On arrival at Lima's international airport an English speaking guide will be waiting for you in the arrivals lobby at the airport to assist you with your luggage and take you to your hotel in the city. Lima is the culinary capital of South America with many fantastic restaurants in the Miraflores and San Isidro.
A diver will meet you at your hotel and take you to the airport for you flight to Iquitos in the Amazon.
On arrival in Iquitos your guides will be waiting to help you with your luggage and take you in the jungle to embark on the luxurious M/V Aqua.
Boarding:
From the moment you step on board, you will enjoy the M/V Aqua’s atmosphere of low-key luxury. As you settle into your handsomely appointed over-sized suite, you will feel the vessel begin to move; the beginning of one of the great adventures of your life. Stand on the Upper Deck to take in the view, as the M/V Aqua leaves Iquitos behind. Over the next week you will also sail along the two largest tributaries of the Amazon, the Ucayali and the Marañon, as well as on the mighty Amazon itself. You are embarking on a spectacular adventure to a place where very few people go.
Welcome Dinner:
Sit down, relax, sample some fine South American wine and enjoy the truly world-class cuisine created by Executive Chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino, whose restaurant, Malabar, is one of the best in all of Lima. Schiaffino’s recipes, with their imaginative use of local products – fruit, fish, spices – make every meal a delight. (The menu always offers choices, including a vegetarian option.) Toast the beginning of a beautiful journey.
Perhaps enjoy a nightcap on the Upper Deck, under the stars, before retiring.
Early Morning Skiff Expedition on the Amazon River:
Be up early to catch your first glimpse of the majestic Amazon River, as you watch the sun rise over this green world filled with wonderful wildlife. This initial contact with Amazonia is only a brief sampling of what the rest of your journey holds in store.
Tahuayo River Exploration and Fishing Trip at Charo Lake:
After breafast you will board our comfortable excursion skiffs for your first adventure, traveling from the Amazon through the Huaysi short-cut canal to explore the Tahuayo black water river. Life jackets, ponchos, rubber boots, and plenty of cold potable water will always be available for you on board the skiffs. As we float down the Tahuayo, occasional fishermen paddling in their dug-out canoes will give us a cheerful greeting. Keep your binoculars ready to spot a vast variety of wildlife: terns, orioles, blackbirds, black collared hawks, monkeys, and sloth share this wonderful environment with us. Upon arrival at Charo Lake, you can bait your hooks to try to catch one of Amazonia’s fearsome piranhas (and other fish as well). As you fish, trained guides will also tell you the story of the lake and its inhabitants.
Icy cold towels await you, as you transfer from your skiffs into the M/V Aqua. As the vessel continues up the Amazon River, you have some time to relax, or perhaps even take a nap, before lunch.
Yacapana Islands Exploration and Dolphin Sighting:
Locals call the Yacapana Islands the “Iguana Islands,” because of the huge population of these reptiles—like tiny dinosaurs—crawling over the ground and resting in the tree tops. We will pass by in the skiff, giving you a chance to snap good photos. As the sun sets, you will have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see and photograph both gray and pink freshwater dolphins. The people of the Amazon believe that these dolphins turn into humans to steal handsome men or pretty women from their villages during celebrations.
To the Headwaters:
Back on the M/V Aqua we continue our journey upstream toward the headwaters of the Amazon River where the Ucayali, Marañon, and the Amazon Rivers merge. Enjoy a pre-dinner pisco sour on the Upper Deck, while you watch the sun set.
Guided Jungle Walk in the Primary Forest:
This morning your Naturalist Guide will tell you all about sustainable resource management projects in Amazonia. You will visit one of these projects, where villagers are planting palms to obtain oil. Your Guide may also show you the artificial nests created on the sand to protect turtle eggs. Then we will take you deep into the jungle, where you will encounter wildlife and learn first-hand about the important medical value of jungle plants. And we will show you famous Kapok Trees (ceiba pentandra), the tallest trees in the Amazon Basin. Back to the Aqua for lunch.
Monkey, Dolphin and Caiman Expedition:
In this late afternoon skiff excursion, you are likely to see howler and capuchin monkeys, the squirrel-sized monkeys called tamarins, and a vast variety of birds. You are also apt to see the two different kinds of freshwater dolphins—including the unusual pink ones—found in the Amazon. Later, keep your eyes directed toward the jungle canopy, where you can spot at least several kinds of primates—among the 13 species of monkeys resident in the National Park. Perhaps you will catch a glimpse of tamarins and dusky titi monkeys and pigmy marmoset monkeys. Watch for alligators, and keep your binoculars at the ready, as you are likely to see more than 200 species of birds. As the sun sets and our searchlight comes on, keep your eyes out for caimans, tree boas, tarantulas, and frogs.
Ucayali River and Yucuruche Lake:
Rise early and be on your skiff at 6:30 AM. This morning we will travel by skiff along the Ucayali River to Yucuruche Lake, where we will walk a little way into the jungle to see the world’s largest aquatic plant, the giant water lilies or “Victoria Regias”. You will be one of a very small number of people who have ever seen these plants bloom.
Birthplace of the Amazon & Puerto Prado Village
After breakfast the M/V Aqua skirts the edges of the vast Pacaya-Samiria Reserve, a flooded forest covering five million acres at the headwaters of the Amazon basin. We board the skiffs to view one of the great spectacles of the Southern Hemisphere: the birthplace of the Amazon River. Here—where the union of two major tributaries, the Ucayali and the Marañon, form the world’s greatest waterway—nature is at its most dramatic. Your morning excursion will be accompanied by abundant bird song, as you glide in small boats past river banks populated by large-billed terns, laughing falcons, gray tanagers, sandpipers, five kinds of parakeets, the exotic short-tailed parrot, and dozens of other birds.
