Although we were late to bed the night before, our guide reassured us not to worry because the 'jungle alarm clock' will get is up early for another full day of exploring.

Sure enough, bang on 5am we awoke with an incredible commotion right above our cabin. It sounded like a drunken didgeridoo player but turned out to be howler monkeys.

They were starting their morning routine of moving through the tree tops and marking their territory by shaking and bashing the branches, all while howling as loud and low-pitched as their throats could handle.

Two hours later and after a few menacing confrontations between neighbouring family groups, the larger, darker males decided they had made their point and the howling died down.

Now we could see the smaller females some of which had piggybacking babies. A much more peaceful start to the day as we went into breakfast.