Amazon Odyssey - Anavilhanas

Manaus

You are met at the airport on your arrival in Manaus and transferred to an upper range hotel in extensive grounds on the shores of the Amazon, where you stay for the next three nights.

After a leisurely start, you are collected from your hotel and taken on a half-day tour of Manaus, visiting the Opera House, the Rubber Museum, the Mercado Municipal and the Indian Museum. After the tour you are returned to your hotel where you have the rest of the day free to relax and acclimatise.

Today you experience the Amazon itself. After breakfast, you set out on a full day tour along the Rio Negro, to the point at which the Amazon river forms at the confluence of the Solimões and the Negro. The two rivers run side by side without mixing for over 6km, due to a great difference in temperature of their waters and velocity of their currents. The width of the river is impressive, although you are still nearly a thousand miles from the ocean. You make a stop at the January Ecological Park, which unites several ecosystems of the region, containing terra firme, varzea, and igapó forests. Here you can also see the huge lily-pads of the Victoria Regia water-lily. Take lunch at a floating restaurant by the edge of the river.

The Anavilhanas Archipelago

Up early this morning for an early transfer of 3 hours by asphalt road to the port of Novo Airão, where you board a motorised boat for a 15 minute trip to the Anavilhanas Jungle Lodge, set among the remarkable river islands of the Anavilhanas Archipelago - the largest river archipelago in the world - next to a vast stretch of untouched rainforest. The lodge is a small and stylish and provides an all-round experience of the Amazonian forest, its ecosystems and its wildlife. Here you stay on a full-board basis in comfortable suites with twice-daily wildlife excursions led by experienced English-speaking local guides. You should arrive in time for lunch, and will be staying here for the next 2 nights. After lunch, you embark on an afternoon tour of the Anavilhanas islands by boat. You will have an opportunity to disembark at one of the islands to experience the unusual ecosystems of an Amazon river island, with good chances to see some wildlife. After dinner at the Lodge get ready for a night-time alligator-spotting excursions where you are likely to see alligators and other nocturnal animals and birds.

A full day discovering the natural Amazon. After breakfast you set off on a 2 hour forest hike (in the dry season, by boat at other times) accompanied by a local guide who will escort you through the mainland forest. In the afternoon you set out in wooden canoes around the regional riverbanks, hoping to see Amazon river dolphin and trying your hand at a spot of piranha fishing. After dinner, you can relax or have a chance to hear about the Amazon environment and the Anavilhanas Lodge in a lecture given at the lodge.

A full day discovering the Amazon as you make your way back to Manaus. To start the day a guide from the lodge takes you to a quiet lake in the archipelago, leaving before dawn for the best time of the day to see birds and other wildlife. After returning to the lodge for breakfast, you visit craft studios in Novo Airão, where local craftspeople from indigenous communities have their workshops, and artisanal boatyards where skilled shipwrights toil to build and repair the wooden boats that ply the river. After lunch, transfer by boat and then road back to Manaus, to stay for the night at the same hotel as before. There may be some free time to relax by the hotel pool, or perhaps take in some more of the sights.

Belém

In the morning you are collected from your hotel and driven to Manaus airport for your flight to Belém, where you are met on arrival and transferred to an upper-range hotel for a two night stay.

After breakfast, you guide collects you for a full day tour of Belem, the first European colony on the Amazon and the focus of the nineteenth-century rubber boom. You will visit the famous Ver-O-Peso waterfront market selling fish, fruits, seeds, herbs, medicines and handicrafts from the forest, and explore the Emilio Goeldi museum, founded in 1866: an important centre for the study of the natural history of the Amazon.

Marajó Island

An early morning start, driving to Belem’s river port where you will board a regular passenger ship for the 3hr trip to Marajó Island - the largest river island in the world. On arrival at the pier in Marajó, you will be transferred by motorized canoe up the Camará river to the Do Carmo ranch, where you will stay on a full-board basis for 2 nights in a basic, rustic ranch house based on the cattle ranch. During your stay at Do Carmo, which rears water buffalo, you will experience typical ranch life and the flora and fauna of the surrounding area on a variety of excursions and activities, accompanied by an English speaking guide. After check-in, you will tour the grasslands accompanied by Marajó cowboys, hoping to see capibaras, anacondas and wild pigs. After lunch and a siesta in the hammocks on the veranda at the ranch, you will be taken on a tour of the mangrove creeks around the Camará river on a motorised boat to spot birds, alligators, monkeys and sloths. Dinner at the ranch will then be followed by a night-time caiman spotting excursion.

Full day discovering Marajó island based at the Do Carmo ranch. a.m. wildlife safari p.m. canoe and short jungle hike to archaeolgoical site linked to Marajoara indian tribe. Rest of the day free to swim & sunbathe

a.m. wildlife safari p.m. return on the regular passenger boat back to Belem Return to your hotel for a final positioning night at around 18.00h. Perhaps go for dinner tonight at Belem's recently renovated docklands, a happening spot with great atmosphere and live music at the weekends.

Fortaleza

Morning transfer to Belém airport for your flight to Fortaleza, the capital of Ceará state in north-eastern Brazil. On arrival in Fortaleza, you will be met by a local English-speaking guide you will take you for lunch, (at your expense) where you may choose to sample local seafood specialities such as lobster and crab at the beach kiosks at Praia do Futuro, and help you pass the time in the city e.g. city tour, shopping, people watching at the beach before transferring you to the airport for your international flight home.