The Amazon, the world's mightiest river, is a tale of exploration, beckoning adventurers since Francisco de Orellana first sailed its length to the Atlantic Ocean in 1542. The Amazon basin creates the earth's largest tropical forest (2.3 million square miles) holding a promise for the planet's future in its abundant wildlife and natural resources. One thousand miles from its mouth, the Amazon River is still almost 7 miles wide near Manaus, Brazil! This exciting natural history expedition-style cruise was specifically designed to provide a comfortable, yet comprehensive, introduction to the fascinating tropical forests of Amazonia.

The Brazilian Amazon covers a landscape of over 1.3 million square miles, approximately the size of the continental US. This expansive floodplain, while still housing several small cities, is almost entirely covered with primary tropical forest. Within this vast watershed is the Rio Negro, a river draining over 300,000 square miles, or 10% of the entire Amazon basin! By the time this river flows southeast from its Andean headwaters in the Colombian foothills for 1,020 miles to its confluence with the Amazon River, it has over 3 times the volume of the Mississippi. The Rio Negro is the second largest river in the world, behind only the Amazon River.

Beginning in Manaus, we become acquainted with this historic city and tour the Indian Museum. Our river journey navigates the Rio Negro upstream as far as the Rio Jauaperi before finishing on the Amazon River itself. The tributaries along our route are home to the fascinating varzea forest where fish swim among tree branches during flood cycles. It is important to travel the tributaries of the Amazon because decades of settlement have altered the natural ecosystems along the banks of the main Amazon River. We have a greater opportunity to witness abundant wildlife in the tributaries, with our rainforest explorations taking us up to 200 miles through some of the least inhabited places on the planet.