Sample Itinerary

Northern Brazilian Rain Forest, Amazon River, Rio Negro River

Day 1: Check into Eco-Park lodge at midnight upon arrival in Brazil

The Amazon Eco-Park Jungle Lodge is situated on the Taruma River only 20 km from Manaus and 40 minutes by taxi and boat to the Manaus airport. The lodge features bungalows that are very pretty and built right into the jungle, as is the entire lodge. In addition to the rooms, there is a reception area 100 yards from the river, a small spit of private beach on the river, a lecture space, a natural pool, and a wonderful dinning hall. Everything constructed with wood and palm leaves.

Privately funded, two investors From Manaus began this eco-lodge as a way to help finance their monkey rehabilitation project and protect 50,000 hectares of primary forest around it. The monkey rehabilitation project takes monkeys rescued from smuggling – either infant monkeys whose parents have been sold on the black market or monkeys salvaged directly from the market – and reacclimatizes them to the rain forest in order for re-release. The environmental police bring monkeys to Eco-Park; employees feed the monkeys in large, caged habitations situated in the rain forest across the river from the park. After a few months, the monkeys are released into the wild.

Tourism helps this project because near the large cage areas, the lodge maintains an open-air feeding area where previously rescued monkeys now in the wild regularly return to eat. This area allows visitors to stand in the close presence of several species of monkeys, including marmoset, tamarin, howler, capuchin, spider, wholly, and bearded saki. This is a rare opportunity and the tourism dollar helps support the program, which estimates that over 3,000 monkeys have been re-released since its inception.

At the Eco-Park, Birthright Earth groups will view the Monkey Rehabilitation project, hear an initial lecture, and experience the unparalleled thrill of waking up in the jungle.

• 9:00 am – breakfast and lecture
• 11:00 am – Monkey Rehabilitation project
• 11:30 am – check out
• 12:00 pm – Lunch at Manaus bus terminal
• 1:00 pm – Bus to Itacoatiara
• 5:00 pm – Check into Hotel Regine, dinner, sleep

Day 2: Precious Woods Lumber Mill

The Precious Woods Lumber Mill is a sustainable forestry company that has been operating in the area since 1994, outside of Itacoatiara, a small town 3 hours from Manaus. Based in Switzerland, Precious Woods operates on the FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) regulations for sustainable and low-impact use of tropical forests.

More on Precious Woods below:

“Precious Woods’ business model is based on economic, social and ecological sustainability. Precious Woods demonstrates that the sustainable use of tropical forests combined with timber processing operations provides a number of ecological and social benefits and is also attractive from an economic point of view.

In Brazil, low impact forestry practices strictly adhering to the criteria of the FSC ensure the long-term preservation of potentially endangered existing forests. In Central America, the reforestation of degraded and abandoned pastureland leads to the re-establishment of forest eco-systems.

However, these activities do not create only ecological added value. Opportunities for employment are created in economically disadvantaged regions, giving many families the prospect of a decent living. The local population is given an incentive to conserve the forest rather than destroy it for want of alternative economic opportunities. By providing other, additional services Precious Woods endeavous to maintain and enhance the long-term social and economic well-being of forest workers and local communities.”

At Precious Woods, Birthright Earth groups will be given a morning lecture followed by a tour of the secondary rain forest they grow there. After lunch, the day will conclude with a tour of the mill operations.

• 9:00 am bus to mill
• 10:00 am to 4:00 pm – lecture, lunch, tour of mill facilities and forest
• 5:00 pm – take bus back to Manaus
• 9:00 pm – take bus to Presidente Figueiredo
• 10:30 pm – check into Maruaga Hotel

Day 3: Presidente Figueiredo

Presidente Figueiredo is a quaint town 1 ½ outside of Manaus that features a system of 107 waterfalls and caves in the surrounding rain forest. A well-known tourism destination for locals, P.F. is just beginning to advertise structured tourism for foreigners according to Paulo. These waterfalls and caves are in the heart of the rain forest, some requiring a substantial trek to get to. However, all the ones we saw were well worth it. Beautiful cascading spouts you could stand under, massive roaring falls we were able to get very close to, and extensive caves and grutas that were home to interesting fauna including crabs, bats, large spiders, and even baby caiman.

