Janet Walker’s Excellent Peruvian Adventure

Janet Walker, an experienced and savvy world traveler currently enroute to Bali, took some time recently between trips to send us photos and answer a few questions about her August 2009 Peru whitewater rafting trip.

Janet had already been to Peru twice before embarking on her O.A.R.S. Tambopata River trip. (She had not yet traveled with O.A.R.S.) I asked her if there were any specific factors that helped her decide on this particular Peru adventure. Her answer? “The clay lick and the trip’s remote location.”

Clay lick

Janet had previous whitewater rafting experience, (as did everyone in her party) having rafted the Franklin River in Tasmania and the Arctic’s Alsek River, as well as several 1- to 4-day jaunts. She commented, “O.A.R.S. guides are the only ones who have not thrown me out!! My scariest experience was the top of the Nile in Uganda with another river outfitter. I thought the Tambopata River’s rapids were fun. However, we had good weather so it may not have been as excitingly dangerous as I think this river can be.” (Who doesn’t love her sense of adventure?!)

She found the O.A.R.S. guides to be extremely competent, and she revealed all three of trip’s guides were skilled and spoke English well.

Expedition leader on the right

I asked Janet to share any special highlights of her trip. She replied, “We started with an aim per day and always reached it, such as seeing a cock of the rock.  (I actually only caught a glimpse as I was in the second car, but it’s the closest I have been after several hunts.)  Wildlife is my thing, so I loved the clay lick, seeing tapir, capybara and otters, and the tracks of jaguar around several camps. The river was also really remote and we saw scarcely another soul – certainly no houses or other boats.  The land section was very interesting too.”

Jaguar spoor

Asked if she thought this is a good trip for people interested in bird watching, she replied, “Certainly.  With waterproof binoculars travelers could lie back and bird watch all day. I think Columbia and Peru have the highest number of bird species in the world.”

Ms. Walker plans to join O.A.R.S. for another trip one day. I certainly hope she does – I truly enjoyed her photos, stories and adventurous spirit! For an entire series of photos, visit our Facebook page.

Written by Tracy

Writer, Photographer, former Waterblogged Editor