Several of the IPS Board Members went on a jungle canopy walk the day after the business of the board meeting.

Walking along trails with our guide, Julio, he remarked on the stilt roots of this Socratea exorrhiza. Locally it is referred to as the "walking palm". I sometimes confuse Socratea and Ireartea; but here you can clearly distinguish the open roots of the Socratea from the more densely packed Ireartea roots in the second photo.

Crown shot of the flowering Ireartea deltoidea:

We come to a 90-foot tower and climb many flights of stairs into the canopy.

We reach the sunlight, and the view in the treetops is entirely different from the shadowy understory below.

Seven hanging bridges connect to platforms in the trees. Only one person is permitted on a bridge at a time.

Sorry, I am having a heck of a time posting photos. More later when I have more patience.

We're all foaming at the mouth for more pictures.

Great photos Kim! So one day I hope to see the top of my closest Iriartea from the second floor's kitchen window. Sounds like I could need to add another floor to the house as the tree grows to maintain the proper view.

Of course my little palm is only less than three feet tall so my grandchildren may be the ones to solve that issue.

Thanks for pointing out the root differences too!

A few more shots from the canopy walk...

Attalea, probably phalerata . . . . . . . . Socratea? I'll have to check.

. . . . . . . . . . Red howler monkeys hanging out.

A couple of little red hot Geonoma along the trail on the way back.

It's very exciting to see these little ruby red gems in habitat, as well as the bigger canopy palms.

That's all folks!

Here's a shot of the root system of the largest Socratea we saw on that walk to the Canopy Walk structure, with me in it for scale.

jungle envy! many shades of green. loved the pictures. thanks!

thanks Kim for sharing.

One of the most incredible places to visit! The jungle lodge was very nice and hope you took some pictures to share. I look forward to many more pictures from everyone that was there.

AND WOULDN'T IT BE NICE AND A RARE OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL OF THOSE BOD's THAT WERE THERE, POST A FEW OF THEIR OWN PICTURES??? YES, right here, I'm sure in this instance, Kim would be more than happy to have her thread hijacked by fellow BOD's.

Those of you who were there, know who you are, we know who you are. In our current times, this would go a long way......

Jeff

Jeff, I hope your question is heard. Honestly, some of the directors are not as camera-crazy as me and Bo, but a few others were carrying some monster lenses and probably got some incredible plant and wildlife photos. Maybe Jack and Don will be willing to share? (Hint, hint!)

AND WOULDN'T IT BE NICE AND A RARE OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL OF THOSE BOD's THAT WERE THERE, POST A FEW OF THEIR OWN PICTURES???

Yes, we look forward to seeing their pics soon on Palmtalk!

I haven't labled my photos from Inkaterra yet, but let me bump this thread with a few. One is another view of the tower and attached bridges from the ground:

Here, we see Jim Cain watching as Horace Hobbs crosses the last of seven bridges. The next pic shows Horaces's spouse crossing.

Here are examples of the kind of views that are the reason for venturing onto these things. First, the crown of a large Euterpe precatoria, then, that of either Iriartea or Socratea (sorry, couldn't see the stilt roots from up there), then the crown of a tall Attalea phalerata/butyracea (debate remains over the ID):

All photos are from various towers. I just couldn't take pictures from the swaying bridges. In fact, I almost got dumped from one without a stabilizer.

Let's see if I can rotate the Attalea. It is shown upright on my computer.

No, I can't.

looks fun thanks for posting kim, bo and mike " cheers"

Yeah, that was definitely a fun experience! A few more photos!

those towers are awesome. I can only imagine the effort it took to hump all that lumber into the jungle and then construct them (without power tools?) wow. and then the views?! amazing

Jeff, I hope your question is heard. Honestly, some of the directors are not as camera-crazy as me and Bo, but a few others were carrying some monster lenses and probably got some incredible plant and wildlife photos. Maybe Jack and Don will be willing to share? (Hint, hint!)

Great shots everyone! I'm nearly finished sorting my photos, and I hope to start posting in the very near future...