Rare Adventures

Category: Brazil

Jungle Adventure: Monsoons and ancient trees

The second day of our Jungle Adventure was largely shaped by the events of the previous night.

On our way back from Piranha fishing and Caymen hunting the weather really turned. We had spent the evening listening to the thunder and watching the storm clouds gathering, then as it got dark the lightening forks started to appear in the sky.

Our little canoe made its way along the navigation channel of the lake in pitch darkness, so the navigation sticks in the channel were hardly visible, we ran aground a couple of times but managed to get back into the channel with lots of pushing and panting.

As we came around the corner of the channel into the deeper lake, the rain started. We were probably about 400m from the shore and the lights of the lodge were visible in the distance. The rain started as a few big dollops of water landing on our heads and within 30 seconds it turned into a torrential downpour, with claps of thunder and fork lightening all around us.

Jungle Monsoon

As we made our way towards the bank, we became aware of hundreds of jumping silver fish, this awareness mainly came about because they were hitting us on the heads from both sides and landing in the bottom of the canoe. These things were everywhere, I have never seen anything like it.

By the time we made it to the bank we were absolutely soaked, and the scramble up the mud bank to the Lodge was not a simple manoeuvre either and ended up with a few face downs in the mud. I have seen a lot of tropical rain over the years, but nothing matches what happened here in the jungle.

However, we were the lucky ones, because the canoe that we overtook in the Caymen hunt was not behind us. It transpired that the other canoe could not find the channel across the lake, and as such ran aground. Visibility was bad enough without the rain, but with the water curtains provided by the monsoon conditions they got completely lost and arrived back at the lodge a good 30 minutes behind us.

We then discovered the jeopardy associated with the location of our room, in the monsoon conditions the walkway was in pitch darkness and slippery so even getting a jacket was challenging, thank goodness for the torches on our phones.

So, after a very exciting day of adventures, we all headed to bed for a good night’s kip wondering what tomorrow would bring. However, while we were laying in our very hot room, there were a group of poor souls camping in the jungle in those conditions and getting thoroughly soaked, and that shaped our view of the next day.

The big trek

We were up at the crack of dawn for the day trek into the jungle to look for giant snakes, monkeys and anything else the Amazon has to offer. After a hearty breakfast we set off into the jungle with a guide at the front and rear so nobody could wander off and into danger.

One of the first things we learned was that this part of the Amazon is not famous for its animal diversity. The Peruvian Amazon has a much better animal eco system, this part of the Amazon is famous for medicinal plants, sort of nature’s pharmacy.

The other thing we discovered is that the end of the dry season is not the best time to explore the jungle, this is because the water level is very low and most of the creeks dry up. This particular event should have involved a canoe ride into the jungle, but we ended up hiking instead.

The temperature in the morning wasn’t too bad, but the humidity was still high, and we were all sweating profusely after 10 minutes clambering along the steep banks of what should have been a river. We couldn’t walk along the riverbed as it was still boggy, and probably the home to a wide range of nasty insects.

Our tour first took us to the overnight camp used for jungle night; the overnight monsoon had dropped so much water on the shelter it had collapsed onto the happy campers. If Wooksie had any thoughts about agreeing to the night in the jungle they evaporated when she saw the campsite, we would be staying in our very hot, but dry room at the Lodge.

We headed off deeper into the jungle and spotted our first animal, a howler monkey high up on the trees. To be honest, these creatures, are so far away they are impossible to see unless you have got eyes like a hawk.

The guides gave our intrepid adventurers range of fungus and potions that they found lying on the ground in shells, most of them were really small so it is unlikely we were ever going to find them again, or if we did, we would probably die from eating the wrong thing.

The journey through the jungle involved navigating a number of obstacles and temporary bridges to get across the streams where the riverbed hadn’t completely dried out. There were plenty of funny incidents and comments along the way to keep our spirits up in the rapidly rising temperatures.

It was during the trek, and seeing how Wooksie was struggling with the heat, that I decided to cut our 3 night stay in the jungle down to 2 nights, at the end of the day, the jungle seemed to be the same in every direction and the river and canoe activities weren’t possible due to water levels, so 3 more days of walking around in that heat didn’t seem like too much fun.

We stopped to look at a huge snake in a tree, which unfortunately I couldn’t see, and after a few hours of tough walking, discussing politics and the state of the world with my mate Antoine, it was time to head back to the Lodge, a nice lunch and a cold beer.

The big decision facing Wooksie and I was where we would have dinner, the plan was to go to the overnight camp with the rest of our travellers, enjoy the jungle barbecue and come back to the camp afterwards.

