This
voyage explores some of the most untouched rainforest
in all of the Amazon. It is an eight day trip where
we travel by riverboat far up the Rio Negro to an area
very rarely visited, exploring the mysterious life of
the wilderness that stirs in the forest and in the heart
of wild nature. We visit quite remote forest that has
very few settles so the flora and fauna is very little
disturbed.
Our
basic plan will be to first explore the Rio Negro upstream
as far as the Rio Jauaperi, a very interesting tributary
coming in from the north. We end the trip with a visit
on the Amazon River itself. It is important to explore
the tributaries of the Amazon, since the main river
has many settlers along its banks. Over several days
we will gradually explore the rainforests for up to
200 miles away from our starting point. This region
has some of the most untouched rainforest in all of
the Amazon and is the least inhabited place on the planet.
We will visit several kinds of forest
including the strange and beautiful flooded forest known
by Amazon Indians as the Igapó [ee-gah-poh.
In the Igapó, the dark water seasonally floods
into the forest, at times for several miles. Orchids
and bromeliads cling to the limbs of overhanging trees,
which are home also to many fishing birds and iguanas.
We will also explore the other two kinds of rainforest
of the Amazon: the tall terre firme forest and the fantastically
rich varzea forest. We will see amazingly colorful birds,
magnificent rainforest trees draped with vines and carpeted
with orchids, and occasional monkeys chattering and
cavorting in the tree branches.
The rainforest in this area has very unique
plants and animals and our aim is to both observe them
and describe their astonishing habits. We will get out
into the forest and explore----not simply watch the
river banks from the deck of the boat. We will walk
in the forest and scout in our launches the small streams
that radiate off the main river. We will swim off deserted
beaches in water as pure and clean as rainwater and
be treated to vistas of wild rainforest stretching as
far as the eye can see.
On our walks in the rainforest we will
observe magnificent plants of every imaginable shape
and size. We will listen to the exotic calls of birds
and mammals and watch them from the shaded forest trail.
In the evenings we will have a brief discussion on creatures
that we observed during the day and about the extraordinary
ways in which these plants and animals have evolved
to live in this ancient rainforest.Some nights we will
explore the river's edge with flashlights and we will
see caiman, close relatives of crocodiles. Their eyes
have a reddish glow in reflected light.
The Rio Negro
The Brazilian Amazon has an area of over 2.7 million
square miles. Though there are a few cities, the continental
size floodplain is still almost entirely covered with
primitive tropical forest. Within this vast watershed,
the Rio Negro drains over 300,000 square miles, fully
ten percent of the entire Amazon basin. From its headwaters
in the Colombian foothills of the Andes, the Negro River
flows southeast for over 1,020 miles. At its confluence
with the Amazon River, it has over three times the volume
of the Mississippi. It is the second largest river in
the world---second only to the Amazon River itself.
Despite the great length of the Negro,
there are only a few small settlements large enough
to be considered towns. It remains a true wilderness.
Beyond the tangle of vines and limbs along the river
banks are hundreds of thousands of square miles of primitive
forest where the forces that shape plant and animal
evolution continue on as they have for millions of years.
Three Different Rainforests
The three rainforest environments that we will observe
on Heart of Amazonia are the igapó, terre firme,,
and varzea. The igapó has seasonal variations
in water depth of as much as 40 feet. To adapt to this
enormous fluctuation, plants and animals have evolved
some of the most bizarre shapes and behaviors. Also
due to these seasonal floods, the wildlife along the
rivers is constantly changing and every trip we see
creatures that we have never seen before. Above the
high water mark lies the terra firme forest, roughly
“solid ground”.
Terra firme is the forest most people
have in mind when they think of rainforest. On the hills
and stretching for thousands of miles away from the
river banks, terre firme is dominated by giant forest
trees with buttresses like the fins of rocket ships.
Along the shaded forest floor there are wonderfully
adapted plants and we will see the trails of wild pigs,
agoutis, paca, jaguar, armadillo, and other large animals
that live in the rainforest.
Though large forest animals are usually
wary enough to stay hidden, one terra firme resident
that insists on being heard is the largest primate in
South America, the howler monkey. At dusk different
tribes growl to one another and their howls echo across
the trackless forest from stream to river to hill.
The third major type of forest we will
observe is the varzea. This type is also a flooded forest,
but the water that rushes through the trees is café
au lait in color and is heavy with minerals and nutrients
eroded from the Andes Mountains. In this tremendously
rich system we will see large concentrations of birds,
mammals, and a collection of plants entirely different
from igapó or terra firme.
In addition to our rainforest explorations
another important feature of the program will be our
visits to the homes of deep forest settlers. We will
visit with them and learn what their lives are like,
living on the edge of this vast trackless forest. A
walk through their gardens is always interesting and
we will marvel at the skills they possess for living
in the complex environment of the tropical forest. All
deep forest settlers collect plants for medicines and
we will talk with them about which plants they collect
and their uses. Many of these settlers are of Indian
ancestry and the breadth of their knowledge of the rainforest
is enormous since it has been passed from generation
to generation for thousands of years.
On the last day of the boat portion of
the trip we will travel to the “Encontra das Aguas”,
the meeting of the waters of the Amazon and the Negro
Rivers. The volume of water is so great at their confluence
that Brazilians consider the watercourse created by
the joining of these two a completely different river.
The light colored water of the Amazon and the dark water
of the Negro do not readily mix and the two rivers flow
side by side for many miles. We will explore the beautiful
and fabulously rich environment at the confluence of
these two rivers and visit the Lago Janauari Ecological
Park which lies in a wedge-shaped delta that divides
the Amazon from the Negro.
The Guides
In addition to several crew members, all of whom grew
up in the forest, the excursion will have a naturalist
guide with many years of experience in the Amazon. The
combined experience of these guides will help us make
sense out of the great profusion of plant and animal
life that we will see during the trip.
The Daily Schedule
Though the schedule will vary according to navigational
and weather considerations, our days will have a basic
outline of activities. We will get up with the sun every
morning and board the launches in search of birds and
wakening howler monkeys. In the late morning of most
days, the boat will get underway and we will travel
until the mid-afternoon. We will then do some exploring
using the boat's launches or walk in the forest. Every
evening we will have an informal talk about the flora
and fauna that we have observed during the day. We will
especially focus on the ways that plants and animals
have evolved in the rainforest and the relations between
the plants animals and their physical environment. This
is the ecology of the forest---the most fascinating
of all ways to look at the rainforest. Some evenings
we will spot wildlife with powerful searchlights.
We will see and do a great deal in the
forest, but there will also be plenty of time to relax
and have fun during the trip. We will swim in clean
and safe water, perhaps have a cookout,, and if there
are anglers among us, spend a little time fishing some
afternoons. Every afternoon we have hors-d'oeuvres on
the Observation Deck and are treated to a magnificent
sunset. After sunset guests often go to the Observation
Deck to look at the millions of stars and constellations
of the Southern Hemisphere. Because we are in such an
interesting place with exceptional guides, the days
are full and exciting.
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for sample day by day itinerary
