It was a dark wet morning when Paul, the taxi man arrived at La Posada de Cusps to collect us. It was just before 4.00 am and outside the guesthouse, the music and the electoral campaigning was still going strong. I had dispensed with my ear plugs earlier - they were of little use. The row upon row of huge rock music style amplifiers not more than 100 yards from my bed room ensured that I had experienced absolutely no sleep. Dad also looked fed up with red eyes and as we found out later, that nice couple from Madrid also got no sleep.


Paul on the other hand, living in Pedro Ruiz looked nice and chirpy, although against the volume of loud Peruvian pop it was difficult to understand anything said . When I suggested an early morning start of 4.00am to Dad, I did think I might be a little mad, however in view of the fact neither of us got any sleep, it seemed not such a ridiculous decision.


We were now going to use Paul to take us back to Moyobamba where we were booked in again with Alfonso at the Hospedaje el Porton. However where as before, we had ended up with an awful and expensive taxi that crashed half way through the journey - this time we decided to take Paul, whom we had met the previous day when Carlos dropped us in Pedro Ruiz.


Paul had a nice new Toyota, which was comfortable and which he drove safely. He did though speak no English so I was impressed that I had been able to organise this trip to Moyobamba on the phone with him. What was also good news was that he was a bird enthusiast and when I mentioned to him about my disappointment of being unable to show Dad the Marvellous Spatultail hummingbird, he mentioned that we should go to Huembo Private Reserve. This private reserve is located mid way between Pedro Ruiz and Lake Pomacochas and has been financed with American donations as a reserve for the Marvellous Spatultail hummingbird, amongst others. This place we could visit en route to Moyobamba, but Paul did mention that to have the best chance of seeing the Marvellous Spatultail, we must arrive as dawn breaks, therefore we organised this early morning start .


I don’t recall much of the journey to Huembo as Dad and I fell asleep as soon as we were both out of ear shot of the music. When we arrived at the gates, Huembo looked closed, but Paul was soon out of the car yelling through the gates “to someone I know” (I think he said). Sure enough as the first hints of daylight emerged, the gates were swung open and there was Paul’s friend. We were hurried down into the reserve and then off to a small viewing area just below the road where there were some feeders already suspended. Both of us could hear the frantic tell tale bussing of the residents, but Paul’s friend interjected saying, “I have to go and make some food for them, so please wait here.”  Dad and I settled down to wait, our eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness and now well aware that any photography would be almost impossible.


The buzzing grew louder as the gloom lifted, but unfortunately it was to be a heavily overcast day and therefore gloomy for the whole of our time there . Unlike Kenti Cafe, Huambo has a total of 12 hummingbird residents including the renowned Marvellous Spatuletail. Including the ones we witnessed at Kenti Cafe, we were now able to spot Sparkling and Green Violetears (the ones with purple ears which always fight), Mountain Velvetbreast, White-bellied Hummingbird, Andean Emerald, Bronzy Inca, Green-tailed Trainbearer, and both White-bellied Woodstar and Little Woodstar.


As the light improved, the guide returned and he was able to name all the visiting birds. By 6.30am we could make out at least twenty at one particular moment, but still no sign of the main attraction. Then in one moment the guide spotted a female Spatuletail, which unlike the male is just a nondescript brown small bird. But within seconds our first Marvellous male was hovering around her with his tell tale discs dancing behind. Even in this gloomy light it was great to see this bird and Dad saw it too . In fact over the next 90 minutes we had five more fleeting sightings each better than the last.


With as few as 250-400 estimated left in the wild this was great, even if the viewings were fleeting and photography near on impossible. The Marvellous Spatuletail is unique among birds in having just four feathers in its tail. Its most remarkable feature is the male's two long spoon shaped outer tail feathers that cross each other and end in large violet-blue discs or "spatules". He can move them independently and does so during his famous courtship dance (which you can see on the BBC Nature website). The bird was chosen by David Attenborough as one of the ten animals he would “wish to save from extinction” on his Attenborough’s Ark program.


Excitedly we said thanks to the guide and headed back to the car where Paul drove us the thirty or so minutes to Lake Pomacochas and a rather rustic breakfast . We both slept through the rest of the journey back to Moyobamba, which was a shame as we missed the dramatic scenery.