As we lay in our room, recovering from the walk our conversation was constantly interrupted by the booming sound of thunder. After the monsoon the night before, we were only too aware of what would happen after a few hours of thunder, and so did our travelling companions who made sure they packed their wet gear.

As the afternoon went on the thunder got louder and more regular, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to work out it was going to be a very wet night in the jungle. So, being people of a certain age, we decided that we didn’t need to be heroes. There was no point getting soaking wet in the jungle just for the sake of some barbecued fish, and opted to stay at the Lodge, enjoy the hammocks, the view across the lake and enjoy a little bit of time out.

As it transpired, despite 3 or 4 hours of thunder hardly a drop of rain fell, it could be best described as a spring shower at worst, so our companions did not get washed away after all, and we felt like we had missed out on something, but we stayed in a comfy incident. After 2 hours in the hammock, I had a horrible cramp attack so I dread to think what it would have been like in the jungle.

The last trek was a walk in the jungle to look for sloths and to see the incredible tree of life, at 450 years old it is one of the oldest trees in the Amazon and hopefully the loggers don’t find it.

That marked the end of our Jungle Trek, and we embarked on the trip back to civilisation and an unexpected day in a hotel, where Wooksie could enjoy an aircon room to cool herself down and I sat by the pool drinking beer and cocktails.

However, the surprises weren’t totally over, as when we got back to the hotel we found we were sharing it with Amazonas, the Manaus professional football team who were using it as their base to prepare for their next game and to meet a genuine Plymouth Argyle supporter, which they were all so excited about.

As with other things we have discovered on this adventure, once you have seen one the impact of the other diminishes. This was our first visit to the Amazon, but we had been in the Costa Rican jungle only 4 months ago, not to mention jungles in Thailand etc, in the end, they all look the same !

09/12/2025
Piranha fishing in the Amazon

We arrived at the lodge after about 5 hours of travelling through the jungle in a variety of transport and a chance to meet up with our fellow adventurers. We arrived in early afternoon and after a couple of hours to get over the trip and “enjoy” our new environment our new environment it was time to head off for into the jungle for our first adventure.

Top of my list was always the river adventures, so I was glad it was the first thing on the itinerary. By a coincidence our companions in the canoe were all the French people on the trip, Antoine the physio from La Plagne and champion photobomber in the pics, Genevieve and Jean the fragile looking 70 something adventurers from Paris but were tough as old boots, and of course the long suffering Wooksie who was well outside her comfort zone in the jungle.

We all piled into the small wooden canoe with our guide Ismail, who was also the Brazilian jujitsu champion at one time, which is why his knees are all strapped up. So, we headed back out into the lake to navigate the shallow channels surrounded by wading birds and eventually we made it back out to the main river and ready for action.

Piranha action

A few hundred metres up the track we pulled over to the bank and tied the canoe to the branch of a tree hanging in the river. Ismail then handed out our tools, which were 2m long thin branches with fishing line on the end, no reels or sophistication here, the hook was tied to the line with a strip of wire, which gave us the first indication of how sharp the teeth of the piranha would be.

The bait was the skin from the chicken we had had for lunch, which made sense because it is tough, so it would be difficult for the fish to get it off the hook. So armed with our fishing rods, I ended up helping the others put the chicken on their hooks and into the water we cast.

Within seconds the fish attacked the bait, with really violent attacks that had the rods shacking, but these cunning little fish weren’t easy to catch as they ripped the skin off the hooks but eventually, I swung one over the side of the canoe.

This raised new problems, firstly we had to get these violent little critters off the hooks, which we did by shaking the fish off the hooks. This created the next problem, what did we do with the fish in on the floor of the boat. My pal Antoine took no chance and put his feet in the air so they couldn’t bite his feet whilst leaving me to deal with the problem.

As we were getting short of bait, we just used the fish as more bait, so basically the Piranha were now eating their mates. Then Wooksie caught her first fish and helpful swung it out of the water and into my lap – brilliant, a deadly fish in my lap. I shook the fish off the hook, so it was now loose on my seat. I decided to flick it back into the river, after a couple of efforts I said to myself “stop faffing around and pick it up”, it is this lack of personal risk management that has got me into trouble before and duly I picked it up and was immediately bitten by their infamously savage teeth.

With blood all over the seat, Ismail decided we had had enough fun for one afternoon, and it was time to take a break and get my finger treated.

We pulled in our gear and headed up the river.

Riverside pub

After 10 minutes enjoying the tranquil surroundings we saw our destination, a barge moored beside the river. This was an unexpected sight and as we drew closer we realised that the barge performed many functions.

It was the local supermarket for the riverside communities, it sold beer to acted as their local pub, the owner was installing a big new TV so it was about to assume the role of local cinema too, and lastly it was also the local hospital and I had my injury dressed.

