Hi,

I am currenlty beginning to plan my trip to South America and one of my big high lights is to go to see the rainforest in the amazon basin.
So far I have come across two main places to do several day trip in - Iquitos, Peru and Manaus, Brazil.

Could someone please advise me if there are any difference in what you get to see and do there? And what are the best ways to get there? Or are there other places as well?

Thanks a million.
Ulli

Both the places you mention are interesting but are essentially towns. to experience the real jungle at first hand you need to stay at a lodge which will probably involve a trip up river.

The best place for this is probably Peru, this site seems to be a starting point for that-

http://www.andeantravelweb.com/peru/hotels/jungle_lodges/index.html

The Tambopata is a smaller tributary and excellent for wildlife. Just be warned there is no guarantee of seeing anything. Frustratingly the jungle is so thick you can hear things, but they are just out of sight! That said you will see many wonderful things birds, caiman, insects trees and plants. The list is endless, just the richest environment anywhere.

At Manaus the river is much wider and its hard to imagine the scale of it. A good trip from there is to where the famous rivers Negro and Solimoes meet and for miles after you see the different colours of water.

You will have I great time I am sure.

For Iquitos and the Amazon there I would advice to check VT-member kzapanta (Ken) pages. Some helpful tips there.

Manaus has a population of over 1.6. I found it a fascinating city but you have to go quite a ways to get to forest little impacted by the city. I have not been to Iquitos but know that it is 1/4 the size of Manaus and much further up the headwaters of the Amazon. Perhaps knowing this will help you decide where to go.

We just got back from our holidays in Peru and went also to the Amazon. from what we understood is that there are basically three Amazon jungle zones open to tourism with good lodges and infrastructure: Manu, Tambopata and Iquitos. Manu is a more expensive and has a lot of animals and birds, Tambopata is cheaper and has less animals to watch and Iquitos is more adventurous and has animals but less than Manu. We chose for the last option also because we loved the idea of sailing upriver deep into the jungle and the combination of culture and nature. We visited a jungle village, NO tribes and dances were set up for us. We just walked their an no special attention to us. We booked through Aventuras de oro, who did a great job. info@aventuras-de-oro.com

PS I saw giant river otters at Tambopata, now that was an experience.

With wildlife its just luck. You are guaranteed to see something interesting however. How are you going to feel when your first Blue Morpho butterfly flutters by? And your first Toucan?

Enjoy.

Hello,
my friend and I are in Iquitos right now and we just finished an excellent six-night trip into the Amazon with a very good local guide named Gerson. He is from a local village on the Ucayali river about 260 km from Iquitos, so deep in the jungle -- be ready, there's no pre-packaged tourism here, just raw adventure. But we had an amazing time if that is what you are looking for, we went deep into the jungle and saw much wildlife and many animals. Gerson is very learned about all of the plants and animals and is so enthusiastic about his home. He works solo, but is hoping to create a company one day just for the local people of the Amazon villages.
From his village we went much deeper and camped on the Cumaseva creek. The only people we saw were local fishermen and there were very few, and maybe two other tourists, but that was just on the way to our camp and we passed a jungle lodge.
If you went with Gerson you would get to know a person who is very genuinely interested in making the selva known to you! A solid good guide.
We went caiman spotting at night, we also went for nighttime walks through the jungle searching for tarantulas and scorpions (came across a huge poisonous snake), and by day we saw sloths, many birds (king fishers and birds of prey), monkeys. We also searched for anaconda, but couldn't find any -- you might be more lucky. Gerson also has a vast knowledge of the plant life in the jungle, and showed us many food-bearing and medicinal plants; the man seems to know his way around the whole jungle and we were never worried about getting lost.
The people were great, we were well taken care of and looked after (bring a book because you will have a lot of free time too) and it was all around an amazing experience. If you want to contact me I can give you all the necessary information to contact him. You would be with a man who is from the heart of it rather than a tour agency so I would highly recommend contacting this man.
Loads of fun, enjoy, hoping you will go with him!

Sincerely,
Jules

Hi there...

I thought I would respond to your post.

I've travelled all over the world. I've spent a lot of time in South America. I must say of all of my travels throughout Peru, traveling into Iquitos and traveling down the Amazon River was probably one of the best experiences I've ever had. I highly recommend the tour guides at : http://amazonguidanceservices.hi5.com/ or amazonguidanceservices@gmail.com

These guys, especially Alexander Pizango is highly competent about the area. He even grew up in the Jungle. You will be able to hold many different animals that you wouldn't have imagined. .. sloths, alligators, monkeys, and even an anaconda. You almost have to experience it to believe it. It's really a once in a lifetime experience.

Also, don't leave Iquitos without visiting a Shaman. I wish I had a referral for one, I don't.

Really, you don't need to spend more than two days in Iquitos, unless you plan on taking an overnight tour down the Amazon River.

Please email me if you have any questions...
Carrie
carrielsmith@gmail.com

Hi,

Thanks for your great load of details. I wondered if you could please email (peterbcarpenter@yahoo.com.au) the details of your trip so I could lookat booking perhaps with your guide.

Quick question though. Do you need your owncamping equipment etc??

Thanks inadvance,

Pete

You could not make a better decision than to go with Gerson Pizango - a man with integrity, knowledge, and intelligence who lives in the Amazon and knows it as his backyard. Email him at amazonguideservices@gmail.com. He is awesome!!
Denise
denise_silzer@sd34.bc.ca

Iquitos is a culture shock but worht the hassles if you watch your valuables and the agressive taxi drivers.

Iquitos is a culture shock but worht the hassles if you watch your valuables and the agressive taxi drivers.