INDONESIA - SUMATRA: TANGKAHAN, PART II, JUNGLE WALK

 July 2, 2023

We woke up early on our second day in Tangkahan, had breakfast in the lodge, and headed out on a jungle walk with our local guide. To get to the jungle, we had to first ford the river. Luckily, it was relatively shallow. The water was very clear, but the bottom was rocky. It wasn't a very comfortable walk for us, but our local guide Suker seemed to be walking on pillows.

After putting our shoes and socks back on, we headed into the dense, wet foliage. Suker stopped often to point out interesting plants or to tell us facts about the jungle.

COLOMBIA: TATAMA NATIONAL NATURAL PARK, PART 2

 Tuesday, March 21, 2023

I got up at 4:30 to shower to be ready for a 5:30 drive to the top of a nearby mountain. Savannah, as always, was ready on time and waiting for us outside her room. We stopped for a few minutes at the moth net to see what was left from the previous night's partiers, then got in a truck that was waiting to take us to the lodge, where we drank some hot chocolate and picked up food for a breakfast that we would eat at the end of our drive.

We only stopped a few times to look at birds on our way up a steep road. It took us two hours to drive about 8 miles, which gives you an idea about the condition of the road, which was built to service a military base at the top. The road would be impassable to most vehicles. It is rocky and uneven. Our driver, Jon, drove very slowly.

From the end of the road, we had a beautiful view of the rugged Tatamá Peak across the way, shimmering in the early morning light. Its summit is 13,500 feet above sea level, and there are several other peaks we could see in the same range that must also be close to that elevation.

The far-left guerrilla group FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolutionarias de Colombia, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) attacked this military outpost in 2000 during a long period of Colombian conflict. Apparently the outpost is there to protect some vital communications towers that link isolated parts of the country. According to an LA Times article, there were 600 FARC rebels who attacked 50 government soldiers at the complex. The government soldiers ultimately prevailed, although there were at least 20 fatalities. The family who runs the Tatamá Eco-lodge told us that they saw soldiers bringing all the bodies down from the mountain.

The road we took ended at a gate that said no photos were to be taken of the military facility, but I figured the tops of the communications towers that peaked out over the heavy vegetation were okay.

The forest service has built a large observation deck at the end of the road. 

COLOMBIA: TINAMU DAY 2

 March 19, 2023

I was up and out by 6:30 AM to see the morning birds with Bob. It was definitely not as impressive as I expected, and the birds we saw were similar to the day before. However, it was nice to be out in the cool morning air appreciating the glorious scenery.

The reserve folks had sprinkled some bird seed along the driveway that attracted dozens of small birds.

Saffron finch

COLOMBIA: BOGOTA TO PEREIRA TO TINAMU, DAY 1

 March 18, 2023

During the night I began stressing about my stolen phone and couldn't sleep. I looked at my email on Bob's phone and saw an email from either Verizon or Apple (I can't remember which) that said that at 4:45 PM someone had tried to retrieve my password to unlock the phone. That made me nervous and didn't help my insomnia. I was also a little nauseous. I think I fell asleep around 2:00 AM and got two hours of sleep before being startled awake at 4:00 by the alarm.

We were picked up at 4:45 AM and transported to the airport. We were supposed to have been given boarding passes, but they hadn't come, so we had to figure out how to do that. We made it to our gate in time to get Savannah a "pink drink" at Starbuck's for breakfast. I had a Coke to settle my stomach, and I bought some chocolate for the first time on the trip. 

Somehow we got seated on Row 2 in business class, which was the best seat on the plane. (Row 1 had less leg room.) It wasn't especially luxurious, but they did put a little table where the middle seat should be. It was a small plane, and they did make us check our bags.

Our flight to Pereira was supposed to be a little over an hour, but as we were coming in for a landing, the plane suddenly jerked upward for a steep climb, and then we made a wide circle (or two) before making a successful landing.  I have no idea what that was about. Pilot in training?

You can see from the map below that Bogotá and Pereira are not that far apart relative to the distance between Cartagena (top left of map) and Bogotá. We could have had someone drive us to Pereira, a distance of about 200 miles, but it takes almost eight hours to make the drive, which indicates what the roads are like. No thanks.

We had never heard of Pereira and don't know anyone else who has, even those it has a population of over 700,000 people. It is located in the Andean foothills and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the "Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia." The soil in this region is rich in minerals from volcanic eruptions.

We were picked up in the Pereira airport by a very friendly and talkative driver who took us to Tinamú Birding Reserve, abouat 1.5 hours away. We started on a very nice highway that eventually devolved into a narrow, bumpy dirt road with tight turns, and by the time we arrived, I was green. At the very end we cam nose-to-nose with a car coming out. Our driver had to back up quite a way before they could pass each other.

We got to the reserve at about 11:00 AM. We had a fairly large cabin not far from the main lodge. Here is the front entrance:

. . . and the side view:

I loved the tropical murals and bed throws in our room.