Jungle Guide — 17 Tips for your trip to the Amazonas
Practical tips, general tour tips, costs & jungle stories
Amazon is not only a billion dollar company, it is also a pretty large tropical forest in South America — but you knew that!
So, when travelling to South America it makes sense to check this beautiful forest out, but how do you get there? How far into the Amazonas should you go to get a real authentic experience? And how do you plan for this? Also, can you do this as a solo female traveller?
Where and How
1.Go Deep — usually it takes a boat or plane to get there. Flights are pretty pricey and you should plan ahead, the boat option is a little more adventurous and will take significantly more time.
For example Manaus to Letitia takes 5 days on the slowboat (sleeping in a hammock) and 2 days with the fast boat. Consider Manaus or Macapá as a starting point if you want to boat travel — they are reachable by bus.
2.Quick jungle tours — you don’t have to go too deep into the Amazonas to get an authentic jungle experience. The edges of the Amazon basin are easily reachable from most countries in South America, particularly popular are Ecuador, Bolivia and Surinam.
A lot of tour providers will offer tours to get a jungle retreat once you are somewhat close to the basin and you can just pick your favorite. Do haggle for prices though — they usually are not set in stone.
3.Important to consider! Rainy and dry season in the Amazon has a significant impact. The Amazon river changes up to 70m(!!) in depth and a lot of places that are easily accessible in dry season may be flooded during the rainy season. This will increase the time to get to a good hiking spot, because you will have to drive further away by boat.
The rainy season also has a significant impact on the Amazon basin regions, because mudslides on the windy roads leading into the forest are not uncommon.
General tour tips
“Never trust a guide without a machete” — this has literally been the most repeated advice from other tourists, hostel staff and different tour guides. I do not know why exactly, but this seems to be important!
4.Español — If you speak some spanish, consider a tour in spanish because it will be significantly cheaper. We basically got a private tour for normal group tour prices (it was less than 100€ each) for 2 days with accommodation, food, transport, activities etc. all included.
5.No hablo español — English speaking tours are a lot more popular, but you will also get guides who are very experienced — I guess you only stay in the Amazonas if you make good money like that.
Our guide was from one of the 70+ Amazonian tribes and explained a lot of the complex history and personal experiences growing up. These are personal first hand experiences and if you ask for it, they might share their stories and struggles with ‘globalization’.
Do not expect this to always be the case, the guy decides what he wants to share with you — he is a human after all.
6.Stop planning — if you are an organized person (like me) and would like to know what activities are happening and what the schedule is for the day etc. STOP!
You are on a trip with very knowledgeable guides who listen to nature and take weather and instinct more into consideration than a timetable. If you want to do something — like a night hike or ‘story time’ (this was my absolute favorite because amazon tribe stories are the best bedtime stories) — ask for it and they will make it happen.
But do not hold them to a schedule, this is not a 9–5 office job!
What to expect
7.Boats, boats, boats — well yeah usually to get to your destination you take a boat tour, which is more of a means of transportation and necessity in the Amazonas.
8.All tours include a jungle hike — duh! — so make sure you have some boots (they will often provide you with rubber boots) and LOTS of mosquito repellent. You should also wear long sleeves as much as possible (to save on sunscreen and mosquito repellant), so maybe think about taking some deodorant. Another handy tipp was earplugs, the forest ist surprisingly loud at night.
9.Nature knowledge — during your hike your guide will use his machete to seemingly random chop around some trees for you to taste test their bark — no joke here, you should fully trust your guide!
There are very different types of trees, half of them could kill you and the other half is used for building houses and medical purposes. The kautschuk tree, cinnamon tree, chinin tree (main component in your malaria medicine) etc. Maybe at the end you will learn to differentiate them — or maybe not, there are sooo many different kinds.
10.Piranha fishing — the activity tourists anticipate the most! Piranhas live in the shallows and like shade so this is a good spot to spend a couple of hours of your day.
They bite surprisingly fast and you will have to jank out the usually makeshift fishing rod pretty fast and frequently, otherwise all the fish will just nibble away your bate without actually biting.
Also you CAN wash your hands in the water without piranhas biting you, because a hand is much too large for them.
11.Eating Piranhas — you guessed it — after fishing them yourself, you also get to eat them! To me Piranhas just taste like fish, you have them with rice, plantain and veggies. Chances are that you will eat Piranha everyday — or multiple times a day — in the Amazonas, so I hope you like fish.
