AMAZON CRUISES
The small channel of Boca dos Botos is home to a flooded forest, challenging the human and wildlife inhabitants of the region. Traveling by zodiac with the Expedition Team, you will learn how the rise and fall of the river relates to the rise and fall of fortunes. Watch for evidence of how the local people deal with their sometimes-inhospitable environment. Also possible are wildlife encounters - sloths, howler monkeys, birds and squirrel monkeys congregate here.
Featured Regions
During our expeditions in the Amazon River we will explore varying environments shaped and differentiated by the river itself. These can be divided into three major regions:
Flooded Forests and Blackwater Tributaries
Manaus, Brazil to Rio Jutaí, Brazil
The Amazon here is wide, slow and winding, with large areas of seasonally flooded igapó forest flooded by blackwater tributaries and várzea forest with sediments from the Andes carrying floating vegetation and vital nutrients to support an amazing diversity of plant and animal life along the river and floodplains. This region is almost like a seacoast, best explored by Zodiac. ;People here utilize the forest’s natural products and engage in agricultural and extractive activities in a place rarely seen by the outside world. Exploring this incredible environment with your Expedition Team will immerse you in it and help you understand and appreciate it.
The Frontier Amazon
Rio Jutaí, Brazil to Leticia, Colombia
The banks are closer here and the currents stronger. Our ship passes closer to the forest and we see less frequent evidence of human population. In this more intimate relation to the forest, we will again use the Zodiacs to probe the shorelines and gain insights from your Expedition Team about the daily activities of the humans and the wildlife living here. The river itself forms the triple borders of Brazil, Colombia and Peru. Isolated, traditional caboclo communities see few visitors. Picturesque, friendly Leticia is a frontier town, hundreds of miles from the nearest Colombian road. The stilt and floating houses along its waterfront reveal how closely its peoples’ lives are linked to the river.
The Peruvian Amazon
Leticia, Colombia to Iquitos, Peru
The Peruvian Amazon is enveloped in an ocean of jungle where the seasons are marked only by the changing river levels and the amount of rainfall during the days. Here we will encounter indigenous populations more commonly along the banks of the river, and discover age-old human traditions surviving unaltered by the outside world. Many unexpected, unforgettable adventures await us as we board our Zodiacs to explore some of the most remote regions and exotic cultures of the mighty Amazon. Iquitos is a fascinating place. In the midst of the jungle, we find a major seaport nearly 2,000 miles from the sea, the largest city on earth that cannot be reached by road.