Birthright Earth groups will two and one half days at Presidente Figueiredo. Each day will involve visits to different waterfalls, caves, a rainforest areas. Highlights include a 6-mile hike to the Neblina waterfall, deep in the rain forest and the gigantic, tumbling Iracema waterfall. In the evenings, groups will stay in Presidente Figueiredo.

• 9 am wake up
• Visit to Caverna do Maroaga
• Visit to Gruta da Judéia
• Visit to Cachoeira do Santuário

Day 4: Presidente Figueiredo

• 9 am wake up
• 7 km trek to Cachoeira de Neblina

Day 5: Presidente Figueiredo to Lago do Bin

On Day five, Birthright Earth groups will have a final morning in Presidente Figueiredo and leave in the afternoon from Manaus to Lago do Bin.

: Lago do Bin is the lake where ‘Recanto do Botos’ or den/haven of dolphins is located. This is simply a Amazonian family, Ambrosio and Salvina and four boys aged 18, 17, 15, and 11, who live on a floating house on the Rio Negro and have successfully brought a pod of pink river dolphins around there home, where they feed them often – hardly captive but a regular presence.

This is a new and untapped project, as authentic as they come. There is absolutely no tourism in this area and the house has never been visited commercially. It is jungle emersion with completely silence save the occasional passing neighbor in a motorboat and dense rain forest in every direction. Participants will eat fresh Brazilian meals, especially the native fish Piraracu, Tambaqui, and Tucunaré. Piraracu, Tambaqui, and Tucunaré

The dolphin pod numbers up to 15 individuals with anywhere from 3 to the entire pod arriving at once. The boys have given certain dolphins names such as Sofia Loren and Michael Phelps. New dolphins arrive regularly, but the boys can identify almost all of them.

Visitors go in the water, with or with a life vest or floating ring, and the dolphins will gently poke and proud you as you float, looking for fish. The boys will bring out feeder fish and the dolphins come up to a wooden stair that hangs off the dock and into the water. Slapping the fish on the surface will bring the dolphins literally into your arms. Often they will rise up out of the water as you raise the fish up in the air. You can touch, hold, hug these beautiful creatures.

Lago do Bin is a perfect Birthright Earth stop and a truly magical experience, not only because of the dolphins but also the jungle emersion, the interaction with the host family, and the night spent in the open air. The noise of the jungle and the river, including the occasional ‘puff’ from a nearby dolphin coming up for air, is a calming and wonderful thing to fall asleep and wake up to. This adds up to: great wildlife exposure, direct contact with the rain forest, and indigenous community interaction.

Outside of the Dolphin Experience, Birthright Earth groups will get to sleep on hammocks on the river in the middle of the jungle. Also, participants will be able to fish for Piranha the traditional way and play in a Birthright Earth versus Local Community soccer game before leaving this jungle paradise.

• 8 am wake up
• Visit to Grutas including Palácio do Galo-da-Serra and Catedral
• Visit to Cachoeira de Iracema
• Visit to Cachoiera Sucuriju
• 10:00 am – bus to Manaus
• 12:00 pm – Arrive in Manaus, boat, bus, and boat to Lago do Bin
• 3:00 pm – Arrive in Lago do Bin
• 3:30 pm – Play BRE v. Locals soccer match
• 5:30 pm – evening Piranha fishing
• 7:00 pm – dinner and sleep in Hammocks on floating house

Day 6: Lago do Bin to SIPAM

On day 6, after feeding the Dolphins and playing soccer in the early afternoon, groups will travel by bus outside of Manaus to the SIPAM project.

SIPAM, or the Amazon Protection System, is a governmental entity that uses infrared satellite technology to monitor the Amazon rain forest region. This helps with the general health of the region and protecting it from illegal lumber extraction.

