The joys and adventures of Amazonia - a trip to the world's largest rain-forest

I happened to meet a Maltese couple at the airport who were also going to Amazonia and had similar itineraries booked, so they joined me for transfer to an island lodge on the Rio Negro situated just northwest of Manaus in the region of Iranduba. It took about one and a half hours of travelling from airport to the Castanho village by road and then transfer by boat to the lodge.

We arrived at the island lodge and I was very hungry by this time in wait to taste something amazonian. I am always excited for food especially when it comes to trying something regional or local food, so as soon as I reached the lodge, checked in into my room, freshened up and was there filling my plate with mouth watering amazonian food. We had feijoada, salads, rice, and barbecued tambaqui and farm chicken in lunch. Feijoada is a Brazilian black bean stew (usually with pork or beef) and tambaqui is a regional fresh water fish native to tropical South America and is a must try I would say....it tastes damn good!

After the lunch we left the lodge, and were back in the black waters of Negro river, with our guide taking us in boat to the spot where we can find pink river dolphins. Rio Negro is the largest left tributary of the Amazon River, the largest black-water river in the world. After about 15 mins of boat ride in the black waters we reached the dolphin place, where one can spot pod of dolphins in the river and get down in the water and swim with them. Amazon river dolphin is basically a species of toothed whale and is the largest species of river dolphin. It was bit terrifying initially to be in water and swim with such large creatures of your size or larger and seeing them jump and grab fish, and then there hair-raising touch in water when they pass by you, but it was fun and a thrilling experience.

Now it was time for trying our luck with fishing. It's in my bucket-list to go for fishing and camping someday in some countryside and then cooking a caught fresh fish over a camp fire, but i got a chance to get acquainted to something similar in a rain-forest and that too fishing for piranha! The guide took our boat to piranha infested waters and then there were we ready to catch a piranha with traditional fishing technique, a stick with string tied to it along with a hooked bait. We took raw chicken meat for bait, but they say any meat will do as piranha are not picky eaters. It happened many time that we attached the meat, lowered the reel into the water, felt nibbles and jerked out the hook out of water to find if there was a fish, and yes! there was a fish but it ate all the meat!! There is a pretty simple trick to attract piranhas, just slam the boat paddle or fishing stick in the water before lowering the reel into the water, they get attracted to movements in water. After feeding piranhas with my bait many times, finally the hook came out of water with one. It was a first time fishing experience for me, and was very happy to catch a fish after waiting for a long time with the fishing rod. You can take back the fish for your lunch/dinner to the lodge, but in case you have bad luck with fishing, there is always yummy chicken waiting for you in the lodge. We left the fishing point to observe the sunset. Moving slowly in the boat, being surrounded by river water, watching the sky growing reddish and dull every other moment with the sun going down, birds returning to their nest, and listening to the sounds of nature is a joy in itself . While returning it was pitch dark, and there was just noise of jungle, river water and the raspy voice of boat motor. Our guide used torch light to signal the other boats in the river and to locate the way to the island lodge through the mangroves. It was dead dark all around unless we reached the lodge.

We had lights and power supply in the lodge from a portable generator that they use to run in the dark hours of the day. We reached the lodge, and spent sometime in the pool with couple of beers, waiting for the dinner. After having dinner we went in the lodge backyard to spot for Caiman in the swamps. Walking in pitch dark with your muddy boots in mangrove swamps and sounds of jungle, with a torch or cellphone flash is enough to thrill you until you also spot something moving or crawling in the swamps or grasses in your torch light!! We followed the roar and spotted two caimans, while torching in the swamps, and they started hiding as the torch light fell on them. You can also have a chance to spot a baby caiman, and your guide can help you to grab it in hand and take pictures if you want.

Returning from alligator spotting, we spent the night sleeping in hammock with the sound of wind whispering through the trees, mild roar of caiman and the nocturnal chorus of insects coming through the woods.

Next day, we woke up to a cloudy morning with calm winds and birds chirping, and amazing breakfast with regional fruit juices (cocona and camu camu), sausages and roasted bananas. Now, we were to experience the rain-forest on foot. The guide took us in boat to a river bank having bushy trails going into the jungle. We started the hike listening to jungle stories told by our guide from his 20 years of experience living in the jungle, his come across with anaconda, snakes and jaguar. Believe me, even if those stories are fictional, they feel real, more exciting and gripping when you are amidst such wilderness. Hiking through the rain-forest gets you chance to observe howler monkeys, tarantula, snakes, iguana, sloths and some birds. You also come to know about the medicinal benefits of some plants and behavioral significance of some species explained by your guide. We had hiked for more than an hour into the jungle, now the weather was turning more cloudy and already we frequently came across snakes in our way, so the guide suggested us to return to our boat. We hiked back to the river bank where we had hooked our boat, and rode back to the lodge island.

By the time we reached the island, it had started raining heavily. It couldn't have been better than sipping a cup of coffee with that smell of rain, and view of lush green forest and river waters. The lunch was ready, so I had lunch and spent the rest of my time lying in a hammock. You have chance to go and meet the indigenous tribe from the forest, take part in their rituals and observe maniok farming; I couldn't go because of the rain, but i loved enjoying the lovely weather lying in a hammock instead. At around 2:30 pm we had our boat back to the village, and then an hour drive back to Manaus city.

The amazon may be disappointing if you just have travel expectations like finding anaconda or jaguar at every bend, but yes the rain-forest has more subtle joys and experiences of its own to offer in the lap of nature. I have thought of revisiting the rain-forest experience from Peruvian side sometime, and have heard of more adventure there, so maybe hopefully I get chance to treat my courageous heart with more thrilling adventures and experiences, and share about the same.

So this was about my short stay-in experience in the world's largest tropical rain-forest, will write about my stay in Manaus city in another post.

Feel free to reach out for any queries and check out my travel photos on Instagram.

Happy Traveling!