Day 1 in Leticia – Amazon Rainforest, Colombia

We spent four incredible days in Leticia, and today marked the first day of our Amazon adventure. Look for our 4 Day Leticia Itinerary here.

If you’re curious about where we stayed during our trip, I’ve included all the details in the Tips & FAQ section below. You’ll find a link to our resort as well as some alternatives if it’s fully booked.

Amazing parakeet phenomenon – murmuration in the Amazon Rainforest

It was a rather short walk about 5 minutes, even with some construction happening nearby. We reached the park at 4:50 PM. We expected that maybe a few parakeets might already be there, and if a large number of parakeets came every day, there should be at least one or two. But we couldn’t find even a single one. We kept confirming with the locals whether we were indeed at Santander Park, and yes, we were.

After waiting for a few minutes, exactly at 5:00pm, we suddenly heard continuous squawking. We looked up, and boy, we were surprised to see tens of thousands of parakeets arriving at the park. It felt like several groups of thousands of birds each.
Each group of parakeets would sit on a tree in the park for a few seconds, maybe less than five seconds, and then they would all fly together again, creating a murmuration just above the park. Once again, each group would land on a different tree, with each group occupying one tree.

The squawking sound and the sight of the parakeets were absolutely amazing. These were tiny green parakeets with a light yellow shade in their feathers, which gave them a colorful appearance. We kept our heads raised, and every branch and every leaf of every tree above the park was covered in green and yellow parakeets.

Adding to the beauty was the sunset. As the sun was setting, the sky turned orange. Though we couldn’t see the actual sunset from where we stood, the parakeets appeared black against the orange sky. It was a feast for both our eyes and our cameras.

How these birds know the time, how they manage to be on time every day, and how the murmurations lasts exactly one hour everyday is truly a miracle.

The most amazing thing is that these thousands of Canary – winged parakeets come every single day, exactly at 5 in the morning and 5 in the evening, and the murmuration show lasts exactly one hour. Our resort staff told us that the local explanation for this squawking and movement from one tree to another is that the parakeets are marking their territory, and each group takes one tree to sleep in for the night. Additionally, this collective squawking and flying makes them appear as one large animal, helping to keep predators away.

Interested and want to know more? We have shared a video of this amazing parakeet phenomenon on our social media posts.

Once the birds settled down exactly at 6:00 PM, the incredible show was over. Although this was not our first time in the Amazon rainforest, we already felt we had a glimpse of what it is like to be in the Colombian part of the Amazon.

We then walked along the street where our resort was located and found a few restaurants nearby. It was surprising that for such a small city deep inside the Amazon forest, we expected more local food, but there were many pizza shops instead. We had our dinner and walked back to the resort, ready for our next adventure.

Night walk in the Amazon Rainforest- Tarantula Night Safari

We had booked a night walk in the Amazon Rainforest through our resort. It is very common for tourists visiting Leticia to take rainforest walks in Peru rather than Colombia, as the Colombian rainforest is more dense and wild. However, we wanted to experience how the dense rainforest looks in the dark.

It was time to leave, and we were given rainforest boots and head torches to wear. We also wore our rain jackets to keep mosquitoes and insects away. We drove for about 25 minutes in a jeep and stopped at an indigenous tribal reserve. Since this part of the rainforest is not normally authorized for tourists, we were informed that the tribal head needed to give permission for us to enter. We waited for about 30 minutes before permission was granted.

The tribal head also sent two people from the tribe to guide us along with our resort guide. We thanked the tribal head and began our journey.

After walking for a few minutes, we found ourselves in the deepest and thickest part of the rainforest, with absolutely no light. In that complete darkness and silence, we could hear every insect, every creature, and every movement of branches, trees, and plants around us. We were able to see the stars right in front of us, almost like a wall, rather than above us.

Being in the deepest part of the Amazon Rainforest at night was a thrilling experience. Even with our head torches, we couldn’t see very far. Several parts of the Amazon Rainforest have some of the darkest night skies on Earth, due to vast uninhabited areas and limited lighting restrictions (no lights after 9:00 PM). We were probably walking in one of the uninhabited areas of the rainforest. It was pitch dark and thick around us, and we simply followed our guides. They explained the flora and fauna of the region to us.

Jaguars do live in this forest, and the local guide showed us areas where they are usually spotted, but unfortunately,
we were not lucky enough to see one that night Or were we?. Our local guides carried large machetes to clear bushes and thorns along the way, as this was not a pre-set trail. Our main goal was to spot tarantulas, and our guide successfully found several that we could photograph. We also saw many other species of spiders.

We walked across a small bridge over a tiny water body that had formed from the Amazon River many years ago. We spent about two hours in the rainforest and returned via a shorter route in about one hour. It was an unforgettable and fascinating experience walking in the Amazon Rainforest at night.

After that, it was time to head back to the resort and relax for the day.

Amazon Rainforest Travel Tips & FAQs