AMAZON RIVER CRUISES

The Amazon River is famous for having the largest area of land that flows into the river and more tributaries than any other river in the world, more than 1,100 of which seventeen measure over 1,500-kilometers long. It also has the largest drainage area of any river system.

The rain forest land around the Amazon and these tributaries become flooded every wet season, between December and May, when the river rises more than 9 meters (30 feet). Over 3,000 known species of fish swim in the Amazon River and more are constantly discovered.

No bridges cross the Amazon River, because the Amazon River mostly runs through uninhabited rain forests rather than near roads and cities. Instead, the Amazon River itself is the principle transport route for indigenous people by handcrafted balsa rafts and dugout canoes. Larger riverboats and modern steel hulled ships also carry people and goods along the Amazon. Guests aboard the Aria Amazon join a long tradition of foreigners exploring this great river since Spaniard Vicente Yanez Pinzon became the first European to sail into the Amazon in 1500 and Francisco de Orellana traveled its length in 1542.

On naturalist guided jungle treks and excursions by tender, Peru Traces Travel guests venture deep into the Amazon rainforest among its extraordinary array of mammals and birds. Our Amazon adventures explore within the five million pristine acres of Pacaya Samiria Reserve, a protected wildlife area teeming with lifelong mating pairs of blue-and-yellow macaw, flocks of snowy egrets, laughing falcons and Amazon kingfishers in the air, squirrel monkeys frolicking in the trees and pink dolphins poking their dorsal fins above the river water while colossal Victoria Regia water lilies float along the surface.