Rainforest Journey: Visit to the Llushin River Project
Part Two: Yanacocha Hums
The next morning, Maria, our guide for the day, arrived to take our group up to the Yanacocha Cloudforest Reserve. Yanacocha is well-known by birdwatchers as a fantastic place to see birds, especially hummingbirds.
Volcano Pichincha from the trail
It was sunny and clear—perfect weather for a day trip. As we left Quito, we had a great view of the volcanoes which surround the city from all sides: snow-capped Cotopaxi grabbed our attention in particular. Our paved road eventually gave way to a bumpy gravel mountain road. After less than an hour on the road, we reached the gate to Yanacocha. From there, we hiked into the park on a road which which snaked along the mountainside. The views were stunning, with wide vistas into far-off valleys.
I noticed many interesting plants along our path. Anthuriums were growing in various places: this was my first aroid sighting of the trip. I also saw a few bromeliads and orchids, other typical rainforest plants. The most striking plant we saw is the Gunnera, a prehistoric plant known to be a food for dinosaurs. With its monstrous leaves and size, it is a dinosaur among plants. I've seen them growing in San Francisco's arboretum, but not near as huge as the plants here in the wild. It was an unbelievable sight to see these age-old plants cascading down mountainsides.
Hummingbirds flock to feeders in the park
We arrived at our first bird watching spot: a red bird feeder, where we could get our chance to take good closeup photos of them. Hummingbirds continuously came and went by the dozens, all different shapes, colors and sizes. I have never seen so many species in one place—I was in awe. Some of them were noticeably larger than the ones I've seen back in California. One spectacular bird had a very long beak, nearly twice as long as your typical hummingbird. Yanacocha Reserve is home to about 20 different hummingbird species alone.
We hiked further to reach a spectacular vista looking onto Pichincha volcano and a deep valley below. We ate a leisurely lunch as the hummingbirds buzzed by us. After lunch, we looped back to the entrance by traversing downhill on another trail. Our day's adventure turned into a memorable one (and a good high-altitude workout).
Continue to Part Three: Gateway to the Amazon
When he's not helping TRC, Tom Vincze designs and builds web sites and grows all sorts of exotic plants you might find in places like Llushin Valley.