The Peruvian Amazon

In 2010 when I was planning my first trip to the South American continent, the Amazon,  I knew had to be shown to the people. So like all tour organizers, I landed in Manaus, Brazil on one 38 deg C afternoon. From air, 15 mins before landing all I could see was the vast green land. ‘The Amazon jungle is here’, I heard one of my tourists exclaim. However the last 10 minutes before landing got into picture a different kind of a jungle. The Concrete Jungle.

The next day our guide took us from the port of Manaus on the Amazon river to see the confluence of the white and the black Amazon river and that’s all I can remember from that first trip. No Jungle!

When I reached home I struggled to understand when people from around the world spoke about the Amazon, what exactly did they mean?

It took me one more trip to figure out the difference between the Amazon River and the Amazon Jungle. The river only passes through Brazil while the jungle is spread out between Peru, Bolivia, and Columbia and off course Brazil.

If not Manaus in Brazil, then what was the question? Peru had by then already become my favourite country in the continent and I wanted my people to experience the jungle there. 

As I write today waking up to the sounds of the morning birds and to faint voices from the adjacent cabins of people saying, ‘what a beautiful place’. I look back and thank Manaus for being so ugly. It was only due to the absolute and complete hatred of Manaus, was I able to search for Puerto Maldonado and the river Madre de Dios (mother of god). The river is the largest tributary of the Amazon from Peru, and the jungle is much easily accessed and lower in latitude than the Brazilian Amazon which is right on the equator.

The Inkaterra Amazonica 

Our stay for two nights in the Inkaterra Amazonica, in the Peruvian Amazon is the closest I could get my people to living in the Amazon. The lodge has a touch of luxury, which essentially means catering to the vegetarian meal requests, more hours of electricity and 2 guides for my group, which has more +60 yr olds. The cabins are very neat and have the skeleton of wood and the skin of a mesh to protect from mosquitoes.

The afternoons are hot and humid and that’s the only time you wish for some city comforts. Last year it rained during my stay here and although the activities were held back, it felt pleasant to just watch the rain from the comforts of the viewing deck. This time around the weather was perfect for the activities. By activities if one thinks of the Amazon as a place to watch Animals then it’s not about that. Birds and reptiles maybe, yes, but more than anything it is about the feeling. To experience the walks in the rain forest where only 5% of sunlight reaches the ground. The boating in the night under the clear sky with a million stars. The crossing of one tree to another, on a canopy, at a height of 30 mtrs above ground and stopping in between, the swaying bridge to take a moment and look around you.

The Canopy 50 mtrs above ground

The activities happen during the day and till 7 pm, but it is the experience of sleeping to the sounds of the jungle that I love only second to be woken up by the   sounds of the dawn. The sleep is not continuous and somewhere in the night you realize that you need to go under the sheet not due to the mosquitoes but the sudden chill in the air. The wake up call is early with a 100 birds clearing their throats with the first rays of sun.

Today I check out of the Inkaterra Amazonica but I woke up with the same smile as I had last morning. I don’t have to wait for a year to get back to the Peruvian Amazon.

October would be different than the two April’s that I have experienced here.


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