So, we sat back and enjoyed a relaxing beer as the sun went down over the river, we sat back and enjoyed a couple of ice cold beers. Just behind us was another canoe from our lodge who pulled in and joined in the fun.

Strangely, Ismail suggested that it was safe for swimming and people should jump in for a dip, which the young people did. Luckily, I was told I shouldn’t jump in due to my find, and to be honest I was very grateful for the excuse not to enter the water with those fish only 1 mile away!

After an hour it was time to head off for our next adventure, the day wasn’t over yet.

Crocodile hunt

The freshwater crocodiles in the Amazon are called Caymen; they grow to about 3 metres and live along the riverbanks eating anything that wanders past their nests.

The sun went down very quickly and before we knew it, we were heading back through the dark. The method for finding the creatures is to shine a torch along the banks and the beam catches their eyes and reflects their location.

We didn’t have much luck until we entered the narrow creek back to the lodge. Ahead of us the other canoe suddenly ran into the shallows and their guide jumped out and splashed around in the narrows.

We passed their boat and the hunt intensified, suddenly Ismail jumped over the side of the boat into the muddy shallows, and then reappeared with our Caymen, not a full grown adult but a stroppy teenager with a bit of attitude.

As we examined the beast in the canoe it was quite difficult to capture the moment because of the high powered lights, but it was lots of fun and our French friend Genevieve insisted on waving at it rather than touching it.

The adventures of the evening were not quite over. As daylight came to an end there had been rumbles of thunder and gathering storm clouds were ominous, then as we put the Caymen back in the water there was the first crack of lightening and a warning about what was to come on the way back.

08/12/2025
Amazon treks – a cautionary tale.
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 15^th Nov. for the tour going out on Thursday 20^th 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 3^rd 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
28/11/2025
Manaus – where the Waters Meet

There aren’t many reasons to come to Manaus if you are a traveller looking for adventure. It is a big city, home to over 2 million people who have lots of cars and vans living busy and congested lives a long way from the rest of Western civilisation.

It is hot and humid all year round, has very little in the way of architectural history apart from a few buildings that are the legacy of the Portuguese rule, and it is far off the beaten track so if you are here then it is probably to explore the Amazon.

One unexpected discovery was that Manaus is home to a professional football team called Amazonas FC that is only 6 years old. This is very unusual as most teams count their age in decades and centuries. Apparently, they were formed because Manaus had fallen off the Brazilian football map in recent years, despite it being a World Cup venue in 2014.

By sheer coincidence, they stayed in the Intercity Hotel on the same days as us. It is quite an interesting thing watching a professional football team building up to a game. Strict food consumption, then the team meeting in a conference room the night before and then just generally killing time before they departed for the stadium 2 hours before the game.

To be honest, it looked a very boring lifestyle, but then again, 9-5 in a factory or office is boring as well, but a lot less glamorous if they are selected to play, and they had a nice bus.

Manaus is in the middle of the Brazilian rainforest and is at the convergence of the two monster rivers that form the Amazon. Both rivers are significant in their own right, but when they combine, they create a huge waterway. The Rio Solimoes originate in the Peruvian Andes, whilst the Rio Negro originates in the Colombian jungle thousands of miles away. Everything going on in the city is related to these massive waterways which provide the most efficient transportation system through the surrounding jungle.

The convergence of the two rivers causes a natural phenomenon, “The Meeting of the Waters”, hardly original! The phenomenon is that the rivers converge but don’t mix, one is a dark brown, and the other is a light brown. So, there is a stream of dark water from the Rio Negro, which is slightly denser and colder than the water coming from the Rio Solimoes, which has a light brown coloured water.

We went out in a boat to see the effect, and you can put your hand in the light brown water which is one temperature and 10m away put your hand in the dark water and feel that it is colder.

Apart from the “Meeting of the Waters” we could not really find anything particularly interesting to do as we prepared for our jungle trek. We have seen plenty of old colonial buildings in our travels, so we restricted our activities to using the hotel pool before we headed off into the jungle on our adventure.

We did take time out to visit the Manaus shopping mall in search of some additional trekking supplies, but to be honest, it seems that the jungle trekking industry is not particularly prominent, but we did manage to find a couple of long sleeve tops to prepare of the trip.

We also discovered that Christmas comes early in the Amazon

24/11/2025
Iguazu Falls in a day.

Roaring falls, magnificent views and very wet

If you are going to come to South America, then the Iguazu Falls will be at the top of your “must do” list.

We went a long way out of our way get here and it didn’t disappoint.

There are lots of variations on the way to see the falls. They falls themselves are mainly on the Argentinian side, so you get an up close experience as the boardwalks are built over the actual falls. On the other hand, the view from the Brazilian side is across from the falls, so you get to see the whole panoramic view.

