Manoma River, Amur River drainage. Part 2 - middle reaches of the river

We were floating the middle and lower part of the Manoma R. - the stretch between the Upper Manoma and Lower Manoma villages.

Arthur & Alexander are in a bigger boat; I was using a small rubber raft

The river flows through dense forest; this the area where the Amur tigers are present. It is a pity I was never lucky to see this animal. One of my friends was; it is good to him that he can run very fast.

Manoma has some log-jams; only one of them requires portage

In some places in the river there are true carpets of freshwater pearl oysters

I was fishing with small streamers on tubes. The first fish was gudgeon - a predatory one. Very strange... I had never thought that this fish can eat minnows...

Flathead asp Pseudaspius leptocephalus is populating the entire drainage of the Amur River. The species prefers cold water; it is most numerous in the lower parts of the mountainous tributaries to Amur. Unlike the European asp it is never caught on the surface.

Now you understand why this fish bears the name "flathead asp". It looks like an attempt to create a pike out of a carp..

This is one of a few venemous snakes of the Far East - the Ussuri copperhead Gloydius ussuriensis. This snake was crossing the river and did not want to bite flies.

To be continued