Adventures on the Amazon

By any yardstick, the Amazon is astonishing and is possibly the most rewarding nature expedition in the world. A fifth of all the fresh water on earth is in the Amazon Basin, and at the many mouths, 4.5 trillion gallons of water pour into the Atlantic Ocean every day.

At 4,000 miles, the Amazon is edged out by the Nile as the world’s longest river, but by any other measure, it has no equal. The natural phenomenon that is the Amazon basin contains at least a third of the world’s remaining rainforest – the planet’s greatest natural resource.

Amazonia boasts one of the most incredible displays of nature’s majesty. In the Peruvian Amazon, there’s the chance to encounter the giant, silvery-gold Dorado Catfish. This water system is also the habitat of the rare ‘boto’, or pink river dolphin.

Explored from Iquitos, cruises set a course towards the headwaters of the Amazon River and the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve. Apart from being a bird-lovers paradise; there’s the chance to see giant otters, Amazonian manatees, yellow-spotted river turtles, and Giant Amazonian Water Lilies.

From here you’ll explore the river’s countless tributaries. Naturalist guides take you into narrow creeks where the jungle canopy reveals scarlet macaws in the sunlight, three-toed sloths grazing on leaves, blue morpho butterflies as big as thrushes, and howler monkeys live up to their name!

To add to the experience; savour the Amazonian cuisine including hearts of palm soufflé, scallops with wild almonds and umari fruit, plantain and yucca gnocchi, and escolar fish in aji panka chili adobo.

Eight-night 4 to 4.5-star bed and breakfast in Lima, Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and Cuzco with a train journey through Andean landscapes; plus a four-night full-board river cruise at Pacaya Samiria National Reserve aboard Aria Amazon. Flying from regional airports on 16 June 2024. First deck cabin from £6,649 per person.

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