12.Night tours — a lot of animals only come out during the night. The Amazonas gets pretty dark, so you will definitely need a headlamp. Also stay close to your guide, it is very easy to get lost in complete darkness. The most sought after animals in a night walking tour are scorpions, tarantulas and monkeys.
13.Cayman (fishing?) — this is something appraised by all tour guides and also a pretty interesting challenge. You basically drive your boat (it has to be quiet) out on the water in the evening. Lighting your headlamp into the shallows you will see orange eyes lurking just above the water surface — these are the caymans.
Now the guide goes into primal hunting mode and before you know what is happening he will have caught a cayman with his bare hands! The size range is key here, caymans can grow up to 2 meters easily, but your guide will likely catch a smaller example.
Then he’s going to drop some knowledge about caymans and their anatomy, demonstrating the two versions of eyelids. Also the proper way to hold them and finally release them back into the water without disrupting the poor reptile too much.
It is illegal to hunt and kill caymans, especially for commercial purposes to sell their skin or meat! The ONLY people that are allowed to kill and eat caymans are local tribes, who rely on them as food sources. However, they do not kill caymans frequently, depending on the tribe they kill one about once a month.
14.A visit to the local tribe — you should always choose tour providers who work TOGETHER with local tribes. This often means spending a night at a locals place instead of staying at a specific tourist lodge. As a guest in their house they directly profit from the tourists coming through their property instead of selling their land to companies in a one time payment.
15.Food and bathrooms — all the tours include food, meaning the guide will cook for you or take you to a local restaurant they have partnered with. This is a lovely service, especially since you probably do not know how to properly prepare piranhas. Also beware of the water you are drinking, bring enough bottled water or water purifying tabs!
Animals are drawn to water, so always check the bathroom and showers for unwanted visitors before you use it. You can also just not shower for a couple of days — some people really do — but the heavy use of sunscreen and mosquito repellent mixed with sweat is not only smelly, it will also cool you down when you sleep.
The term ‘shower’ is used liberally here, sometimes you get a bucket or bowl to go down to the river — also watch out for those orange cayman eyes which you learned about the night before.
Safety
Generally make sure to have a yellow fever shot before you go, malaria prophylaxis or general health insurance (just in case).
A girl on our tour actually stepped on a ray when we took a dip in the Amazonas — unlucky, she had the choice between shamanic treatment methods or a 6 hour boat ride to the nearest hospital. Fun Fact — it does NOT help to pee on ray stings.
16.Hospital visits — If it is already too late and you are in a hospital for whatever reason, make sure you speak at least some of the local language to fill out all the forms they give you.
Even private clinics do not have english forms or english speaking personnel. Also make sure you have some cash handy. Chances are you have to pay a fee up front that you only later can get back from your travel insurance.
Apparently enough people have walked out without paying so you will sometimes need to pay EVEN if you are still attached to an IV.
17.Solo female travellers — As a women you should consider taking these tours in bigger groups, not only is the price per person better, but you will also feel significantly more comfortable.
There are a few sleazy tour guides who have been known to create uncomfortable situations for female solo travellers.
This could easily ruin someone’s trip, so make sure you are travelling with people that you are feeling comfortable with and if anything does happen make sure you report it or publicly post it on the tour guides website/trip advisor — this will hurt them the most — to warn others!
The cost of it
Average prices vary at about 70–100€/day for a tour, depending on your negotiation skills — and if you book multiple days the price goes down with consecutive days — that is pretty standard.
At the end of each tour remember to always tip your guide — that is their main way to make money. The commission from the company you book the tour with usually takes a huge cut of their salary.
Favorite Amazon stories
Every evening our guide Thomas — when the vibe felt right to him — we sat down in a circle and he would tell us stories about growing up in a local tribe. He shared his tribe’s origin stories — it’s like the amazonian bible stories — with us and gave us a glimpse into the world of shamans and ancient stories about the forest and its animals. What rituals you had to complete to become a man or women and what customs they practiced at ‘home’.
It feels bittersweet, because a big part of the life of the locals is the struggle with modernization and governmental rulings. It is a fine line to walk between staying true to your tribe, upbringing and culture but also wanting to experience what the connected, fast- paced and digitized world we live in today has to offer. Which world would you want your kids to grow up in?
Conclusion
Ultimately the jungle invites people to explore, look closely and connect with nature again on a very primal level. I would not want to miss this experience for the world, because it takes you out of your normal setting, it is okay to slow down and be bored. It is a very different feeling to go with your gut, listen to nature and just feel the space before you act on anything.
