Amazon River and Jungle Tour
Before leaving Australia we were examined by “The Travel Doctor” on the Gold Coast and had all the necessary vaccinations including:-
Yellow Fever
Diphtheria
Whooping Cough
Typhoid
Polio
Smallpox
Hepatitus A and B
Tetanus
and had our “International Certificate of Vaccination” booklet updated.
We did not require Visas to enter Peru.
On the 7th April we flew on a 6am Qantas flight from Coolangatta to Sydney and then connected with a LAN Airlines non stop flight to Santiago, Chile where we did some sight seeing downtown before staying overnight in the Providencia Hotel.
Santiago had a cosmopolitan yet relaxing feel to it.
Next morning we flew on an 08;50 LAN flight from Santiago to Lima, Peru and transferred to the Hotel Monte Real where we had 3 nights accommodation in the centrally located Miraflores district.
We flew from Lima to Iquitos in the heart of the Amazon, which was once the world’s largest supplier of raw rubber.
Iquitos is situated right on the banks of the Amazon River and can only be reached by plane or boat.
After leaving the airport we travelled by boat visiting the floating village of Belen on the way to our Amazonian Indian accommodation, the Tambo Yanayacu Lodge.
Whilst at our jungle lodge we visited the Yagua native community which is one of the oldest tribes in the region.
We went on both day and night walks in to the jungle in the reserve along the Yanayacu River and went spot lighting in a dugout canoe.
Whilst on the river we spotted the rare “Pink Amazon River Dolphins” and tried our hand at Piranaha fishing.
Back on the Amazon we soon realised where much of the rain forest has gone – timber was stacked on both sides of the river and large barges were moving it up and down the river.
The region has the Amazon River which is the biggest river in the world by volume and the largest tropical rain forest.
The Amazon River is so big that in some places when standing on one bank we could not see land on the other side,
It is also so deep that huge freighters were moored hundreds of kilometres upstream.
On Monday 14th April we flew from Iquitos back to Lima and once again stayed at the Hotel Monte Real.
On Tuesday 15th April we flew from Lima to Cusco to begin our acclimatisation for the Inca Trail Machu Picchu trek through the Andes as part of our 23 day “Highlights of South America” Tour.
Lima is at sea level and Cusco is one of the highest cities in the world – (3399 metres)