I will never forget my first sighting of an anaconda in the Amazon Rain Forest. We were hiking in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve which consists of approximately 7,700 square miles and is the largest protected area in Peru. Paths are sometimes nonexistent, muddy, slippery, wet and hilly. We had been in the Reserve a brief time before we came upon the anaconda, napping in leaves to escape the brutal afternoon sun.
I had wanted to go to an out-of-the-way place and see wildlife in its natural environment. I had succeeded.
