APR-C-1

THE AMAZING AMAZON

  1. Index to Apr-C-series:  “The Amazing Amazon”
  2. Launch the River Trip Grandest of them all: the Mighty Amazon, location of most of the fresh water on earth that is not ice: takeoff on the Travel Dynamics tour from DCA through MIA to LIM for arrival in Peru for transfer to Iquitos riverport upstream near the Andean source of the mightiest river on earth.
  3. First day under way in Peruvian waters, going down the Might Amazon in Orion  through life boat drills and zodiac landings to Boras and Huitotos, Peru for folkloric life of Amazonian Indians.
  4. A three-nation day:  Leticia and Zoo Tour of the Amazon fauna takes place as we leave Peru, visit Leticia, Columbia and we immigrate into the long Brazilian portion of the rest of our voyage, followed by the Captain’s Reception and Dinner .
  5. Cruising down the Brazilian Amazon River on Orion from the Bridge, with the first lectures on local environment, and the first Zodiac excursions into the flooded forest.
  6. Dawn to dusk riverine rainforest exploring:  a Zodiac cruise among dolphins at dawn, a lecture of an early explorer, a river bank walk, and then a nocturnal cruise by Zodiac in the flooded forest:  Urutubinho and Jutai.
  7. “Uara” rainforest ”Survival of the Fittest” hike in a steady rain in the jungle understory, to see the Brazilnut tree and giant forest cockroach and “hotlips flowers,”:a muddy return from which I am navigator, to special Belo Horizonte reserve tour.
  8. From a pre-dawn rainy day fishing trip for Piranha and catfish, through lectures    and Fitzcerraldo to an afternoon visit to the Caboclo Culture of eclectic riverbank life.
  9. My inaugural lecture day, with the title:  ”Biodiversity: What’s it Worth?” following a dawn cruise of “Jutica”  and an afternoon visit to “Badajos” with evening outing for fishing, and spectacular sunset over the giant lily pads of the Victoria Amazonas.
  10. Manaus:  Arrival at floating dock at dawn, with dancing girls greeting our early arrival; City tour of the rubber barons estates, the Museum of Science, with fish and insects displayed, and visit to the Opera House: then a rainforest research tour at INPA, before pre-rainstorm retreat to Orion and preparation for the BoyBoomBah—the high water season festival celebration, canceled when sudden tropical storm floods streets, capsizes boats, and knocks out power to the port.
  11. A superb morning interpretive walk in the rainforest, a controversial photodocumentary on Indian and rainforest preservation, and afternoon swim in the blackwater Rio Negro, and a sailing on down river as the Amazon broadens out before us.
  12. The delayed anchorage at Albano in search of the Victoria amazonica, giant water lilies in bloom; lectures, and the BBD view of life in the flooded forest, and afternoon fishing zodiac excursion, in which I catch the dreaded     “Candiru” at Boca dos Botos.
  13. Pixuna, Taparu, and Pirarucu another fish story at the top of the Amazon’s fish fauna; with an evening zodiac ride to an oxbow lake in search of Pirarucu, which results in the most spectacular sightings of Hoatzin, iguanas, birds and an awe-inspiring sunset.
  14. Alter do Chao: a visit to t fishing village on the Tapajos River followed by an afternoon with swimming in the Tapajos or “mountain climbing” an adjacent hill to overlook the village and the river.
  15. Last day of Zodiac cruising: Curua Una and Guajara, and my interactive lecture on “Booms, Busts and Survival in Fragile Ecosystems” and disembarkation briefing.
  16. Final day cruising Amazon on ‘Orion” begins with an on-deck cruise through the Brevis Straits in The Narrows, between kids paddling out in canoes to greet, and the spotting of a “lifer”—the Harpy Eagle—before lectures, ceremonies, and farewell dinner on board in packing and parting from Orion.

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