Iquitos Travel Forum

I am going to Iquitos in September and am especially interested in piranha fishing. Does anyone know of a good tour that does such a thing, and how far from Iquitos one must travel to do this in terms of time. Thank you.

I'm brazilian but Iquitos is around 850Km far away from Lima/Peru. Iquitos is on the peruvian Amazon. The most near brazilian city to Iquitos is Santa Rosa do Purus. I believe the best way to reach Iquitos is by Lima. I'm listing some nice links to you. I know they will not answer all your questions. Iquitos is on a amazon region, very distant of comfort and technology.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/south-america/peru/
http://www.krolltravel.com/stories/Brazil_PirahanaFishing.htm
http://www.pescamazon.com.br/htm/peixes1.htm#Piranha%20-%20Black%20Piranha
Cassiovieggore

This another link may help you in choosing your glimpse tour:
http://travel.peru.com/travel/english/tours/tours.asp?cCate=12
Cassiovieggore

I was in Iquitos in 2002. Interesting place. I'm sure you know it can be reached only by air or by river.

We took a "jungle" tour. That included piranha (piraña) fishing on the Amazon. Allegedly. We sat in a boat with lines and hooks baited with good steak. We could feel the fish taking the meat, but the hooks were way too big to catch any but the stupidest fish. Net result (pardon pun), was about expenditure = nearly half a kilo of steak, income = about half a dozen little fish. Piranha are really small fish, about the size of your little finger. It's only when there lots of them together they become a threat. If you're brave/silly enough, you can bathe with them, and they will come and clean your mouth out!


http://www.flickr.com/photos/john37perry/214814021/

I never went to Iquitos but yes, the most convenient way to go there is by air from Lima.
For piranha fishing there I suggest you have a look at the pages of my friend Ken, kzapanta.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Noel!!

Yes, I have first hand knowledge of fishing for piranha in the Amazon near Iquitos. The fishes we caught were not finger sized but about the a foot long but they do bite fingers. (as one of my tips show you how to do so correctly.)

Poster, if you ever read the answers, you can vtmail me directly and I see you are close by from me.

Ken

I went to Iquitos last year and it was really nice place, you can go there only
by plane. I took a tour called Piranha 3 it was a three days tour(wihout
camping, there are another programs with camping) and includes piranhha fishing,
It Was really awesome, I´ll give you travel agency´s e-mail:
apuquntur@hotmail.com, this is a tour Operator, Apu Kuntur Peru Travel &
Expeditions.

Good Luck
Rodrigo :)

I just wanted to thank everyone who responded to my original question. I am not able to visit this forum often but I do sincerely appreciate everyone's help!! Happy Travels...