Mosquito netting around my bed wouldn’t stop the jaguar about to charge

through my room in Peru’s jungle in the middle of August.

Or so I thought just before first light.

Turned out the gigantic sounds belonged to red howler monkeys, and they

never left their trees, but at the first hint of morning my first night in a

lodge in the dense forest, what did I know about animal sounds?

Very little. That continued to be the case for three nights and four days —

didn’t know much and generally drew the wrong conclusions if I didn’t wait

for accurate information from the guide.

Seemed like a really good idea not to venture out on any of the 15 jungle

trails surrounding the Posada Amazonas Lodge without him, even though I’ve

solo hiked for years.

It takes a little doing to get yourself into this jungle close to Peru’s

southern border with Bolivia. This is not a place to stumble across, but an

intentional holiday.