The next day we went on a tour to the famous Lake Sandoval. This lake is located in the middle of a natural reserve and tourists are only allowed to access certain areas. On the walk to the lake we learned a lot about the local flora and fauna from Efrain our local guide. And later on the lake we actually saw what we had hoped for – a family of giant otters.
They are up to 1.8m long, excellent swimmers and equipped with sharp teeth. And when we observed them hunting, we were simply amazed by their elegance.
And during lunch an Agouti passed through our picnic place. This animal looks a bit like a mix of a rabbit and a hamster. Afterwards we went back to our boat to explore the other half of the lake. We saw river turtles and cormorants but the next highlight was actually waiting for us on our way back. Efrain had let us go in front and we were already in the middle of the boardwalk when he suddenly came running. He urged us to turn back and when we arrived he pointed to the trees. There was an entire family of red howler monkeys including a baby and the evening sun was shining right at them. We had heard them many times before but never seen that close. They were absolutely beautiful and it hurt a little when we finally had to continue walking.
But who would have thought that our hearts would melt once more the same day. After dinner with four newly arrived guests Roland asked us to follow him to one of the trees right at the river bed. And when he pointed up with his giant flashlight we could see the hairy back of a two toed sloth.
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