Ana Cassia Manaus

I arrived in Manaus at 2 am, and soon I got out of the plane I started to sweat, and continued throughout the trip.Really hot humid weather.
There was a taxi driver holding a paper with my complete name. Alberto was his name, from Hostel Manaus. Good hostel. Friendly staff and simple, cozy accommodations. Like any other hostel.
I woke up and the guy of the agency “Amazing Tours” was already waiting ...

... we were both rubbish and didn't manage to catch any! We also saw a pacca (sp?) which is a striped rodent type mammal, and an electric eel. Just before sunrise, when the fish started to wake up, we headed back to camp and had a few hours sleep before breakfast.

After our omlette and fruit breakfast we headed out on a jungle walk, which was our favourite part of the whole trip. It was a hard going morning ...

... area around the lake. Once we'd got to the mouth of the canal, the motor was stashed in some trees, and it was all paddling and hacking with a machete from there!

Without the motor, you got a real sense of how peaceful and quite the jungle is during the day compared to when it comes alive at night. The gentle paddling also allowed us to see some more species of bird, and Ceciliano to show us how the locals go about catching their fish. He set up a ...

... into the jungle and set up camp with hammocks. Our guides cooked us an incredible meal of barbequed chicken, fish, rice, pineapple and banana. They made our table, serving platter, plates and utensils out of materials from the forest around us. So cool to see these guys use the environment around them so well. After dinner we went for a walk. This, I must admit, was my personal limit: as we walked for an hour, we kept on encountering these huge and highly poisonous ...

... large boat, this apparently signals to the captain of the large boat that we intended to board. As we turned parallel to the large boat, it's captain slowed down trying to make it easier to board. This
actually caused the side wake to double in size to about three feet tall which if taken at the wrong angle would easily overturn or swamp our small boat. Finally our boat jumped through the wake and pulled immediately alongside the large boat. We ...

... brother, Nevin, took us way out in to the jungle, in to the middle of freaking no-where. We were basicly hacking our way through the flooded forest for 2 hours, it was unbelievably awesome. We saw several families of Macaw, and some bush-tail monkies. Some of the palms were massive, too, up to 50M. We strung our hamocks, and set up on, a slope, near the shore of the river. For dinner, Leo cooked us rice and frango(chicken)

which was the best tasting chicken I have ...

... and so the paths were muddy and in some parts were flooded so we were walking along fallen trees at points to avoid the mini lagoons. The mossies were fierce and as Finbar was a diabetic they loved everything about him which helped distract them from us. One of the mornings we visited a local community to learn about how they live in the Amazon and how the lodge helps to provide work and income as well as teaching them about preserving their land and using all the natural resources ...

... online. Fortunately a Portuguese friend helped with the comms and they said we could pay in Brazil ... and it all worked! It is quite a way from civilisation: 2 hours flight from Manaus to Tefe, then an hour and a half on fast boat up rivers up to the lodge which is beautifully located on a bend in a small river. Uacari lodge has decent accom and food, without being luxurious. Uacari lodge has decent accom and food, without being ...

... their eyes and then the guide gets hold of one to show it to you. Alan nabbed a small one (to my relief) and gave us lots information on him before letting him go in the river. Then the fun started.... I was ill all night and had to send Kingsley on the dawn birding trip without me. I was determined that I was not going to remain ill and ruin my dream but had to miss the jungle walk too!! Poor Kingsley stayed behind to feel helpless and we were really glad that the lodge ...