Amazônia: home to manatees, pink river dolphins, howler monkeys, caiman, armadillos, tarantulas, piranhas and mosquitoes amongst many others. An amazing place to visit – so many photos, so little space… be sure to check the ones that are not included amidst my writing.

Manaus however is not quite so fantabulous. It is super-hot, I thought I was hot in the south of Venezuela… turns out I was not quite right! Fortunately I arrived in Manaus from my night bus at around 6am, so the heat was bearable for the rammed bus ride into town and the inevitable walk around town to locate a nice/cheap place to stay. In my dorm room I found my first English people of this trip… I can't believe it’s taken this long. After asking around about who I should book my Amazon trip with, I went to the office of Gero Tours and bought myself a 3 day/2 night jungle adventure to leave the following day.

The next morning I was collected from my hostel and taken down to the harbour where they were setting up the fish market for the day. There was a huge variety of fish, most of which I can’t remember the name. I met my group for the next three days and we set off in the boat to the other side of the Amazon river; passing by the floating petrol station, and the point where the black Rio Negro and the light brown Rio Amazona meet but do not mix due to density, temperature, speed etc. You can see this really clearly (especially though polarised lenses), the photos don’t do it justice… it’s an impressive sight.

Over the other side of the Amazon river, we got into an old-skool VW van and set off on what can only be described as a rally driving experience along wet dirt tracks. During the wet season the whole journey is done by boat, but as it is dry at the moment the waters lower and boat travel is not possible, so these "roads" through the partially flooded wetlands are used as an alternative. One white-knuckle ride through immense scenery later and we were back on a boat to get to our lodge, which was located a little further down the river.

Upon arrival at the lodge we were give some free time in which we could swim in the river on which the lodge. Sounded like a great way to cool down in the peak heat of the Amazon river basin to me… even though there was a man to my right (successfully) fishing for piranhas, and a caiman basking in the shade over on the shore in front of me :s The current was pretty strong, so there was less swimming and more battling to stay in the same spot, but it was refreshing all the same!

That afternoon we went out on a boat in the sweltering heat, and for the first time I thought it was probably a wise move to wear a hat to protect me from the incredibly strong sun. The purpose of the slow boat ride was bird and dolphin spotting. As soon as we headed out we saw many different birds along the tree line, and fishing in the river – eagles, canaries, kingfishers to name a few. We also got to see both grey and pink dolphins swimming around in the river. The grey freshwater dolphins here are very small compared to the saltwater dolphins I’ve seen before, it was amazing to see them fishing for their dinner, sometimes jumping out of the water. We were lucky enough to see the pink river dolphins of the Amazon too, which were much bigger and slower, and do not tend to travel in groups like the grey ones.

Following the wildlife watching we headed to a nearby lake to do a bit of piranha fishing to see if we could catch something for our dinner. Just as we were getting started the heavens opened and within seconds the rain was hammering down like nowhere else I have ever been in my life. The rain was definitely a welcome break from the sun beating down, although the boat did start to fill rather quickly with water. I managed to catch a couple of small piranhas, but they were too small to be worth eating so after getting them off the hook with difficulty I threw them back into the lake. Nobody in the group caught anything of a good enough size before the rain forced us to give up, so no piranha for dinner that night.

The combination of taking malaria prevention tablets and being out in the sun all afternoon had taken its toll on me and I saw my lunch again much sooner than I had hoped. Thankfully it was all exiting my body from the top end which is slightly more socially acceptable! That evening was time for caiman spotting, I went out in the boat against my better judgement as I didn’t want to miss out on trying to catch one. After a couple of failed attempts we located our third small sized caiman hiding in the bushes at the shore of the river through shining a torch and catching the red reflection of their eyes. This time we took the boat quietly and slowly directly to him and our guide Alan jumped from the front of the boat and grabbed him with both hands before bringing him back into the boat for us to marvel over. After some education on caiman and a bit of unwanted petting by the tourists, Alan released Alan Jnr back into the river to continue his business. Once we got back to the lodge I spent the whole night hurling my guts up by the river amongst the bats who were out feeding on the mosquitoes.

My unplanned illness meant that I could not take part in my second day. Mr Gerry who was in charge of the lodge nursed me back to health and said that I could have an extra day there for free so I didn’t miss out on anything as long as I had time to spare… time I have plenty of, so that was good. As nice as Gerry is, he had a slight obsession with wanting to put water into my ear to re-hydrate me as I could not keep it down if I drank it. After politely refusing a couple of times I really had to insist that it was not necessary and I would soon be ok to keep water down. Instead he settled for pouring cold water over me at every opportunity, even when I was in my bed! He seemed to think that I was very strange for not wanting his ear hydration cure, and proceeded to announce to everyone else in the lodge that I would not let him put water in my ear. Despite them all thinking that he was the odd one, I got the impression they all just smiled and nodded in his favour! Thanks for the support guys…

The next day I felt good to go and joined onto another group for the spectacular sunrise and jungle walk. Unfortunately the group I joined included rather rowdy bunch of Brazilians who had spent their entire time in the Amazon drinking beer… this meant severe lack of wildlife spotting for me on this occasion. We did manage to find a tarantula though, so it wasn’t completely fruitless. Plus I got to see and sample some of the local grubs in the Amazon, and drink water from the vines… maybe not the smartest idea after 24 hours of being sick, but I was ok so no need to worry! Another fun activity was swinging through the rainforest on vines hanging down from the trees, complete with obligatory Tarzan noises to scare away all the wildlife of course!

Following the walk I managed to eat my first meal (grubs aside) for a while and joined back up with my initial group to head back into the rainforest to camp for the night. Upon arrival we set up our hammocks and mosquito nets and collected firewood before sunset. Whilst dinner was cooking on the fire, we made fans and crowns from palm leaves and learnt how to make a palm leaf roof. I think we went to bed at about 10pm but it felt much later and was pitch black with just a few candles to guide us back to our hammocks. Aside from the snoring coming from one of the hammocks it was incredible to lie awake for a while listening to the sounds of the Amazon all around me.


After a while I went to sleep, but was awoken by the sound of slightly heavy footsteps near to the camp… they didn’t sound like they were coming from anything too big and exciting like a puma, and I couldn’t see anything. Alan said it was probably an armadillo or a capybara (largest rodent in the world). Never mind, maybe next time I will find a jaguar :-) In the morning we were greeted by the phenomenally orchestral sound of the howler monkeys all around us, it was so loud and acted as a massive reminder that I had strayed into an unknown world in which I do not belong.

On the final day we had time for a trip to the local rubber “factory” before heading back to Manaus. We got to see the processes involved with making various rubber items such as boots, wallets and condoms. Starting with the cutting and bleeding of the rubber tree, through to the moulding and setting of the rubber. It was an interesting, but very smelly morning. I returned to Manaus stinking of burning rubber, singing and drinking with the loopy Brazilians from my jungle walk feeling fully recovered and without any water in my ear!