8-10 DAYS KAYAKING ALONG THE JATAPU RIVER - The most biodiversity: from Birds to Cats

On this 8-10 day kayaking trip, you’ll have the most intimate Amazon jungle experience Amazon Mystery Tours can offer. The Jatapu River is a little known sub tributary of the Amazon River. As a brown water river, it represents a rare ecosystem that encompasses species from two different types of rivers including the silt, white water (similar to the Amazon River) and the black, acidic water (like the Rio Negro) species. It is THE region to see the most wildlife in terms of quantity and biodiversity.

Summary activities:

* Riverboat ride upstream
* Scenic kayaking
* Hikes through virgin, uninhabited jungles
* Discover a rarely seen bat cave
* Black piranha, catfish, and peacock bass fishing
* View rare ecosystems
* Caiman/Alligator catch and releasing
* Overnight camping deep in the jungle
* Explore a waterfall and rapids area
* Information about ecotourism
* Sunrise and sunset animal observation
* Meet local indigenous families
* Crash course on jungle survival
* Learn about tropical medicinal plants
* Overnight in native family’s home (By request)

Day 1)

08:00 am. Participants will be picked-up in their hotel lobby. You’ll ride on a half asphalted and half dirt road with the kayaks and gear some 360 km/225 miles away from the city center of Manaus. After riding on the dirt road, you’ll feel like explorers in a Dakar off-road rally.

A riverboat will be waiting for you to travel to the Jatapu River via the black water ecosystem of the Uatumã River. While on the boat, you’ll sleep in a hammock and travel all night in order to reach your secluded destination far upstream. This will be the only night you won’t be camping. The nice thing about going upstream at night is that you won’t see the same sites twice when you kayak back down the river.

Day 2)

You’ll wake up along a tributary of the Jatapu River at a place called Capu Capu. This tributary is completely uninhabited upstream of the first rapids and contains an exclusive mixture of ecosystems including big caverns where jaguars and bats live in harmony. This is the type of forest hills and small streams that make people say, “Wow, this is how I imagined the Amazon jungle”. You’ll see the rare Campinas, area of low vegetation, growing on the flat rock mountains that are as old as the Guyana Shield (much older than the Andes or the Alps mountains).

This area will be explored with our forest tracker, Paraná, a man that has fought to preserve the Capu Capu tributary. He has been successful in preventing hunting, fishing, and logging in this area. Although in reality it’s a private reserve, it does not yet have official status.

Today’s trek is one of the longest (approximately 6 hours) in order to reach the remote caverns, but most treks will be about 3 hours depending on your preference. We’ll camp overnight near some rapids.

Day 3 & 4)

Sunrise is the best time for giant Black piranha fishing…So let’s have a guarana, powdered berry mix with 3X more caffeine than coffee, and go! Back at camp, the guides will prepare 2 options for breakfast: toasts/cereals or grilled piranha… then it’s time to pack up and go kayaking. This will bring you downstream to the main Jatapu River. Depending on the month you come, scenery will vary with the water level. During the low water season around December, we’ll be able to see beaches and very narrow streams and you’ll camp on the forest shores. However, in the high season around June, the shores will be flooded, creating lakes and we’ll be camping along the creeks further inside.

While kayaking you may see the following: Capuchin, Squirrel, and Saki monkeys, special birds like toucans, macaws, and hoatzins-a prehistoric bird, and some larger mammals crossing the river like dears and Capybaras. Once in awhile, some fresh water dolphins will come around the kayaks, as they are curious to see how similar their nose shape is compared with the kayak beaks.

On the 4th day, you’ll kayak in the early morning while the temperature is still fresh and when the Tapirs, large mammals up to 250 kg/550 lbs, go to sleep. After stopping for lunch in a scenic place, we’ll head back to kayaking to enjoy the view as we float down the river, keeping our eyes open for any surprises along the way.

