Iwokrama Mountains Off The Beaten Path

From the top of Turtle Mountain, you can see far and wide - with the view consisting of trees, trees, and more trees. Actually, it makes you appreciate just how large the rainforest is in this area, and just how remote you are!

One of the trekking possiblities at Iwokrama is to climb Turtle Mountain. After a boat trip of around half an hour, you make a rough landing before setting off on reasonable trails.

The first part of the trail was rather precarious, as you needed to cross a small creek. You could either try and balance on a fallen log which was rather tangled in vegetation - one of our party got a rather nasty burn mark on his neck when he accidentally brushed again a poisonous tree. The other option was to wade, but if you were unlucky you'd get water into your boots. Not recommended as wet socks often give you blisters.

A series of five suspended rope bridges at a height of 30m connect five platforms built in the trees.

The bridges are very safe, albeit a little wobbly as you walk on them. They are quite narrow, and as you place your feet on each side of the bridge, it bends from side to side, which I found a little off putting. The slower you walk, the more apparent this swaying became.

Hand rails guide you along, but I did find some of them were a little low for me, making me feel a little unsafe.

For me, the worst parts were the joints in the metal grids.

From these bridges you get a great view of the forest below, that is, if you can look away from the bridge! We did not see any wild animals or birds on our walks across the canopy walkways, not that I expected to, having experienced these elsewhere in the world!

For safety reasons, only one person is allowed on any one bridge at any one time.