Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Lake Titicaca, Peru and Bolivia

Tucked away high in the Andes between snow-covered peaks, Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake on the planet. The high altitude and crystal-clear air combine for stunning panoramas during the day and at night the sky is jam-packed with stars horizon to horizon.


Lake Titicaca straddles the border between Peru and Bolivia at 12,580 feet above sea level. The average depth is 328 feet (100 meters) and the deepest point is over 900 feet (281 meters.) The Andean people refer to it as “The Sacred Lake” and believe the first Inca rose from deep within the lake to found the Inca Empire. The people of the lake still make offerings to ensure sufficient totora reeds for building boats, for successful fishing, for safe passage on its waters and for a mild climate.


Go to - Lake Titicaca programs

 

Saturday, September 11, 2010

FREE GreenTracks CD-Rom

Be sure to request your....

FREE GreenTracks CD-Rom of Amazon Information with an Amazon Slide Show.
Features over 200 images of animals, plants, people and scenes from the Amazon.
Photos taken by our tour leaders on GreenTracks tours.




Go to - GreenTracks Amazon CD-ROM

 

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

A LOOK AT BOOKS

Smithsonian Atlas of the Amazon
by Michael Goulding, Ronaldo Barthem, Efrem Ferreira. 2003.

Smithsonian Books
. Washington.



The authors, all respected authorities on the region, treat the Amazon from its source high in the Peruvian Andes, to its mouth. They describe the Amazon based on its thirteen largest tributaries, each with a unique personality shaped by geography, ecology, recent geologic history, and mankind. The photographs are outstanding, and there are 150 color maps. This is the best overview ever written on the subject. “I was entranced when I saw [from orbit]...the mirror of the Amazon Basin, with its swamps and backwaters, like the bewitching eye of the continent...”– Oleg Markarov, cosmonaut.

 

Friday, September 3, 2010

Jungle lodge on the Quebrada Oran

This lodge is situated on a small tributary of the Amazon called the Quebrada Oran. The Oran region is rich in biodiversity and the lodge is near both high and lowland habitat, the Amazon River and many black-water lakes. The region behind the lodge is one of the seven Climatic Refuges in the Amazon Basin and is one of the highest in biodiversity of plants and animals. GreenTracks' itineraries can be customized to meet the guests interests.



Short or long nature hikes - Learn about the rainforest, relationships of animals and plants, lifecycles of the trees, water and epiphytes.

Bird watching - Macaws and parrots, prehistoric appearing hoatzin birds, horned screamers, hawks, eagles, falcons, herons.... hundreds of species!

Canoeing and boat excursions - explore oxbow lakes, lagoons, beaches, islands, flooded tahuampa forest, fishing, wildlife viewing.

Ethnobotany, Medicinal plants - hikes, talks, visits with shaman healers, gardens.



Indigenous cultures - Visit a Yagua Indian village, make bows and spears, weave baskets and bracelets. Purchase native arts and crafts - bracelets, necklaces, dresses, statues, blowguns, paddles, pottery and handbags.

Observe - giant water lilies, pink dolphins, frogs, giant river turtles laying eggs, enormous trees, strange insects, exotic plants, monkeys, maybe even an ocelot or jaguar.

Nocturnal excursions - by boat, on foot, looking for caiman and other nocturnal wildlife.





Go to - GreenTracks Lodge program