The Magic Journey

Reception at Manaus airport and transfer to your hotel. Manaus is the Amazon’s largest city, and capital of Brazil’s enormous Amazonas state. Despite its location over 1500km from the Atlantic Ocean, it is a major port for ocean vessels, and the gateway for all commerce and tourism in the Brazilian Amazon.

Early this morning at 07:00hs, guests will board the vessel the at the Tropical Hotel pier for the 6 night cruise: Voyage to the Heart of the Amazon. Following boarding we immediately depart upstream on the Rio Negro. Through the morning we will cruise through the world’s largest river island system, the Anavilhanas Archipelago. From the observation deck we scan the magnificent tangle of vegetation at the water’s edge. By mid- afternoon the vessel has gone beyond the frontier of settlement and entered a wilderness area. Both shores are covered by dense rainforest. Though we cannot predict what we will see, we have a good chance of observing pink river dolphins and a large collection of exotic birds. Most certainly we will be treated to magnificent forest vistas and the spectacular trees themselves. In the late afternoon we embark in the launches and hunt for wildlife.

Early this morning we explore the rainforest along the waters edge in our launches or kayaks, each group with a naturalist guide. We should hear and perhaps see howler monkeys and we should hear a morning serenade of toucans. After breakfast we go for a walk in the forest where we will get a good start on understanding Amazon ecology. Around midday we return for lunch and the vessel will get underway, perhaps stopping at a place to swim. In the late afternoon we will again explore the forest in our launches and listen to the sunset chorus of birds and frogs.

This morning there will be an early exploration of the waking forest. We will keep our eyes open for monkeys on most trips we see them often. We return for breakfast followed by either a walk in the forest or an excursion in the launches. The boat will travel during the middle of the day and we stop in the afternoon for an excursion. Tonight the vessel may travel a bit more as we marvel at the night sky crowded with stars.

After our two morning excursions the boat will navigate along the heavily forested shore, scouting for wildlife. We may stop for a visit at a settler ’s home carved out of the forest. In the early afternoon we will be near an extraordinary river called the Rio Jaueperi.

Today we will voyage to the west side of the Rio Negro and continue to scout in our launches and walk in the forest. We will explore according to the weather and water depth areas rarely visited by anyone else. Tonight the boat goes downstream and river depth permitting, will enter an east bank affluent of the Rio Negro and explore on deep into the rainforest on this small river. After our nocturnal exploration of the rainforest in our launches and we return to the boat for “Caipirinha Night” on and perhaps try a bit of samba on the top deck.

We begin the day with a dawn excursion hunting for wakening wildlife followed by a full Brazilian breakfast. We will then go one last time into the forest. In the mid-afternoon we will begin to journey downstream to arrive late in the day at the “Encontra das Aguas” a stark several mile long line where two of the world’s largest rivers, the Amazon and the Rio Negro join in a turbulent maelstrom. Here the dark water of the Negro runs beside the opaque brown water of the Amazon. At sunset the boat will once again turn her bows upstream on the Rio Negro and journey to our overnight anchorage north of the City of Manaus. As we pass in front of Manaus, we will marvel at the scale of one of the world’s largest and most vibrant port cities, that is over one thousand miles from the sea. Tonight we will have a farewell dinner and prepare for an early departure in the morning.

This morning at 08:00hs, after a hearty breakfast, all guests will say their goodbyes and disembark from the boat at the hotel, before being transferred to the airport.

Meals: Breakfast