excursions in Manaus etc.

[red petronella]

We will be going on the Braemar up the Amazon and would welcome any suggestions regarding excursions in Santarem, Paratins and Manaus.

Many thanks.

[Mark_T]

We did this one on Boudicca a while back.

I checked the current list of excursions and some of the ones we did were not listed, or at least had different descriptions.

Looks like they don't make the same stops either as we made additional stops on the way back down the river not just on the way up.

From memory, the excursions we did were closest to the 'Maica Lake' tour in Santarem, the 'Boi Bumba Festival' in Parintins, then the 'Golden Era' in Manaus along with the 'Caimen Spotting' and the 'River Exploration'.

Main difference that I recall is that we transferred to canoes (motorised) for the river exploration and went off into the parts of the jungle you can't reach on the larger boats.

[tring]

In the lower water season, many trips involve walks, whereas in the high water season these 'walks' are done on motorised canoes. That may explain any differences.

We did the Amazon in November 2006 with Swan Hellenic. We spent a full two weeks up the Amazon (3 days in Manaus) as it was a back to back cruise. We did all the excursions offered and would thoroughly recomend them all. The Amazon is so big that whilst it is a great experience to sail along in the ship, you do not see things that you see on the trips, so a number of trips are essential in my opinion.

You will find similarities between forest walks and between river boat cruises, so you may wish to choose just one of each at a minimum if time is tight. The walk from Manaus was popular as it was run by the military and had some info on survival techniques in the jungle - you wont need them yourself though!! Make sure you visit a village as well if that is offered - that may be an independant trip with a tender transfer from the ship. You will find that Manaus and Santarem are towns that you may see in other less developed parts of the world, but the trips take you to the interesting sites and you get the background of what life was like when the the rubber trade was at its height. There were no performances in the opera house when we were there, but we were inside it for quite a while on a trip, whereas relatives who visited on their own were unable to gain access at all. We also left a half day to explore Manaus on our own.

You must do Boi Bumba - it was a brilliant experience which was considerably enhanced by the caparinhas that were given out throughout the performance!!! It was not a drunken do though, but a great experience of a scaled down version of the Rio Festival - the Brazilians certainly know how to celebrate. I do not know if caparinhas are still free though!

Enjoy yourselves, it was our first ever cruise and no cruise has matched it for experience since then.