Kaw

The Kaw marshes cover close to a hundred thousand hectares of flooded savanna behind a low mountain ridge, and the reserve holds one of the densest populations of black caiman anywhere. Boats leave the hamlet of Kaw after dark and the guide's lamp finds their eyes in the reeds, sometimes a dozen in an hour. By day the same channels hold hoatzin, jabiru and scarlet ibis crossing at dusk in flocks. Giant water lilies open on the still water. Nights are spent on a floating lodge. The marshes were listed under the Ramsar convention in 1993.