A Flora And Fauna Focused Amazon Adventure

I can sit on an Italian beach when I’m old. For now, I look for adventure.

I’ve traveled to Easter Island, deep into the rainforests of South America, trekked to see the gorillas in Rwanda, and swam with sharks around the globe. I’ve also hiked through the rainforest in other Central and South American countries, but it’s been high on my list for a while to experience the rainforest of all rainforests: the Amazon.

I finally made it happen a few months back, planning a trip with Expedição Katerre, traveling to the Brazilian Amazon to explore the plant life, local communities, and of course, the wildlife like scorpion spiders, tarantulas, toucans, sloths, and the mysterious pink dolphins, making my 90s Lisa Frank dreams a reality.

When choosing who to travel here with, it was important to me to choose a company that allows their guests the chance to immerse themselves in nature, with a few modern luxuries, while still being off the grid, truly experiencing adventure living on a boat for the week. Expedição Katerre has multiple itinerary options that range between three, four, and seven nights. I signed up for the National Parks Anavilhanas and Jaú for four nights and one night at the Mirante do Gavião Amazon Lodge in the rainforest to recoup after the boat, beginning with 2 nights in Manaus.

PART I — Where To Stay and What to do in Manaus

Juma Ópera Hotel

The trip begins by flying into Manaus, Brazil, a major jumping off point for those looking to visit the Amazon Rainforest. When booking your hotel, give yourself plenty of time to get to the area and book a transfer car in advance. I chose a basic room with a view at the Juma Opera. The rooms had a comfortable king bed, a sizable bathroom, nice views of the garden, some storage space for your bags, a desk to get a little work done, and all your basic amenities like plenty of powerful AC to battle the intense Brazilian humidity and heat. The rooftop pool overlooking the Opera House was what really did it for me. The pool is open from early in the morning, until about midnight, so you can enjoy a beautiful night swim under the stars, listening to the music from live bands playing at the bars around the neighborhood.

Amenities:

• Beautiful rooftop pool
• Great location
• Wifi
• Strong AC
• Complimentary breakfast

Room Rate: Generally $200+ per night

BOOK HERE

Caxiri Amazônia
If you feel like venturing out from the restaurant attached to Juma Opera, this is a great place to try some local cuisine. It’s about a three minute walk from the hotel, so easy to get to.

Transfer from Manaus to Novo Airão
You’ll board the boat in Novo Airão, about a 3-hour drive from Manaus. I went with Cooperativa de Taxistas de Novo Airão and their driver, Fernando. The transfers ended up costing about $150 total, so not bad at all for two 3-hour transfers. From there, the group meets at Mirante do Gavião Lodge, where the boat is docked. The amazing team takes care of all the bags, so you can just take in the rainforest views as you make your way down to the dock.

PART ll — Itinerary For The 4 Night, 5 Day Adventure

Board the Jacaré-Tinga Boat to Begin Your Adventure

The Jacaré-Tinga boat gives travelers a view into the regional, local style of boats. Of course, you have a little bit more comfort like air-conditioning in the rooms, but the two-story, 53-ft boat is still a rustic way to experience the river. Each room within the wooden boat has a private bathroom and shower head, a bed, and AC, so everything you need. There’s even WiFi on board to check in occasionally with family, but for the most part, you’ll be off the grid. The small motor boats provide a way for the group to explore the flooded forests, and there’s a dining room with space for hammocks, tables, and chairs to relax and socialize. Every meal on board celebrates local, traditional cuisine. We tried fresh, regional fish, Brazilian barbecue, traditional desserts like creamy caramel pudding, fresh tropical fruit, acai, and even piranha.

Amenities:

• Home cooked meals
• Energy and AC in all cabins
• 1st-aid kit, pharmacy, experienced and trained staff
• Full kitchen with oven, freezer, refrigerator, utensils
• Equipment for the jungle
• Powerful flashlight for spotting alligators, walkie-talkie radio for trails
• Binoculars for bird watching
• Multiple leisure areas
• Card games, dominoes, checkers, chess and backgammon
• Noodles for diving in the river and waterfalls
• Hammocks
• Chilled drinks and barbecue
• Fishing rods

Room Rate: $2000 to $3000 USD based on the room

BOOK HERE: Contact expedicoes@katerre.com directly

Heading into the UNESCO “natural world heritage site,” the boat makes its way to the Jau National Park. It’s known to be the biggest freshwater forest park in the world. Home to natural beauty, waterfalls, plant life, and of course, plenty of wildlife. My trip was in early July, which is within the wet season. Visitors will have different experiences during the wet and dry seasons, allowing the chance to see various animals and experience different terrain. The wet season floods the Igapó Forests, so we explored a lot in a smaller motor boat that accommodated our small group of 5 and our guide, Noah. If you choose the Rio Negro itinerary, you’ll notice the lack of mosquitoes. When you think about the rainforest, many people think of bugs, and believe me there were plenty of those, but to my surprise, there were not a lot of mosquitoes. This is actually due to natural bug repellent within the water on the Black River.

