Full Info: The Amazon Odyssey (6 Days)

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The World's Greatest Rivers
The Amazon Odyssey explores the two different worlds of the Amazon: the timeless wilderness rainforests of the Rio Negro and the vibrant forests of the Amazon River, teeming with life. These are the most storied rivers in all of the Amazon and on our journey we will experience the sharp contrasts and very different forests of the two largest rivers in the world.

Our trip begins on the Rio Negro, where the water is the color of dark red wine. We will navigate Tucano into small tributaries deep into the rainforest. We will thread our boat deep into a wilderness largely unchanged for countless millennia. Almost completely devoid of nutrients, the Negro water is dark in color due to tannins leached from leaves....it is a giant river of tea. The water is acidic and as clean as rainwater. This has resulted in the evolution of an extremely diverse collection of plants and animals, unique in all of the Amazon.

In contrast, the Amazon River is white-brown in color. This is not because of rapids, but due to suspended soils eroded from the Andes. One of the world’s youngest and fastest growing mountain ranges, the Andes are subjected to furious erosion. Along with unimaginable volumes of rich nutrients, the Amazon hauls along with it uprooted trees and entire islands of floating vegetation. The water is muddy, thick,, and has a swift current. This rich water supports a great density of wildlife. We will see large numbers of birds of every color and shape, gargantuan trees, and most certainly monkeys swinging by their tails in the trees.

At the confluence of the world’s two greatest rivers, the warm black water of the Negro collides with the dense liquid earth of the Amazon and the surface boils upward in whirlpools stretching on for many miles. Along this stark division dolphins leap in the air and then dive into the black water, snatching up fish. The black water and the white water flow side by side for miles without mixing.

The Trip Plan
Upon departing Manaus, we will first venture upstream on the Negro River to explore the black-water system known as the igapó. The water is pure and remarkably clean. On around the third day we will navigate back down the Negro and into the Amazon River. Here we will encounter the white-water flooded forest, known as the varzea (the coffee color of the water is due to sediments, not rapids). These two different types of forest support very different wildlife and our naturalist will compare them in informal nightly talks. When we come across especially interesting places or when we discover spectacular collections of wildlife, we will take the time to explore them further.

On some nights we will make excursions to observe nocturnal wildlife. We will look for caimans lying quietly along the river banks...out for their night’s fishing, their eyes glowing in our spotlights. We will also search for nocturnal birds like the nightjar with its bulging eyes that enable it to see in the inky darkness of the forest. At any time you can choose to participate to whatever degree you wish in the excursions or simply relax on the boat.

Drifting lazily on the river at night, far from the lights and noise of cities, can be one of the most enchanting of all experiences in the Amazon. The deep expansive silence of the forest, broken only by occasional animal calls, the moonlight casting the towering trees in shaded mystery, and the numberless brilliant stars of the southern hemisphere make nights on the river absolutely unforgettable, thrilling experience.

The Accommodations and Our Staff
Our excursion boat, the Tucano, allows us to cover distances in reasonable comfort, but does not insulate us from the forest. We remain focused on the flora and fauna of this magnificent wilderness. We will spend most of every day exploring the forest on foot or in our boat's launches, though we will also spend the afternoons of some days cruising along the heavily forested river banks.

When the boat is underway many guests choose to relax on the top Observation Deck or the balcony on the middle deck to watch the magnificent forest glide by. Sometimes we will travel at night, so we will be able to spend as much time as possible in the forest in the daytime.

Tucano has air-conditioned cabins each of which has a private bathroom (see page 15 of this flyer for a description). There are three decks which gives us plenty of space to spread out and relax and to have some privacy too. Even though we are in one of the most primitive parts of the world, we still have some creature comforts.

On board the vessel Tucano there is a naturalist guide whose task is to help us make sense of the riot of plant and animal life around us. We also have five and often six other crew members. All of them have grown up in the forest and are very knowledgeable of local medicinal uses of plants as well as a wealth of other information born of the culture of the rainforest pioneer. All of our crew members are honest, hard working and very enthusiastic about nature. They are also some of the best wildlife spotters that can be found.

Our Days in the Rainforest
Though the daily schedule will vary according to navigational considerations, each day of the trip will have a basic set of activities. We will get up with the sun every morning and board our launches and foray out in search of birds and wakening howler monkeys. While large animals such as jaguars and tapirs still roam the forests in this vast area, they conceal themselves very skillfully. On our sunrise excursions, though, we will likely be serenaded by the hoots and gruff howls of howler monkeys and a tremendous abundance of bird life. We should also be able to find blooming orchids. We will try to identify them as well as the bromeliads and lianas that cling to the massive trees on the river banks.

After our morning excursion and a full breakfast we'll perhaps travel a bit on the river or go for a walk in the rainforest, identifying plants and listening intently for what animals might be moving about in the undergrowth or in the canopy.

In the early afternoon of most days, the Tucano gets underway for a cool cruise during the midday. Mid-to-late afternoon we usually go for another launch exploration or a walk in the forest. In the evenings we will have an informal talk or go for a night excursion in the launches. If at any time you would prefer not to get up early in the morning or go out on one of our night excursions, you can stay on the boat as you wish. You can observe the splendid rainforest nearby or catch up on your reading or go for a swim. Since we will be a small group of easy going explorers, it is easy to use our time well to really enjoy ourselves.

In the afternoon on most days we will look for an interesting place to walk in the forest or explore small streams winding through the trees. As we walk in the rainforest our footsteps will be muffled by the damp layer of fallen leaves and the interwoven carpet of roots sent out by plants to capture every infinitesimal amount of nutrition. In the green twilight shade of the canopy, the perfectly smooth trunks of the giant trees stand like ancient columns holding up a solid roof of green.

