Tuesday 4 August 2015

Cruising the Amazon forest

Reflections in the Rio Negro
BAASA Gauteng members turned out on a very frosty Saturday morning to listen to a delightful illustrated talk by Gill Condy, aided and abetted by Sally Townshend and Bridget Dunseith. Did you know that brazil nuts cannot be cultivated anywhere other than in their indigenous ecological system as the pollinator and tree have extremely limited and very fascinating ecological niches? Google it if you don't believe this. And this was just one of the very fascinating snippets we learned on the day.
A plaque here pays homage to Margaret Mee
Travel tip of the day if you're heading to that destination: 'Priority' queues in the airports for the elderly, disabled, etc mean you don't have to stand for ages in long queues. So if you're travelling with an 'elderly' person (aka Sally) you can ask if your 'caregiver' (aka Bridget) can accompany you, so that they too get to take advantage of the priority queue.
Bridget and Sally relaxing on a palm frond bed
woven on site by a cruise staff member
The three travellers also brought their paintings for us to view and we were rather awestruck by what they had managed to achieve, while not depriving themselves of a chance to take in the tourist offerings too.
Early morning start to hunt for plants
Gill commented that what stuck with her the most was the vivid reflections everywhere they cruised and judging from the photographs, I couldn't agree with her more.
Submerged tree covered in epiphytes
Thanks so much to Bridget, Gill and Sally for sharing your experience with us. As armchair travel goes we couldn't have wished for anything better and I certainly felt that I had enjoyed a wonderful trip by the end of the morning's presentation.
The end to a perfect day

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