SOUTH AMERICA > The Amazon Cruising the Amazon - a Jungle Adventure Metty Metcalfe Article & Pictures © 2005 Metty Metcalfe

T/T #25 Insight

No matter from where you depart, what you'll see and hear along the way will dazzle, entertain and often render you speechless

An Amazon cruise is the ultimate jungle adventure. From the endless green carpet of tree tops that make up the rainforest to the exotic wildlife that inhabits the waters of the mighty Amazon River, an Amazon cruise reveals an awe-inspiring ecosystem that is both captivating and educational. If you've ever wanted to see herds of pink dolphins in their natural habitat, or uncover unique medicinal plants found nowhere else in the world, an Amazon cruise could be just the type of vacation that you are looking for!

When choosing your Amazon cruise you'll find you are presented with two distinct choices of cruise vacation. If you're looking to tour the Amazon from the comfort of a large luxury cruise liner, Amazon cruises leaving from the city of Manaus in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest are ideal.

Manaus, at the confluence of the Negro and Amazon Rivers, represents the furthest point upstream that large Amazon cruise liners can venture. Here, the Amazon is 11km wide and it is the main port from where many of the larger cruise liners set sail.

The second Amazon cruise option offers travellers the opportunity to explore the head of the Amazon River in Eastern Peru. Here, some 6,000km west of the river's exit point into the Atlantic Ocean, the Amazon ecosystem is at its most diverse. The river is much narrower here, so Amazon cruise crafts are smaller, taking the form of riverboats with a capacity to hold no more than 50 or 60 passengers. The favored port of departure and return on a Peru Amazon cruise is located at the city of Iquitos. Most passengers arrive at Iquitos by air on an internal flight from Lima - the capital of Peru.

No matter from where you depart, what you'll see and hear along the way will dazzle, entertain and often render you speechless! It promises to be an unforgettable adventure.Take in a shore excursion and meet a local shaman in a remote Amazonian village, or perhaps go trekking in the jungle on a quest to discover rare species of plant and animal.

From the cruise boat, too, the Amazon is full of surprises! Imagine coming face-to-face with the smallest monkey in the world as it dangles from a tree branch close to your boat, or watching the mesmerizing display of a shimmering six-foot Golden Dourada, one of the most beautiful freshwater fish in the world. It really does make for an unforgettable experience.