One afternoon we might fish for some of the fantastic diversity of fish found in the Amazon. We will catch them and make them movie stars with our cameras and then return them to their watery home. We will always be at the ready to photograph the red bellied piranha or the armored catfish with his foot-long feelers. Some evenings we board the launches and hunt for jacaré, Amazon crocodiles, with flashlights and cameras. Throughout the trip our theme will be to observe wildlife with great intensity and curiosity, but not to injure or destroy plants or animals.

Another important feature of our trip will be visits to the homes of river settlers. We will have a talk with them...and folks living this far in the interior are always happy to have visitors...and we will walk in their extensive gardens. Though their lives are so dramatically different from ours, their great dignity and competence are obvious and for many passengers this realization and experience is one of the most memorable of the trip.

The Amazon Odyssey (7 Day/ 6 Night Full Package ) [Top of Page]
The Amazon on the Tucano

(Meal Codes: B= Breakfast, L= Lunch, D= Dinner)

Day 1 On arrival at the international airport we will transfer directly to the Amazon river boat the Tucano and depart West-North-West on the Rio Negro. As we glide upstream close to the shore we will study the magnificent tangle of vegetation for brightly colored flowers or monkeys scurrying about in the branches. Amazonia has the greatest collection of birds in the world and we are sure to see some of these brightly colored jewels perched in the treetops.

Around midday we will have an orientation talk about Amazon environments. As the boat weaves in through the winding channel with rainforest on both sides we will closely study the wild forest from the observation deck. Around mid-afternoon we will pass the frontier of settlement and begin traveling in a wilderness area. We should stop for a swim from a beautiful beach and scout about in our boat’s launches to observe wildlife feeding before sunset. (BLD)

Day 2 We will rise with the sun and have an early morning excursion observing birds, and if we are lucky, primates like howler monkeys or dusky-titi monkeys. After a good breakfast we will go for our first walk in the high forest known as the terre firme. Here we have a good chance to see the markings, if not the animals themselves, of some of the Amazon’s great mammals like peccaries (wild pigs) or even a jaguar. In the afternoon we will excursion in our launches to study the late afternoon forest and listen to the sunset chorus of birds, howler monkeys, and frogs. Weather permitting, tonight we will have an excursion to spot caiman (the Amazon’s crocodiles) and other nocturnal creatures. We very often see arboreal porcupines or sloths scrambling high in the limbs. (BLD)

Day 3 After our morning excursion and a full breakfast we will take another walk in the rainforest. In the early afternoon the Tucano will get underway and enter one of the world’s largest river island systems, the Anavilhanas Archipelago. We will explore this interesting maze of islands until the late afternoon when we will visit the Amazon village of Novo Airão where the style of building wooden boats has not changed in 100 years. Tonight Tucano will travel downstream all the way to the confluence of the world’s two largest rivers: the Rio Negro and the Amazon. (BLD)

Day 4 Rising very early we will excursion in our launches in the coffee colored water of the Amazon River. We will see a very different collection of wildlife in this extremely rich system. There will be a profusion of bird life and we almost always see squirrel monkeys and occasionally anteaters or sloths. During breakfast the boat will get underway and we will travel to the “Encontra das Aguas” the several mile long line where the world’s two largest rivers, the Amazon and the Negro, join in a turbulent maelstrom. Here the dark water of the Negro runs beside the opaque brown water of the Amazon. Dolphins usually leap and cavort along this stark line of contrasting water. Afterwards we will enter the main channel of the Amazon River itself and travel until the early afternoon spotting wildlife along the shore and soaking up the vast spaces the world’s most mighty river.

By the late afternoon we will have reached a smaller channel of the Amazon and begin concentrating on the fascinating Amazon environment known as the varzea. We will explore one of the large lakes on the south bank. We are sure to see a wonderful diversity of bird life and probably an iguana or monkeys. The plant life will be very different here with giant buttressed trees and massive tangles of vines. We are likely also to see primates, and if we are lucky, a three-toed sloth. Tonight we will have another excursion to observe the night shift of Amazon fauna which always includes caiman (the Amazon’s crocodiles).

Day 5 Today we will have a variety of excursions exploring one of the large lakes off the Amazon River. We will also visit the home of a settler or a small village to learn a little about how they survive on the edge of this vast wilderness. In the late afternoon or early evening the Tucano will enter the main channel of the Amazon River and begin returning to Manaus for arrival late that night. Sometimes this is a good night to let our hair down a little and listen to some Brazilian samba and sip the national drink of Brazil, the “Caipirinha” as we cruise under the countless stars of the southern sky. (BLD)

Day 6 After breakfast passengers will disembark from Tucano and transfer to the airport. (B)

Please note that the day to day schedule must be considered approximate. The exact order of the days and specific features may be altered due to navigational considerations.

After the Trip...
City tour of Manaus: On our return to Manaus some passengers may wish to take a tour of the city center. The municipal markets are very interesting as is the deep port where traditional boats from all over the Amazon come to disembark passengers and goods. This must be arranged before the trip begins. See pricing on the Amazon Schedule and Prices.

Visiting Elsewhere in Brazil: Since you are already in Brazil, you might as well visit another of South America's spectacular nature destinations: The Pantanal. This giant grassland is a wonderful place to observe wildlife and very well complements a trip in the Amazon. Many of our passengers also go on to Machu Picchu. Call us for a detailed brochure.

The Amazon Odyssey is offered on a charter basis only. For information about charters follow this link:


Degree of Difficulty: Good health is necessary. Though the trip does not include endurance hiking, passengers should be able to get in and out of launches and feel comfortable walking at a leisurely pace for 2 hours at a time.
Group Size: Maximum of 18 passengers, minimum of 8