Writing and Photos
by
Steve Brookes
I have been back to Brazil again - this time at the invitation of BRITE (Brazilian International Tourism Exchange) After arriving in Brazil at Sao Paulo I immediately took another flight directly to Manaus, the most central city within the Brazilian Amazon to experience the delights that several lodges had to offer. Meeting up with others from various countries and companies we visited 3 hotels, 3 lodges, an amazon cruise boat and various other sights in and around Manaus.
Being escorted around is unusual for me as I am normally doing the escorting but it was nice to be able to relax a bit and enjoy the hospitality of all the venues.
The Amazonian Golf Resort was our first hotel to visit about an hours drive from Manaus. Although it has excellent golfing facilities, golf does not really interest me however the bird life there was amazing with views of Festive Amazons most of the morning.
Back to Manaus we went straight to the quayside for a peruse round one of the Amazon Cruisers with all the luxuries of a normal hotel but able to move up and down the Amazon river. To see the wildlife in the trees along the way and to get out and explore down some of the tiny tributaries where it is possible to hike further for more wildlife encounters - this appeals to me and I am sure it would be a very good part of a future trip to include one of the jungle lodges.
After checking out a nearby hotel we were on the river again for a boat ride to our first jungle lodge Ariau Towers, and with a program that would normally take 3 days to cram in with one afternoon and morning allocated seemed impossible but due to our excellent guide we caught a Caiman Crocodile and handled it, swam with pink river dolphins, fished for piranha and still had some time to do a bit of birding at night and first thing in the morning as well as enroute to the different activities I particularly enjoyed the encounter with the dolphins an animal I have seen numerous times in Ecuador and Brazil before but never been able to photograph until now - I suppose having wild dolphins that are accustomed to being fed is easier - they were not tame though and they reminded you of that fact if you tried to touch them too much. Equally seeing 5 of them at the same time was amazing - a feature of a future trip I am sure.
Amazon Geo was our next call - a floating lodge but unable to move due to its anchors and sitting within a small estuary of the main river with its white sand beaches - every excursion from here was by boat or kayak but that did not detract from the experience at all. We were able to go
birding down some of the local tributaries as well as fish, kayak or just generally relax by or in the swimming pool - itself being part of the floating structure. Night time gave me another new activity to take part in although I thought we were just going to watch as a local tribe played their interesting instruments and danced - they eventually coaxed us all in to joining them on the beach dance floor for a thoroughly enjoyable custom.
Next was another eco lodge where it was possible to see lots of birds and monkeys and an overall nature experience with a large canopy walkway and tower as well as a monkey sanctuary - this will be part of a future trip. It was great to see a Scarlet Macaw following one of the maids from room to room as she cleaned - he was not keen for us to get too close although he did pose for the odd photo or two.
On to the meeting of the waters - an area where 2 rivers meet but because of their different acidic/alkali qualities the rivers one muddy brown and the other more a blacky colour run side by side for some kilometres before mixing together giving a distinct line between them - unusual and quirky but I would love to see the effect from the air rather than a boat - I think that would be extraordinary. Still I have to save something for my next visit.
From here we did some general tourist visits to the Opera house and other sights.
Onto Rio de Janeiro for the main convention to engage with other owners of lodges and establishments throughout Brazil all wanting me to take people on trips to their place. Sounds a little boring but I found it very pleasurable and interesting, - its nice to meet people from the places I intend to visit to be able to gain knowledge from them about the parrots around them. I have many new trips I will be introducing gradually to take advantage of the new locations of parrot species as can be seen from the trip to the Atlantic Rainforest in May 2012.
All right I did not encounter that many parrots on this trip but it wasn't just for me and my company so I cannot complain however what I did achieve was some great new friends, many new contacts for future trips with a wealth of information and so many activities that I had never experienced before - I hope I can incorporate at least some of them into my future trips for more of you to be able to enjoy.
