Safari in Manaus Amazon

exotic forest adventures, but very elusive wildlife

Set in the heart of the Amazon Basin in Brazil, Manaus is a major city and the main hub for explorations of the world’s largest rainforest, with its absolutely vast network of rivers, lakes and flooded forests.

The Amazon Basin is almost as big as Australia and is mainly covered by unexplored impenetrable tropical forests, which host an incredible biodiversity and provide sanctuary to thousands of indigenous tribes, hundreds of which remain out of contact with the outside world.

Highlights include exploring lost cities, swimming with pink dolphins, encountering bizarre-looking endemic monkeys, enjoying some superb bird-watching and visiting genuinely authentic native villages.

Viewing wildlife in the jungle is notoriously challenging. The vast majority of people visiting this wonderful part of the world end up being seriously short-changed in this respect. You can’t simply turn up and go around looking for stuff. Safari here requires levels of expertise and commitment that even the majority of the local guides don’t possess.

To find and observe wildlife with any reliability, you have to know in advance exactly where the various creatures are likely to be, their daily habits and the locations of the specific trees which will be in fruit at the time of your visit.

In certain key areas we actually have naturalists living full-time out in the forests, checking these things out in advance of your arrival. So, for example, in a remote part of the Jau National Park, we are able to deliver sightings of extremely rare golden-backed uakari monkeys with a 99% success rate year round, compared with a 0% chance with virtually every other operator.

So if you are keen to see a good range of wildlife during your visit, be sure to choose one of our special naturalist-guided cruises.

It’s also important to point out that, even after making all this effort, you are unlikely to see many large mammals in this region. If you want to see jaguars, giant otters, capybaras and tapirs, then you need to combine with Pantanal area to the southwest of Brazil. And if you want to see pumas with any reliability, then it’s best to head for Torres del Paine, all the way down south in Patagonia.

The best time to visit Manaus is generally considered to be during the Jun-Oct dry season.

There is a common misconception that, because Manaus is classified as having a tropical rainforest climate, the weather conditions are constant year round. This is most definitely not the case, the seasons here are strongly defined.

Getting there

The Manaus area of the Amazon is almost always accessed by scheduled flights into the main Manaus International Airport (MAO).

The most common flight connection is with Sao Paulo, but there are occasional direct flights from Rio de Janeiro, Recife and Brasília.

If you are looking to include Manaus at the front or back end of your trip, then it may be worth bearing in mind that there are direct connections with Panama City and Miami (although the timings on these flights can be pretty horrific).

The most popular way to fit Manaus into a trip around Brazil is in between Rio de Janeiro and either Pantanal or the Iguacu Falls.

Finally it might be worth mentioning that it is theoretically possible to reach Manaus from Colombia or Peru, by flying down to their respective frontier towns on the upper Amazon (Leticia and Pueb Islandia), crossing the land border to reach Tabatinga. From there it’s either a 5-12 night boat trip down the river or a two hour flight to Manaus.

Where to stay

The primary way to explore the Manaus Amazon area is by live-aboard boat, but there are some lodge options too.

requires at least a week to visit properly