Alfonso was very please to see us at El Portion and it did feel as if we were returning home. Moyobamba at the base of the cloud forest was humid and warm in complete contrast to where we had been and I was determined to open up the ruck sack and dry out everything from Cuispes. Alfonso was also super helpful in organising Dad an appointment with a nurse at the local clinic, to have his wounds dressed and checked for infection. We also returned to eat at La Olla de Barro where we enjoyed their jungle menu. This offered a small change in variety of cuisine from the Andean stuff we had eaten over the past ten days.


The next day we headed straight up to Wakanki on side of the hills in the rainforest overlooking Moyobamba. This is another private reserve and to be honest more famous for its Orchids than the hummingbirds, but nonetheless an exceptional home to over twenty five species including its own super hummer, the Rufous-Crested Croquette.


As we arrived in the Tuk Tuk we were met by the owner’s daughter. The entrance fee to the reserve includes a guided tour around the Orchid area, which was fabulous. I was not expecting to be so absorbed in these plants, but they were fascinating and finding out that many were so endangered that this was only place where they could be viewed easily, made this visit all the more interesting.


This Orchid farm grows more than 150 orchid species with a huge variety of shapes, colours, sizes and concentrations. These included “Phragmipedum, Cattleya, Licaste, Oncidium, Epidendrum, Anguolas, Maxilaria, Phragmipedum Caudatum, Cattleya Rex,” also species from bromeliads, mosses and some tropical ferns.


The hummingbird area was a short walk up hill from the Orchids, and as one approached the noise was impressive. There was a tree house in the middle of the clearing and feeders were positioned all the way around the house. The number of hummingbirds was truly impressive after all we had seen and yet again there were many new species which we had not witnessed in the Kenti Cafe and Huembo. However there were many we had not seen and it was not long before the Rufous-Crested Croquette turned up.


This hummingbird, whilst tiny, is almost as impressive as the Marvellous Spatuletail. It measures about 3in (about 8cm) in length including the tail. The males have a very dark green plumage, except for the white rump and rufous, dark-tipped orange crest, glossy green throat patch and elongated white feathers on the upper chest. The female again is less spectacular. Of course witnessing this bird is one thing, taking a photograph is another challenge entirely. After three hours I had little to show, but we did agree to try the following day.


Unfortunately that evening I felt lousy and within minutes was violently sick with painful stomach cramps. I did recall mixing up mine and Dad’s drinking bottles before trekking to Yumilla, so I blamed it on that, as my illness seemed remarkably similar to he had at the Kenti Cafe. This unfortunately required a further day in Moyobamba and we had to miss the planned visit to Lamas. The next day I remained in bed.


This was quite a spectacular bug and really knocked me for six. Meanwhile Dad went back wards and forwards to the clinic to get his wounds sorted and he finally seemed to be making some progress on the healing now the stitches were removed. After a day in bed I was starting to feel better and on a walk around town with Dad we did manage to stumble on a cafe owned by a coffee producer producing some great coffee, which if anything was a little to strong for me - surprisingly. We started to come regularly for breakfast as unfortunately Alfonso’s was not up to much, except for his papaya and lime freshly squeezed juice.


In the afternoon of the last day I felt up to a repeat visit to Wakanki and another attempt at photography. This was altogether a more rewarding photographic day. Of course its difficult to say why, but maybe as the light was not so harsh (it was over cast) the birds were more active and with the benefit of the previous day’s visit, I had a good idea of where the birds would be and a better idea of how they would behave. Either way, I got my best pictures on that visit.


That afternoon we packed everything as the trip back to South Africa started looming. I still felt somewhat fragile, but was now almost ready for the long flight back. The next day we said goodbye to Alfonso and Dad had a final check up at the clinic. Alfonso got us the original taxi and the driver had us back in the terminal at Tarapoto in record time, via the same coconut juice stand. Before you knew it we were back in Friendly Hostel in Lima with David.


That night Dad wanted a special meal and we ended up going to an Italian Restaurant (the Peruvian one we wanted to visit was closed) and had a truly great meal. Next day at 5.00am the taxi turned up and without too much agro, we took off on the first leg to Sao Paulo on time.


Four hours later we landed in Sao Paulo and endured an eight hour wait for the next connecting flight to Johannesburg. Luckily this time we were in the new terminal not the old one, so the lay over was far less painless and Dad also got me into a lounge. The next nine hours was fine and the change in Joburg was also painless, so in no time at all we found Andre in Cape Town airport and were being driven back to Cape Town in an unseasonal 28C.