Our search for adventure took us into the Amazon jungle. This wasn’t planned at all, but our journey through Patagonia had been quicker than we expected so we had accrued a few days.
Making last minute decisions is part and parcel of our approach, but the decision to take on the Amazon at short notice did come with risks.
There were one or two other potential options for the last week, but as I had always wanted to do a jungle trek (and after some negotiation with Wooksie) it was agreed that we would do a jungle trek to use up the spare days, it also had the benefit of saving us coming back on a future trip.
Reflecting on this story, there is a lesson that if you are going to commit to something as risky as an Amazon trek then you need to do your research properly, rather than doing it on the spur of the moment like we did.
In addition, we made an assumption that if you offered to pay more, you would get better accommodation, but clearly that was lost in translation.
The last 2 years we have booked the Inca Trail and a safari in Tanzania without needing a travel agent, so know about the potential pitfalls and the need to take care about the selection process of suppliers.
We were in Ushuaia when we had the discussion, and I have to admit there were a few logistical challenges, not least that we were on the edge of Antarctica and the treks were mostly from Manaus in Brazil, which is only just south of the equator. We were embarking on a 6000 mile journey as the crow flies, which involved 3 flights and 10 hours on a plane over 3 days to get there.
Wooksie only agreed to the Amazon trek on condition that the accommodation was good so she could escape some of the heat, many people don’t realise that redheads struggle with body heat regulation, so it was a really important criterion.
Unlike the Inca Trail and safari, where I did the research months in advance, this time we only had 7 days to get it booked and get to Manaus. Most of the offerings were 2 or 3 nights at a lodge, with a night camping out in the jungle in a hammock, which was an absolute “no no” for Wooksie, and me to be honest.
So, we set out our defined our requirements, namely, aircon room, private bathroom and no camping in the jungle and sent them off to some of the travel companies in Manaus.
We tracked down 5 companies that were offering jungle treks and seemed to fit the bill. At such short notice the potential suppliers dropped down to 2, namely:
- Antonio at Antonio Jungle Tours
- Leonardo at Amazing Tours
In the discussions, I made it very clear that Wooksie needed good accommodation to be able to cope with the heat that we anticipated, at the end of the day, she is a red headed English Rose and has to be handled with care.
Our safari accommodation had been really outstanding, its cost a lot more but we got what we paid for. It also set an expectation for what we should expect in the Amazon, but of course, this is a different country and different continent,
We chose Antonio as he seemed to understand our requirements the best and his English was very good, so we committed to go with them, on Sunday 15th Nov. for the tour going out on Thursday 20th Nov, after confirming I was a bit surprised they didn’t ask for a deposit, but I booked our flights and we headed to Buenos Aries enroute to Manaus for our trek.
The problem with rushing through the selection process is that it is difficult to do the quality control and checking, so I was taking their word and depended on them being honest, and unfortunately, we had a nasty surprise coming.
On the Monday night in Buenos Aries, just before we headed for our night out in at the Tango at 745 pm I received an email from Antonio Trekking that said the accommodation was double booked and offering me their very basic accommodation, no aircon, shared bathroom and a night camping in the jungle – I couldn’t believe what I was reading and it is fair to say it ruined our evening at the Tango.
I have no doubt that this was a callous attempt to get our booking and that they were never intending to meet our requirements. They hoped that we had no other options so were up shit creek without a paddle and would take their package in desperation.
I’ve always been careful not to burn bridges unless I have to, fortunately, I hadn’t told Leonardo we hadn’t chosen them at this point, so a quick check with them confirmed they still had availability and by 1am we had switched the booking to Leonardo Trekking them and all seemed well.
We have covered the adventures in our other blogs, one to cover the journey to the lodge, the fishing expedition and the jungle treks. So, I am just focusing on the sharing our experiences with the lodge.
We arrived at the Ipanema Lodge midafternoon after and an entertaining journey and it was a really nice set up. We found a lounge and a communal dining area overlooking the river, was a very positive start, so we then headed to our room to settle in.
Things took a turn for the worst at this point, there were lots of rooms in amongst the trees but we followed a walkway to our room, the walkway was clearly not finished as it didn’t have a roof or any rails to stop us falling over the edge. This was OK in the daylight but when faced with a monsoon in the dark later it became a lot more challenging with a 2m drop each side.
This brings us to the room. The bizarre thing is that the room technically met our specification because it did have a private bathroom and an aircon unit as we requested. The room was actually a large wooden shed with gaps in the walls and the aircon was totally useless, it was a pathetically small unit in a wooden shed with gaps between the wood, so it had absolutely no impact.
We had, unfortunately, been allocated a room that was not in the shade, it was in direct sunlight so the temperatures in the room soared during the day (well over 40C), so the heat was stifling in the room. The balcony had not been built, so the door to the balcony led to a 5m drop into the jungle so had to be kept close.
It had a private bathroom, which was an anteroom off the shed with a pipe that fed cold water to a shower, which was quite pleasant in truth, and the water ran out through a hole in the floor. Basically, from Wooksies perspective, this was a total disaster but despite everything, she almost kept her sense of humour.
The accommodation was fine for young backpackers, which is largely what our travelling companions were. In hindsight, it was always going to be wooden accommodation, so temperature regulation was always going to be a problem, but the big lesson not having any images.
There are about 5 of these lodges in the Amazon Rainforest 4 or 5 hours from Manaus and my conclusion is that all of the lodges are like this, and that accommodation is very basic. Having rechecked the websites, it is very difficult to find any images of the accommodation and if we had had more time I would have asked for images which would have solved the problem and set our expectations.
As you will read in the other reports, we had lots of fun, the food was very good, with wonderful helpful staff, but the reality is that this is a hot endurance experience. We elected to head back civilisation after 2 nights rather than 3 to save Wooksie any further suffering, we had also done the main jungle experiences, we didn’t need the 3rd night as jungle doesn’t change much whichever direction you walk!
The reality of a jungle trek is a very basic experience; these lodges are out in the wilderness with no creature comforts. We thought that if we paid extra, we could get a higher level of accommodation, but I am not sure it exists.
Unlike a safari, where there is a wealthier clientele who will pay extra, I am not sure that market exists in the jungle trek sector, it is hot, steamy and basic.
A tour of our room at Ipanema Lodge
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