour walk from the Fredberg, we found the top of the mountain and made camp right next to the plateau. The view from this place is amazing! Looking over a pointy mountain and endless greens on either side, we're just full of joy and happy we made it this far. Then just as the sun began the set we hear Macaws calling in the area. We look up and we see them flying in our direction. They didn't change direction at all and in a few seconds we were able to see four Blue-And-Yellow Macaws right above us! A species we hadn't seen before in this area! Not long after that some Red-And_Yellow Macaws landed in a tree on the top of the mountain, which gave us the upportunity to make some great photos!
That night I relaxed at the campfire and watched Fred fall asleep as Dick finally returned with the oophagus we'd been dying to meet. For four months, we had only been lucky enough to hear this little tree frog whilst we were walking our transects. Now, however, Dick had made it his mission to find one and wasn't coming back empty handed. With his persistence and knowledge of the frog, he succeeded and finally joined us at the fire again.
This morning, we woke up early for a pretty sunrise, at 6:20AM, but when peeking through the rain cover, we discovered that we were in the middle of a cloud. After about 45 minutes, the mountain we had been able to see the afternoon before, slowly but surely became more visible until only the canopies left and right of this berg were still a little foggy. After breakfast and clearing the camp, we only packed a daypack to continue the search of Dick's previous expedition with Fred; they were looking for a mountain with grand plateaus, nothing like anything we've seen before. But as our GPS revealed, it was going to take more than one day to get there, as paths did not exist. After making our way towards these plateaus for about 3 hours, we turn around, hoping that next time the first kilometers can be covered more quickly. As we make it through a valley and are at the foot of the mountain again, we notice a spider monkey; just as it notices us. Making noise, throwing branches down at us (and poop too!), he obviously tried to scare us off. As this failed, he noticed that we weren't planning on hurting him and he relaxing more. Laying on his back, scratching his private parts, he continued to stare at us. But as Fred and Christian got closer to the tree, the monkey started to get a little edgy again. Throwing down bigger branches, he warns them to stay away. At this point we knew we'd have a minor problem; the monkey was blocking our path to the mountain. We'd have to get past this tree with an angry monkey which was throwing down anything he could get his hands on (and feet too!). Fred and Chris head out first and make it safely to the other side of the tree. But as Dick and I move towards the tree, we hear tons of minor branches breaking. Stopping to stare up, we see this huge branch falling out of the tree. This smashes deep into the ground only meters before us. I have never been scared of monkeys nor apes in the wild before, but this scared me to death. This one "little" monkey was going to throw branches at four humans! Quick decision came to keeping on walking and not looking up, but getting out of this situation. You will not believe what happened next: the spider monkey followed us, chasing us, hunting us down. This he did not do for 20 meters or so, but for a 100. Shaking the trees he was in and continuing to throw branches, we were definitely impressed by his perseverance/stamina.
Once on the mountain we had one of the most awesome experience up to now; the Sun had been shining all day, we had been walking for hours and all of a sudden we saw a rainfall heading in our direction. We took of our clothes, placed it with the rest of our stuff to keep things dry, and waiting for the rain to come. Now these plateaus get really warm, like reaallly warm. With the rain coming in, we lay down flat on the rocks. The cold rain falling from the sky was heated in no-time, as it hit the surface of the rocks. As steam rose and warm water embraced our dirty bodies, we were at a spa. The most natural one thus far. The little pools that appeared functioned as hot tubs, the streams running down the plateau as small rapids to sit in. Soaping our bodies as we were standing there, practically naked on top of a mountain, during a heavy yet warm rainfall, we were the most satisfied people on the planet. Laughing and splashing the warmed water around was definitely the most perfectly timed moment of mother nature. As the Sun begins to shine again, we pack our stuff and head down the mountain towards the caves were we will set camp. But not for long and we were caught in another rainfall again, which made the "threaterous" mountain granite slippery and ever more dangerous. After following a stony creek, we make it to the caves. Here, I quickly get out of my wet clothes, bathe again, and put my jammies on :)
After dinner, Dick heads out to collect data, and goes fishing with the guys after. When they return though, they show me pictures and videos of a caught caiman too! Dick already had a fierce stalking reputation, but this was done extremely professionally. And just as fast as he had bare handedly caught the caiman, the caiman was released again. Now, we're all laying in our hammocks, me surrounded by the man, all snoring differently. These sounds do make me extremely tired so I'm giving up and going to hit the sack too.
After dinner, Dick heads out to collect data, and goes fishing with the guys after. When they return though, they show me pictures and videos of a caught caiman too! Dick already had a fierce stalking reputation, but this was done extremely professionally. And just as fast as he had bare handedly caught the caiman, the caiman was released again. Now, we're all laying in our hammocks, me surrounded by the man, all snoring differently. These sounds do make me extremely tired so I'm giving up and going to hit the sack too.
Today, we leave the safe cave and go out into the wilderness once more to head back to the car that will take us back to Paramaribo. Walking past the trap cams we had high hopes for some more mammals or larger ground bird species, but unfortunately ended up with photos of us only. In Paramaribo we fall asleep soon. We now have a few days to rest until our 6 day tour to Wonotobo on Teusday evening, the greatest waterfalls of Suriname!