January 8, 2007
Day 467
A green frog.
We got up at sunrise from our nice little campsite and made the short walk to the reception desk. The lady told us that we'd be staying in a baboon, which I thought was illegal in this country. Then she informed us that "baboon" was just the name for one of the shelters at the Brownsberg site. It may seem strange that they call the shelter "baboon" when baboons only live in Africa, but that's just the name they call the howler monkey, which is a common animal throughout the Amazon.
We were pleasantly surprised to see that the shelter had a kitchen area with a gas stove, running water, electricity at night, and flushing toilets right next door. Talk about luxury! We set up camp and looked at the maps we were provided for ideas on where to go.
Our first walk was to the Leo and Irene Falls, the latter being named after the military's macho Princess Irene Brigade, which used to go there for exercise. The path took us through the jungle where we saw some agutis, lots of frogs, and a few lizards. Neither of the falls were world-class, but walking there was quite pleasant because I was only carrying my camera and some water.
In the afternoon, we took another walk to Mazaroni Fall, named after the Mazaroni top, one of the two peaks of the Mazaroni plateau. The majority of the trail was on a flat road, but there was a steep part at the end. All of the trails on the site were quite easy to follow.
Today turned out to be an easy, enjoyable day because the area's main attractions were located within a few hours' walking distance of our camping area. Brownsberg is very different from the Kaieteur Falls trek, where the trail was practically nonexistent.
A crab.
The photo album for this entry is here.