Day 5, 6 & 7)

These days you’ll be in a mountain chain region called Serra do Bacabau. Your new local forest tracker, Naldo, is an expert in finding and identifying animals and plants. This area is perfect for kayaking into the igarapes or creeks. The silence you’ll experience while paddling into the tunnel-like creeks is so deep that you can hear howler monkeys shouting from kilometers away and spot nocturnal mammals like a paca.

We’ll trek into the rainforest in search of the 60 meter/200 foot tall trees like the Brazil Nut. Some things special to this forest ecosystem, the Terra Firme de Serra, include the endangered and feared Harpy Eagle that feeds on monkeys and sloth, Spider Monkeys found only in the high pristine forests, wild boars, ocelots, and jaguars. However, bigger animals are not everything; we’ll also see many tiny creatures, some of which are quite tasty. The leaf cutter ants have a delicious ginger flavor and tiny nuts from the Babaçu and Inaja palm trees hide nutritional, white worms that taste like coconut. Don’t want to try these insect appetizers? Try the slender Abacaba or Acai palm tree’s heart.

On the evening of the 6th day, we’ll get ready for a nocturnal adventure of huge Caiman/Alligator (up to 6 meters/20 feet long) hunting! As per our ecotourism creed, we’ll not be hunting the Caiman to kill them, but just to catch a small one so you can see and touch it and then we’ll release it. The guide will explain the Caiman’s way of living and with a spotlight point out other nocturnal animals like spiders, snakes, owls or giant frogs.

On the 7th day, we have a very special day planned! We’ll begin with a trek into the rainforest. During this time, we’ll open a trail with machetes and stop frequently when we find interesting medicinal plants, resins to make torches, water-vines and the many other fascinating floras within our guide’s vast knowledge. Marks will be left on the way so that we can return in late afternoon with our camping gear and prepared food. Tonight's camp will be made in the deep rainforest! This is a once in a lifetime experience to listen to and try to view nocturnal animals that are not seen during the day (80% of the animals in the rainforest are nocturnal). Sometimes animals may come very close to the camping spot, as we won’t make a fire. This is usually one of our most thrilling nights :D

Day 8, 9 & 10)

The itinerary during the last 3 days is to travel downstream the Jatapu River for two days to get to the river’s mouth, which is still quite far downstream, and the third day will be used to return to Manaus.

On the 8th day, we’ll travel to the headwaters of a lake where there is a gorgeous waterfall and some giant otters (1.75 m. or almost 6 feet from head to tail) live – mostly seen during low water season -. We’ll also camp in this area.
The 9th day, you’ll kayak and stop to visit a local family, view their manioc plantations, listen to their stories and, of course, interact with the laughing children. They love to see themselves on a digital camera screen! In exchange for the visit, sometimes clients like to give gifts of school supplies like colorful crayons, perfume, soccer balls and/or tobacco.

After our visit, a boat will meet us to tow us to the Uatuma River. In the afternoon, participants are usually tired and like to spend a day relaxing on the white sand beaches (in season), walking around, drying clothes, or playing cards or Brazilian dominos with a Caipirinha cocktail. Camping will be overnight on the beach.

After packing up on the last day, the motorboat will tow us to a dirt road where our ground transportation will be waiting for us. Then a 30-minute drive will bring us to the town of Itapiranga where you’ll have the chance to get a cold beer/soft drink to celebrate this once in a lifetime kayak journey before arriving in Manaus in the late afternoon.

Oh, don’t forget to take your adventurer group picture!

-Unfortunately, young children are not allowed on this tour
-Luggage’s limits: luggage must fit on/in your kayak and although we do not have a weight limit, you’ll need to be able to carry it all within your kayak. We also offer a secure storage area for our client’s extra luggage while on expedition.
-Trip length
· If you would like to travel to a remote location where we have exclusive access, as in the Jatapu speedboat trip, we can extend this trip by two days.
· For the 8-day trip, we’ll kayak less distance and have shorter excursions.