We will then travel by skiff to Puerto Prado native village, where you will meet and interact with the hospitable native Cocama Indians. They will share their culture, traditions, and folklore with you, and you will have the opportunity to purchase some of their handicrafts and delightful folk art. Back on board for lunch.
Nauta Town Visit:
This afternoon you will have the opportunity to visit the Town of Nauta, the oldest town in the state of Loreto. This village, founded in the 1930’s, is our only access point to Iquitos during our expedition. Nauta is very important to the local river communities, as it is the port where they come to sell their produce. We will take a leisurely walk through town to experience what life in a large river community is like.
Ucayali River Exploration:
We will set out early this morning to explore the Ucayali River, the Amazon’s largest tributary. Sightings will include the slow-moving three-toed sloths, iguanas, orioles, and horned screamers, as well as many other birds.
Jungle Walk to Magdalena:
After breakfast we will walk through the village of Madgalena, a small community of ten families. After meeting the people, including lots of lively and curious children, your naturalist guides will lead you through the jungle to a beautiful lake that is home to the world famous Victoria Regia giant water lily.
Ucayali Exploration and Puinahua and Discovery Tour:
This afternoon we will cruise the majestic Ucayali River, giving you a chance to see and meet native balseros, or fishermen, who will demonstrate their skill and let you see their catch—including a type of “armored” catfish with a shell-like skin. You will have at least one chance to sample this delicious local fish at dinner aboard the M/V Aqua. We are also likely to spot, and have an opportunity to photograph, the “banana balsero” rafts, loaded with hundreds of clusters of bananas, drifting down the river to market. Other highlights include the viewing of woodpeckers, parrots, macaws, and toucans.
Jungle Walk Near Hatum Posa Village
On this walk, your guides will introduce you to native people doing subsistence farming, and will tell you how they learned to cultivate wild plants and trees to earn farm income. Deep in the primary forest, your guides will also show you the wealth of fruit trees and medicinal plants hidden in the jungle—the source of many of the world’s pharmaceutical products.
Pacaya River Exploration, Plus Night Trip from Ranger Station to Yanayacu Lake:
In the late afternoon, we will take our skiffs along the Pacaya River, journeying from Ranger Station No. 1 toward Yanayacu Lake, where you can view the abundant life that is hidden in the deep rainforest. You may see saki monkeys, capuchin monkeys, and the easy-to-spot heavy howler monkeys, leaping long distances from tree to tree. As the sun sets, you will hear the loud, ferocious sounding warning signals made by the howler monkeys as they mark their territories. When night falls, you will hear the second movement of the Amazon rainforest symphony, as other nocturnal animals send their shrill calls across the tree tops. We will use our special spotlight torches to locate night creatures, including, perhaps, huge caimans.
Tonight the vessel will be docked by the Ranger Station in Pacaya Samiria National Park.
Pacaya Exploration - Breakfast on the Skiffs:
In the bright morning light, your Guides will show you parrots, macaws, toucans, and many different types of monkeys. We will also go to the dolphin feeding spots along Pacaya River, where you will be delightfully surrounded by these creatures while enjoying a light breakfast and fresh juice.
After breakfast, armed with poles and bait, we will take you to a special place on this fish-rich rive, where you will catch some of the more than 3,000 species of tropical fish that live in the Amazon Basin. The key target will be piranhas, the small carnivorous fish with a fearsome reputation, considered a good food source by the locals.
Native Village Visit:
This optional afternoon excursion is a short informational walk into a riverside village. Your guide will show you way of life in these communities of fishermen and farmers.
Farewell Dinner:
Just minutes after being in the wilderness, surrounded by monkeys and birds and the other wildlife of the rainforest, you will find yourself sitting down to a final gourmet feast in the ship’s dining room.
Morning Excursion:
The excursions today depend on the level of the river. Weather and time permitting, this will be the last opportunity to see how people live along the Amazon by visiting the lively riverside community of Belen by skiff. Here, where the houses and shops actually float on the river during some months, you will see the busiest food market of the entire Peruvian Amazon. All local inhabitants throughout the region sell and purchase goods here.
Disembark in Iquitos:
Your afternoon in the remote city of Iquitos, accessible only by river or air, will not disappoint. This bustling town was once the centre of the rubber industry. En route, we will visit the Manatee Rescue Center, where biologists and volunteers protect endangered Amazon manatees that conservation authorities have seized from local people and fishermen. Biologists will give a presentation about the project and its efforts to help these mammals. You will also see how the manatees are cared for and are prepared for re-introduction into their natural habitat. Finally, we will stop at the San Juan Amazonian Indian Market, for a last chance to shop for local crafts.
Check in at Iquitos International Airport
Your guides will help you with check-in, and will stay with you until you have boarded your flight back to Lima. On arrival in Lima a guide will be waiting to take you to your hotel in the city.
A driver will meet you in the hotel lobby and take you to the international airport for your return flight.
*Prices are per person, based on two people sharing a double or twin room.
Prices are subject to availability.
Included:
• All transfers in a private vehicle with driver and bilingual guide.
• Full board accommodation of the M/V Aqua
• Accommodation: Casa Andina Private Collection (Lima)
Not included: Flights