Their mission is: “To integrate information and generate up-to-date knowledge to subsidize the articulation, planning and coordination of global governmental actions for the Brazilian Legal Amazon, aiming at the protection, social inclusion and sustainable development of the region.”

At SIPAM, Birthright Earth groups will be given a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of the facility to learn how it works and how their studies and monitoring has helped create a sustainable future for the Amazon rain forest.

• 9:00 am – wake up
• 10:00 am – Dolphin feeding
• 11:30 am – lunch
• 12:30 pm – Dolphins again
• 1:00 pm – leave Lago do Bin
• 3:00 pm – Arrive in Manaus and go to SIPAM
• 6:00 pm – check into Hotel Julho or Hotel Brazil

Day 7: Dolphin Lodge

The Dolphin Lodge is deep in the jungle, has eight apartments with six double rooms and 2 triple rooms, and can accommodate up to 15 people in hammocks. It is quaint, rustic, and there is a complete absence of any noise or tourism. It is ‘a jungle lodge, not a hotel in the jungle.”

The Dolphin lodge is located on the Mamori River, which connects between the Amazon and the Rio Negro. The lodge employs all local community people in shifts week to week. There is an abundance of flora and fauna and the noise of the jungle is all around you.

This secluded lodge deep in the pristine, untouched rain forest will be another 2-day stop for the Birthright Earth groups. At the Dolphin Lodge, groups will take canoe trips through the Flooded Forests; go on early morning fauna tours; have projector-screen lectures; go on late night boat trips to spot caiman, a species of alligator. The highlight of this stay, however, will be an entire night spent in tents alone in the rain forest.

• 7:00 am – wake up and leave for Dolphin lodge
• 10:00 am – arrive at Dolphin Lodge
• 12:30 pm – Lunch
• 3:00 pm – Canoeing in flooded forest to see flora and fauna
• 7:00 pm – Dinner
• 8:00 pm – lecture/discussion with projector/slideshow
• 9:30 pm – Caiman spotting

Day 8: Dolphin Lodge

• 6:00 am – Early morning canoeing for bird watching
• 7:00 am – Breakfast
• 9:15 am – Daytime jungle hike in primary forest
• 12:30 pm – Lunch
• 1:00 – 3:00 pm – relax, swim, rest
• 3:00 pm – Visit slash and burn site and have an informal discussion on site
• 6:00 pm – into the jungle
• 8:30 pm – arrive at sleeping area checked out by Moe earlier in the day

Day 9: INPA to Eco-Park

Day 9 is the last day of this Birthright Earth trip and is packed with activities. Early in the morning, the group will leave the Dolphin Lodge and return to Manaus to visit the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA).

The institute has existed since 1954, oversees 10 reserves in the Amazon, has outposts in the five major Amazonian states and has a goal of ‘contributing important information to eco-system study…and aiming to support to sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity.” They also list global climate change as their main priority today.

At INPA, Birthright Earth groups will take a cutting-edge tour of the current, profound research being done at the Institute and also hear a lecture from a resident professor.

In the evening, Birthright Earth groups will return to the Eco-Park Jungle Lodge, where the trip began. Here, participants will each plant their own tree in the lodge’s reforestation area complete with a personalized certificate acknowledging their help. Dinner will be at 7 p.m. and will feature a talk from the founding father of South American Eco-Tourism and Birthright Earth patron, Dr. Charles Munn.

At 9 p.m., groups will return to the Manaus airport to fly back to the United States.

• • 5:00 am – wake up in jungle
  • 7:30 am – breakfast
  • 8:00 am – Leave
  • 10:30 am – Arrive in Manaus and go to INPA research center
  • 11:00 am to 4:00 pm – lecture and tour at INPA
  • 4:45 pm – Arrive at Eco-park
  • 5:00 pm – Plant a tree for reforestation, receive a personalized certificate
  • 7:00 pm – Farwell dinner, maybe a special guest (Charlie?) gives a talk
  • 9:00 pm – Leave Eco-park for Manaus Airport
  • 12:30 am – Flights back to United States