Day 1: Manaus / Novo Airão / Anavilhanas

On the first day of the expedition, the focus will be getting guests from their hotel in Manaus to Novo Airao. Once everyone arrives in the afternoon, the expedition begins with Katerre Expeditions through the Anavilhanas Archipelago with lunch on board and a briefing of what to expect. After lunch, there’s time on the first day to enjoy a swim in the river, a.k.a. the “big tea,” nicknamed that because the black river is a color resembling tea thanks to the tannins from the submerged plants. As we were in the water, tucuxi freshwater dolphins swam by! We took the speed boats out to explore the local flooded forests in the evening before heading to the Madadá lookout.

Day 2: Anavilhanas / Madadá

The next morning, we woke up early with our flashlights to head back up to the Madadá lookout, the perfect place to watch the sunrise and listen to the sounds of the rainforest. Before it got too hot later in the day, we took a three-hour hike into the virgin forest to the Madadá Caves to explore various plant life and look for animals like bats, crab tarantulas, scorpion spiders, and more. In passing, we saw a vibrant pink home along the river that our guide, Noah, pointed out was his grandmother’s home. After the hike in the heat, we went for a refreshing swim in the river before coming in to get ready to go out on a night speedboat ride to look for caiman.

Day 3: Jau National Park

We woke up bright and early to take the boat out and explore the flooded forest, looking for animal life. We saw ringed kingfishers, hoatzin and howler monkeys before stopping inside the flooded forest to use the bamboo fishing poles to catch piranha. We each caught a piranha and saved them to eat back on the boat! Once we were back on the boat, we made our way to the IBAMA base at the Park’s entrance by the Jaú River with steady, mirror-like waters.

After zipping through the vines and tilted trees of the flooded forest, we made our way to a waterfall where we were able to cliff jump into the water and cool off. After a long swim, we made our way back to the boat to head to the Aturiá Community to see how they live and visit with the locals. That night, we went searching for nocturnal animals and came across caiman and snakes like the calloselasma rhodostoma and the vine snake!

Day 4: Jaú National Park

On our last full day, we visited the Cachoeira Community to learn about local practices, play soccer with the kids, and browse the fruit orchards. We hiked to visit a giant tree around the community and ventured out on the aquatic trail with regional canoes, looking for animals. We came across many birds and a sloth!

After a Brazilian BBQ lunch on board, we explored the ruins of an abandoned city that peaked during the rubber cycle, from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. After tapping rubber trees and coming across a golden orb weaver spider with a web so strong people have been known to use it for fishing line, we trekked past the Brazil nut trees back to the boat to return to the IBAMA base. One thing that has really shocked me is the size of the bugs! Praying mantises and locusts the size of mice, massive caterpillars and moths that I thought were bats!

Day 5: Novo Airão / Manaus

Heading back towards Novo Airão, we took the smaller speed boat to explore the river in an attempt to see the mysterious Amazon Pink River Dolphins (which we were fortunate enough to see)!

After an incredible moment spotting the pink dolphins, we made our way to the Mirante do Gavião Lodge. The crew handled getting the bags to our rooms while we enjoyed a tour through Novo Airão, shopping for local art, wooden goods, beauty products made with materials from the Amazon and crafts.

Beleza Da Natureza is ran by our guide Noah’s mother and wife, selling chocolates filled with castanha (Brazil nuts) and cupuaçu (a chocolaty fruit) made by Noah’s mother (they were on the boat, as well, and so delicious) in addition to soap using local plants and clay, among other skin care products. We purchased wooden jewelry boxes, games, and boards using colorful, natural wood from Fundação Almerinda Malaquias and had a lovely lunch at Flor do Luar, a floating restaurant at Anavilhanas National Park serving fresh fish, where locals were swimming and enjoying the hot weather.

PART lll — Overnight Stay at Mirante do Gavião Lodge

Mirante do Gavião Lodge

After some fairly tight accommodations on the boat, it was so refreshing to have a night at the Mirante do Gavião Lodge to recoup before flying home. I stayed in one of the treehouse rooms — which had all of the modern luxuries like air conditioning, a sizable shower, a minibar, and WiFi, but my absolute favorite part was the wraparound balcony completely surrounded by dense, rainforest foliage.

The wildlife adventure didn’t stop once we checked into the Mirante do Gavião Lodge. There were huge, pinktoe tarantulas in the trees, tree frogs, iguanas scaling the treetops, and sloths, as well!

It’s all open, so various animals can come and go as they please. There’s an infinity pool that plunges into the flora, overlooking the river and a restaurant on the property, making it easy to grab a last-minute bite. Designed by Atelier O’Reilly, the Mirante do Gavião have developed activities within the dense jungle, tying in the local communities.

The excursions included in the stay are meant to have a purpose! From the opening of the hotel a decade ago in August 2014, they’ve employed just under 50 people from local communities to ensure their guests are having an authentic introduction to the Amazon.

Amenities:

• Meals included
• Spacious rooms with wrap around balcony
• Excursions available with specific hotel packages
• AC
• Wifi
• Options to pay an all-inclusive fee to have activities included
• Great cocktails
• Beautiful pool

Room Rate: Prices range drastically, but a 2 night package starts at about $1200 per person for a DBL base room. This includes the transfers in and out from Manaus, all jungle excursions, three meals a day (excluding drinks)

BOOK HERE