After we tried to organise a 2 days and 1 night tour into the jungle of the Amazon we realised it was too less time, too much effort and too expensive for what we would get in return.
Instead a full one day tour seemed to be the better option, especially since we had to organise the last day our boat to Porto Velho and we did not want to risk to miss that.
It was absolutely a success and an amazing day trip was waiting for us (even though it was quite touristy).
Indigenous tribe
The first part of the trip lead us to an indigenous tribe consisting of about 20 people which was living close by to the Amazon river. Besides watching the colourfully painted and dressed tribe practicing their dances we also had the chance to try BBQ’d giant Amazon ants. Quite delicious :p
Botu – The pink river dolphin
Afterwards we were swimming with the famous pink river dolphins or better known as the “Botu”.
“In traditional Amazon River folklore, at night, an Amazon river dolphin becomes a handsome young man who seduces girls, impregnates them, and then returns to the river in the morning to become a dolphin again. Similarly, the female becomes a beautiful, well – dressed,wealthy – looking and young woman. She goes to the house of a married man, places him under a spell to keep him quiet, and takes him to a thatched hut and visits him every year on the same night she seduced him.”
(Source Wikipedia, 18.05.2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_river_dolphin)
So, be careful of the “Botu”, LOL.
While I hesitated to go into the water, Marianna was already playing with the dolphins. I tried to get some shots but were not really succesful. I decided to join the spectacle and jumped into the unknown…
The next moment I felt the dolphins touching my legs which was a really weird feeling. It is super difficult to describe how they feel when they touch you… naked… rubber… latex… hahahaha.
Meeting Waters
Afterwards we went with our speed boat to the so called “Meeting of Waters”, a super interesting confluence between the Rio Negro and the Rio Solimões. Not only is it super interesting to see the two different colours (due to different composition of sediment) of the different rivers coming together and forming a rather sharp contrast but also to literally feel the difference in water temperature.
When driving through the differently coloured waters we put our hands into the water and could feel the black water to be warmer than the other one. Astonishing!
Monkeys, Giant water lilies & Pirarucu fishing
After a lunch break we “hiked” through the jungle and were lucky enough to see giant water lilies which are named after Queen Victoria, capuchin and squirrel monkeys as well as birds and reptiles. All within one hour… the nature and wildlife was just incredible and I could not believe our luck, hehe.
The last part of the day consisted of a visit of a breeding station of the Amazon’s largest fish, the Pirarucu.
With a length of up to 3 meters and a weight of more than 180 kg the fish belongs to the worlds largest fresh water species. For a couple of Reals one could try ones luck to fish them. It was just incredible to see them coming to the watersuface… they were just so incredibly huge! Even though it was touristy, we highly enjoyed even this part of the tour.
On our way back to Manaus our speed boat crossed small channels of the jungle and after a long day we arrived back again to our hostel.
