Aqua Expeditions 4 days

• Iquitos and Pacaya Samiria

The Pacaya Samiria National Reserve spans more than five million acres and is rich with wildlife and aquatic life. In winter, when the river is high, visitors can explore the small inlets and various winding river systems that make up the Reserve’s flooded forest. In summer, the river recedes and beautiful sandy river beaches form. Only about 30,000 people live in this vast tract of land. You will have the chance to meet some of them. In addition, park rangers will show you some of the conservation and sustainability projects that are part of this vast reserve.
Over the next four days, you will also sail along the two largest tributaries of the Amazon: the Ucayali and the Marañon, as well as on the mighty Amazon itself. You are embarking on a spectacular adventure, to a place visited by only a few of even the most experienced world travelers.
The M/V Aqua luxury riverboat is a 24-passenger vessel offering comfortable over-sized suites with private bathrooms, an observation lounge and a scenic, air conditioned dining room in addition to an onboard bar, outside lounge, and boutique.

Iquitos and Pacaya Samiria Iquitos, the capital of Loreto, is the main port city on the Amazon River and the largest city in the Peruvian jungle. The city has an authentic jungle feeling, maybe partly because there are no roads to get here, so you will have to fly, or go by boat along the river, and the people are very friendly. Iquitos is also the starting point for excursions into the rainforest. The centre around Plaza de Armas and the Boulevard is beautiful, mostly because of the rubber boom, for example are many of the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century buildings decorated with Portuguese tiles. Close to the centre of Iquitos you will find Belen, or "Venice of the Peruvian Jungle", located on the left bank...
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Day 1: Iquitos/ Amazon River

At arrival transfer to Iquitos’ main wharf. There the M/V Aqua awaits you. Embarkation and check-in. As you settle into your over-sized suite, your vessel will start on its journey toward the Yanayacu River, deep in the heart of Amazonia. Over the next three days, you will also sail along the two largest tributaries of the Amazon, the Ucayali and the Marañon, as well as on the mighty Amazon itself. You are embarking on a spectacular adventure, to a place visited by only a few of even the most experienced world travelers.
Before dinner we will perform a routine safety drill. Following that, your Cruise Director and Guides will give a brief orientation talk about life on board, where you will go and what you will see on your Amazon journey.

Day 2: Amazon/ Tahuayo Rivers and Charo Lake

This morning you will board our comfortable excursion skiffs for your first adventure, traveling from the Amazon through the Huaysi short-cut canal to explore the Tahuayo black water river. As we float down the Tahuayo, occasional fishermen paddling in their dug-out canoes will give us a cheerful greeting. Keep your binoculars ready to spot a vast variety of wildlife: terns, orioles, blackbirds, black collared hawks, monkeys, and sloth share this wonderful environment with us. Upon arrival at Charo Lake, you can bait your hooks to try to catch one of Amazonia’s fearsome piranhas (and other fish as well).
Locals call the Yacapana Islands the “Iguana Islands,” because of the huge population of these reptiles—like tiny dinosaurs—crawling over the ground and resting in the tree tops. As the sun sets, you will have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see and photograph both gray and pink freshwater dolphins. The people of the Amazon believe that these dolphins turn into humans to steal handsome men or pretty women from their villages during celebrations.
We will continue our journey upstream, toward the headwaters of the Amazon River, where the Ucayali, Marañon, and the Amazon Rivers merge.

Day 3: Marañon River/ Pacaya Samiria National Reserve

This morning your Guide will tell you all about sustainable resource management projects in Amazonia. You will visit one of these projects, where villagers are planting palms to obtain oil. Your Guide may also show you the artificial nests created on the sand to protect turtle eggs. Then we will take you deep into the jungle, where you will encounter wildlife and learn first-hand about the important medical value of jungle plants. And we will show you famous Kapok Trees (ceiba pentandra), the tallest trees in the Amazon Basin.
In the late afternoon skiff excursion, you are likely to see howler and capuchin monkeys, the squirrel-sized monkeys called tamarins, and a vast variety of birds. You are also apt to see the two different kinds of freshwater dolphins—including the unusual pink ones—found in the Amazon. Later, keep your eyes directed toward the jungle canopy, where you can spot at least several kinds of primates—among the 13 species of monkeys resident in the National Park. Perhaps you will catch a glimpse of tamarins and dusky titi monkeys and pigmy marmoset monkeys. Watch for alligators, and keep your binoculars at the ready, as you are likely to see more than 200 species of birds. As the sun sets and our searchlight comes on, keep your eyes out for caimans, tree boas, tarantulas, and frogs. After this night adventure, the M/V Aqua will start sailing downstream on the Marañon River, back toward the headwaters of the Amazon.

Day 4: Yucuruche Lake/ Birthplace of the Amazon/ Puerto Prado Village

This morning we will travel by skiff along the Ucayali River to Yucuruche Lake, where we will walk a little way into the jungle to see the world’s largest aquatic plant, the giant water lilies or “Victoria Regias”.
This morning, the M/V Aqua skirts the edges of the vast Pacaya-Samiria Reserve, a flooded forest covering five million acres at the headwaters of the Amazon basin. We board the skiffs to view one of the great spectacles of the Southern Hemisphere: the birthplace of the Amazon River. Here—where the union of two major tributaries, the Ucayali and the Marañon, form the world’s greatest waterway—nature is at its most dramatic. Your morning excursion will be accompanied by abundant bird song, as you glide in small boats past river banks populated by large-billed terns, laughing falcons, gray tanagers, sandpipers, five kinds of parakeets, the exotic short-tailed parrot, and dozens of other birds.
We will then travel by skiff to Puerto Prado native village, where you will meet and interact with the hospitable native Cocama Indians. They will share their culture, traditions, and folklore with you, and you will have the opportunity to purchase some of their handicrafts and delightful folk art.
We will visit the Manatee Rescue Center, where biologists and volunteers care for endangered Amazon manatees that conservation authorities have seized from local people and fishermen. Biologists will give a presentation about the project and its efforts to help these helpless mammals. You will also
see how the manatees are cared for and are prepared for re-introduction into their natural habitat.


Note: All itineraries are subject to change, due to weather and other conditions.
*The above itinerary is for travel from June to November. If traveling December through May please see the variation below.
(DEC-MAY)
Day 2: Amazon and Yanayacu Rivers / Corrientes Lakes / Yarapa River
We will rise early to view one of the great spectacles of the Southern Hemisphere: the sun rising over the birthplace of the Amazon River. Your dawn excursion will be accompanied by abundant bird song from the river banks populated by large-billed terns, laughing falcons, gray tanagers, sandpipers, five kinds of parakeets, the exotic short-tailed parrot and dozens of other birds.
After breakfast, we will travel by skiff to Puerto Miguel native village where you can meet and interact with local villagers to learn a bit more about the culture, traditions and folklore from this most remote part of the world.

• -All tours started in the itinerary
• -All transfers and entrance fees
• -All meals
• -English speaking tour guides
• -Price Guarantee

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