The fascinating world of the Amazon rainforest stretches across several countries on the continent of South America. While the main "Amazon River" is in Brazil, there are smaller tributaries that spread across Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia and Colombia. It is along these smaller rivers where one has a chance to get away from the main "river highway", and visit extensively the most complex ecosystem on earth.

Itineraries vary, but generally your activities will include a combination of hiking, canoeing in rivers and lakes, as well as birdwatching and educational instruction on the environment, ecology and the flora and fauna of the region. Excursions are guided by expert naturalist trained, English speaking guides, and accompanied in most cases by one of the local natives who grew up in the region. Once you arrive to your lodge destination, all meals, accommodations, excursions and briefings are included in your cost.

You should expect to encounter exotic birds, monkeys, insects, reptiles and amphibians during your time in the jungle. You will be very lucky if you see one of the larger mammals that inhabit the forests, such as tapirs, peccaries, jaguars, and smaller varieties of cats. Besides being generally nocturnal, these animals have an acute sense of smell, and generally avoid the casual visitor. You will learn about these creatures, and see evidence of where they live and feed, but they are rarely seen.

Your opportunity to observe nocturnal creatures can be increased by participating in one of our adventure hiking/camping trips offered in several locations.

Our lodge-based trips offer a variety of accommodations, but in most cases you will stay in comfortable two person cabins, complete with private bathrooms. In a few instances we use lodges with shared baths, but find that these basic and remote accommodations more than make up for the quality of your overall experience. Most lodges do not have electricity in the cabins, but provide kerosene lanterns and/or candles for use after dark.

All of our Amazon trips operate on set departure dates, usually on a weekly or twice-weekly basis. They can be modified with private canoe transportation, etc. to suit your specific travel dates, or to make private arrangements for group travel.

For a complete listing of our group and independent offerings including a brief description, best time of the year to travel, and costs, go to our Amazon Trip Index. You can contact us to request specific itineraries and for help designing a custom trip via this e-mail link, or by calling 800-510-5999.