So having looked at the various options we decided to do a whole day trip on the Argentinian side, so you get up close to the falls. We used Tripadvisor and chose a company called Say Hueque Travel and we had a great guide called Bruno, very friendly, spoke great English and really helped make it a fabulous day.

The package we chose covered the three different trails in the Argentinian national park, and the 4×4 truck ride and the power boat ride under the falls themselves. To be honest the 4×4 truck ride wasn’t up to much as it was just a lorry driving through a jungle road btu the rest of it was great.

Our trip was in November, and it transpired that there had been exceptionally heavy rain along the 1000km Iguazu River, so the river was in very high flood, which made the falls exceptionally spectacular.

The jungle train to Devils Throat

Arrival at the park has the normal ceremonies with ticket collection. I hadn’t realised that the park entrance wasn’t included (note for you budget) so had to pay another £20 each to get into the park. This seemed a lot at the time but when you see the infrastructure they have installed it was worth it.

The day starts with the train ride to the far end of the park, and a place called the Devils Throat station. The train is about 20 minutes and then there is a 2km walk along a walkway out to the edge of the falls, this is slow going if you have a big group of slow coaches ahead of you!

The bridges stretch right out to the very edge of the most spectacular part of the falls and I couldn’t but marvel at the human ingenuity to get the walkway into such a dangerous place. I found out later that there is a damn that can slow the flow and at different times of the year. That being said, it is still and incredible structure that is built right up to the edge of the cliff.

It struck me, for some reason, that if you wanted to commit suicide this would be a great place to do it, because there would be absolutely no second chances for a jumper from this boardwalk!

Words cannot really describe the noise and sensory intensity of this part of the Devils Throat. There are better views from the other lookouts but watching the plumes of water vapour rising in clouds from below was a particularly mystical experience.

Once we could take no more water, we trekked back along the bridges to hope on the train back to a bit of civilisation and the middle station on the Jungle Railway which drops us at the Upper Trail and the restaurant area.

Iguazu Falls Upper Trail

The Upper Trail was empty when we assembled for instructions from Bruno, by the time we set off a huge group of Japanese tourists had clogged up the trail, so we had a very slow walk surrounded by idiots with every type of camera, every type of gismo and a tendency to stand in the way wherever there was a good shot.

The two best lookout points along the way were Salto Bosseti where there were spectacular views along the top of the falls towards Salto San Martin which is the end of the trail.

We battled for dominance with the Japanese along the trail, but their numbers were overwhelming and their sense of urgency non-existent, but luckily they are short and I am tall so I was able to get plenty of memories.

One spectacular view from Salto Bossetti is down into the ravine and the power boats that were coming up the river and driving into the falls themselves, which gave us a pretty good idea of what our boat trip was likely to involve.

The main wildlife were the racoon type scrounging creatures. I sat down for a breather in the heat and before I knew it there was a racoon thingy climbing onto my ruck sack, it had clearly sniffed out my Double Decker bar, so I gave it short shrift but not enough to make it angry, as they looked particularly nasty.

Iguazu Falls lower trail.

It probably took 90 minutes to complete the Upper Trail and then it was time for lunch. I have to admit, the food selection was good, with 3 different cafes offering lots of choice so we went for the buffet.

After lunch we had the option of sleeping (which the Mexican opted for) or doing the lower trail, which the Brits, Canadians and Americans chose. It was a very different view as we trekked below many of the outflows, so had water cascading all around us but only got drenched once.

The trail is cut into the hill side and gave a completely different perspective on the various falls and just how tough the terrain is in this region.

After another 2.5km walk we were back at the food halls and searching for the sleeping Mexicans who were having a lovely siesta under a tree. At the point it was time to join the queue for the jungle expedition and the boat ride.

Jungle and water adventures.

Having seen the boats from Salto Bossetti there was no danger we were not going to get wet. Some determined souls found capes and waterproofs, but it did feel like it was going to be a bit futile and so it transpired.

First though, we had the truck ride through the jungle, and our guide seemed to be some form of jungle high priestess, as she clearly worshipped the vegetation. On a number of occasions, the truck stopped just so that we could listen to the silence in the jungle.

The jungle itself was a bit light on creatures, but we did see a few toucans and a couple of giant lizards wandering around without a care in the world. The most amazing sight was the butterflies, they were huge and plentiful and lots of different colour, they are almost impossible to photograph unless they land on someone, but I did get a nice video as we boarded the power boat.

I was first on the boat, grabbed the front seat, got my GoPro ready for the journey and sat back. There isn’t really much to say about the powerboat ride, other than it was very intense, lots of fun and hope you enjoy the videos, they tell the story better than words.

05/11/2025