Muyuna Lodge Amazon

The true value and safety of a relationship, place or in this case, Muyuna lodge and its staff can only be gauged when things are going bad, as we all know life is easy when the going is good.

Before I relate the circumstances of our terrifying and potentially life threatening experience and subsequent unbelievable treatment by the staff and management of Muyuna Lodge, I will tell you a little about myself and my fellow travelers involved in this incident.

My wife Isabelle, ex-Canadian military, and I have been traveling for 22 years, have lived in five different countries, speak four languages fluently and have had experiences such as a confrontation with a brown bear and cub in Canada, an axe wielding Football hooligan in England, Neo Nazi skinhead attack in Germany and being caught in a tropical storm and flood in Brazil. Our companion Constance is an experienced naturist who has trekked in the Himalayas, western Canada and has been to a Jungle lodge before.

Our day started badly as our guide lead us to a dead lake (a lake blocked by the cabbage plant) and instead of changing course decided to go forward. We got stuck and had to use our benches (which consisted of planks of wood) to push the boat through. It took 4 hours to traverse 300m and totally killed our morning…things could only get better in the afternoon!

After lunch, the three of us, the guide and the young boatman set out by boat to go and look for the hoatzin, a prehistoric bird that lives in this part of the Amazon. We turned in to one of many tributaries and very slowly, through thick reeds we came into the clearing of the lake. At all times our guide was standing on the bow of the boat, allegedly guiding the boatman and avoiding danger.

I raised my camera, captured the amazing fauna on view and looked down at my feet to see a five or six of what I thought was horseflies. However, they started to intensify in numbers and to sting me! The only word that came from the guide at this moment was: “bees”! This triggered panic on the whole boat. At this point, the bees flew into my ears and started stinging the inside. I jumped up in horror and as I raised my hand instinctively to my ear, my camera flew out of my hand and into the water. Reaching for the camera thankfully broke the shear terror that had overwhelmed and blinded me. I now realize that the intensity of panic and terror I felt at that moment was new to me and that I probably never will feel it again.

My wife and Constance were under attack from the swarm and were screaming as the bees engulfed and attacked them in a pulsating angry cloud. My wife has allergies, one sting could have brought on an anaphylactic fit, and she was at this moment shouting at the guide to do something and to get us out of here. At this time, I had forgotten the camera and calmness came over me as the sight of my Wife being attacked lead me to help her. I looked to the guide but he was just standing there, frozen in a catatonic state of fear. I then stumbled to the bow of the boat, constantly under attack, to witness a sight straight out of horror movies; to my right stood the inactive guide, in front my wife and Constance in hysterics as the bees engulfed their heads and hair but next to me, the teenage boatman covered head to toe in a pulsating skin of black bees through which you can only see the whites of his bulging eyes as he shrieks horrifically in shallow breaths. This image will stay with me for the rest of my life.

I thought at this moment that we would all die, stranded 200 miles upstream on the Amazon on a secluded lake with an inactive guide, a paralysed boatman and under attack from a swarm of bees. I started instinctively to save the situation: I shouted to my wife to use the insect repellent to free herself from the bees. Amazingly, the swarm lifted en masse few inches from the girl’s heads, Isabelle took control of herself and in turn looked after Constance. The girls hid in their rain gear (large ponchos) and regained control over themselves. I looked to the boatman but he had jumped overboard; there was now no one to start the boat and the propellers were stuck in the thick reeds. I moved to the stern and tried to paddle us out of there but to no avail. I looked over the side and the boatman was in the water up to his neck and clinging to the side of the boat. He reacted to my paddling by trying to push the boat backwards - at last some effort at assistance! I suddenly stood still and realized I was surrounded and covered by bees but yet remained calm.

The guide only at this moment, when all were calm, came up to me and said in my ear that these bees do not sting but only bite! I passed this message on the girls to reassure them as the guide did not find relevant to communicate this information to the rest of us. Moreover, he said again in a quiet voice to me that the bees will leave you alone if you do not move! So when our guide froze at the start was it fear or just to save his own skin? Either way he did nothing to save the situation.

As the boatman clambered back into the boat, I noticed that the hive was just off the starboard side right next to where I was sitting! The boatman freed the propeller and we retreated twenty yards from where I could clearly see the path of the boat. The boat had driven straight in to a huge bees hive that was attached to a collapsed tree trunk, which was visible from twenty yards. It is for us hard to believe that our guide of 17 years experience did not see the hive even though he was standing at the bow!! Not only did he not see it or even notice that we hit it but he moved the boat directly on it, until the propellers jammed. No wonder the bees attacked us as they were defending themselves from a cumbersome foe!

Once away from the hive, I relaxed and realised the bee in my ear was continuing to bite me. I asked the guide for help and guess what? He asked the teenage boatman to look at my ear... how can this be possible after what had just happened??? The teenage boatman successfully removed the critter from my ear. Relief!

After a halfhearted attempt to retrieve my camera, we headed back to the lodge. For the whole boat ride not a single word was uttered to us in shape way or form. No sympathy, no apologies, no comforting word … nothing.

Upon arriving at the lodge, we were shook up and the adrenaline was still pumping. We still expected a comforting word but instead, the guide left us on the dock, ran to the staff quarters and we heard loud bursts of laughing! I actually saw them later on laughing and mimicking someone who is trying to wipe bees off them. This, for us, demonstrated a complete lack of consideration for the guest, created an “us and them” environment and more importantly showed an obvious disregard for our safety.

A few hours later, the guide informed us that they would go back to the site and burn the hive; they would at the same time attempt to retrieve our camera. They came back and told me I had to go with them the following morning at six o’clock to locate the camera! The only reassurance I got was that I had to go back to the scene of utter terror and relive the whole experience. This made no sense to me, as I gave them the location of the camera on many occasions, but it seems that they needed to put me back in danger and go with them.

The boat ride was silent the next morning and in the rising sun, it felt more like a military mission. We arrived on site and our experienced guide did nothing other than send one of the villagers into danger. However, this old man navigated the hive and retrieved my camera, which had spent the night under water.

Moving on we were leaving the very next day so we decided that in all it was an unbelievably scary moment and that we should be compensated for the inept guide and the lack of support and sympathy for our situation. We decided to take up our complaint at the office rather than kick up a stink at the lodge and ruin the experience for other travelers. We reasoned that at minimum we should have at least our camera compensated which we had paid $300 for only 2 weeks previous.

We stated our case at the office; they at least showed concern and allegedly got in touch with the owner to get advice. The result was: “Muyuna lodge is not responsible for the loss of personal items…..”. We were then handed our $1200 dollar bill there and then to pay there and then. This we did in silence and we left to go to our new hotel. Just to add insult to injury we put our bags down in the hotel and Mario (person from the lodge in charge of transport or passengers) then informed that the office called and is demanding we pay our outstanding bar bill for the week……..$18 dollars! We couldn’t believe it!! What an insult … and we also were to have the correct change - which of course we did not have!

Therefore FYI, at Munaya Lodge they are not responsible for:

Tweet