Family Vacation Adventures in the Peruvian Amazon - The Clay Licks in Tambopata National Reserve by:Sylvia Arad
When the morning sun clears the Amazon tree line in southeastern Peru and strikes
a gray-pink clay bank on the upper Tambopata River, one of the world's most dazzling wildlife spectacles is nearing its riotous peak -- Franz Lanting, Macaws: Winged Rainbows, National Geographic, January, 1994Tambopata National Reserve. A 3.7 million acre reserve in the southeastern Peruvian Amazon and the gateway to one of the world's most remote and extraordinary Amazon rainforest environments, is home to over 1300 species of birds, including 32 kinds of parrots.
One of the most fascinating phenomena here is the daily flocking of birds, especially parrots and macaws, to clay licks. Clay licks, or "colpas", as they are referred to locally, are special deposits of clay along the Tambopata riverbanks and deep in the Amazon rainforest interior where birds and other wildlife come to eat soil.
Why should hundreds of birds eat soil from these special sites? The birds, especially the parrots, have a curious habit - they dexterously pluck fruit off trees, tear it open, discard the fruit and eat the hard seeds at the center. By eating the seeds from hundreds of plants, they are exposing themselves to highly toxic substances. The birds come to the "colpas" to obtain hard-to-find minerals, present in high concentrations in the lick's soil . They eat the clay to protect themselves and neutralize the effects of these toxins
The macaw clay lick, the largest "colpa", is a huge 50-meter tall cliff of reddish clay that extends about 500 meters along the Tambopata River. Here, at dawn, a brilliant array of color descends upon the lick. One by one, the birds begin flocking to the clay. As the morning progresses, they arrive in colorful waves to eat thumb-sized lumps of the clay. The spectacle of colors during the feast is dazzling - Blue and Gold Macaws, Mealy Parrots, Scarlet Macaws, Dusky-headed Conures, Blue-headed Pionus are just a few of the kinds of birds streaming in from all directions. At first, the birds congregate in the crowns of trees surrounding the licks. They spend hours at a time screeching, squabbling and purring at each other before descending to eat the clay. Once they descend on to the lick, they concentrate on finding choice spots from which to feast on the clay. And whoosh - they are gone leaving a pageant of color and sound at the first sign of danger.
Clay Licks are not unique to the birds. So for example, a peccary clay lick is home to wild rainforest pigs that show up in herds to eat clay in the late mornings. Parakeet licks are found in the more remote areas of the rainforest, whereas monkeys lick tree trunks with sediments, and butterflies flutter about beaches where nutrient-rich liquids have evaporated. The macaw lick, however, with its proximity to the Tambopata Research Center, a rustic lodge established to protect the nearby lick and to accommodate travelers and researchers, makes it a superb outdoor adventure travel starting point for the intimate rainforest experience in this uninhabited frontier of the Refuge.
About the author
Sylvia Arad is an experienced travel consultant and world traveler. She writes articles about adventure destinations, tips for adventure travel and family adventure travel.
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