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From left : Macaws grooming one |
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another in the treetops of the |
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Amazon Rainforest |
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images : getty |
the thick , white wisp . The sky is as gold and the air as thick as fresh honey , and the thousands of tree species on the bank are cast black against the sunrise . But our attention is focused under the water .
Our sights are set on the flurry of piranhas flitting beneath the murky surface . They ’ re easy fish to catch , enticed by any kind of flesh . Juan hands out sticks , broken from the low-hanging brush , a roll of wire and hooks . Winding the wire until my stick passably resembles a rod , I skewer raw chicken skin to the hook and leave it to bob .
The fish are hasty , nipping at the ends of our hooks without hesitation . It isn ’ t long before we collect a pile of the tiny sabretoothed predators . Most of ours are barely bigger than my palm , but they ’ re known to grow up to 50 cm-long in some Brazilian states . While everything we can catch is small , there are plenty of bigger fish to flamegrill . There are about 1,500 species of catfish
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slinking through the Amazon River — the biggest genus is sizzling just downstream .
Dubbed the Amazon river monster , piraiba reach up to 2.5 m-long . They ’ re imperceptible , until you drop one of the small piranhas back into the water . The thrash is over in seconds , and then enormous , slicked scales snap back below the surface with effortless force . The fish ’ s nickname is earned by its sheer size alone . At a lodge downriver , one has been hauled ashore and is being carved and cooked as we race to join the feast .
The lodge reaches high into the treeline . It ’ s elevated by wooden columns , thin but impervious to the river ’ s seasonally fluctuating depth . In the open-air treehouse , we meet a group of locals . The women busy themselves with the fish , while the men congregate around a flickering TV that would have been old-school in the early 1990s . They ’ re wearing a mishmash of faded football shirts — Brasilia , Borussia
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Eyes to the sky
Toucans Toucans are preceded by their prominent , bright orange beaks . Find them in the trees , as their heavy appendage makes them surprisingly poor flyers .
Macaws Green , yellow , red and blue — the Amazon ’ s macaws are difficult to miss . Count how many colours you can spot amid the trees .
Parakeets Spot these tiny , lime-green parrots as they migrate . They flock in the thousands , swarming the sky like a black , screeching cloud .
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SPRING 2023 • 37 |