If you are staying around for a few days then LETICIA, an old, more established river port – a little over twenty minutes’ walk away from Tabatinga and with a steady trickle of connecting Volkswagen vans (R$2.50) if it’s really too hot – is a more interesting place. Growing rich on tourism and contraband […]

TABATINGA is not the most exciting of towns, and many people stuck here waiting for a boat or plane to Manaus or Iquitos prefer to hop over the border to Leticia for the duration of their stay, even if they don’t plan on going any further into Colombia. Tabatinga is the place to complete […]

The stretch of river upstream from Manaus, as far as the pivotal frontier with Peru and Colombia at Tabatinga, is known to Brazilians as the Rio Solimões. Once into Peru it again becomes the Rio Amazonas. Although many Brazilian maps show it as the Rio Marañón on the Peru side, Peruvians don’t call it […]

Some tourists are offered trips to the Yanomami or other Indian reserves. These are difficult to obtain these days following recent outbreaks of violence between miners and the Yanomami. Such a trip is only possible with valid permission from IBAMA (BR-317 137, Castelo Branco district T92/3613-1703) and FUNAI (Rua Maceio 224, Adrianopolis T92/3233-7103), which […]

Jungle tour operators are not difficult to find in Manaus, but it is quite hard to identify the best and most trusted operators and guides just by meeting them at the airport or in the streets of the downtown area. If you can, it’s much better to book in advance, easily done on the […]

Manaus is the obvious place in the Brazilian Amazon to find a jungle river trip to suit most people’s need. Although located in the heart of the world’s biggest rainforest, you have to be prepared to travel for at least a few days out of Manaus if you are serious about spotting a wide […]

Novo Aírão, a small jungle town on the west bank of the Rio Negro, is some 115km (six hours by bus) from Manaus. By boat it’s around 130km (eight hours). From Manaus’s rodoviária, the bus (daily at 6am and 1pm) takes the Porto São Raimundo ferry and continues to Manacapuru before turning north and […]