BIRD-EATING SPID H E GOLIATH ER CARDINAL TETRA T NT MONKEY FRO A Roman Catholic cardinal GIA doing in G Anacon R 6 s a frog a tree? een da 25 wears red – so does the E t’ r V a RI h G W MONKEY F The huge GREEN N IANT ROG 12 CARDINAL TETRA fish. O s a G ! Don’t worry, this GOLIATH Z TRIBUTARIES It’ ANACONDA spends MA Because 15 BIRD-EATING SPIDER looks most of its time hidden A the largest The Amazon they’re so 20 scary, but it doesn’t want Take the trip of a lifetime– in the water. River is fed by juicy, the you for dinner. along the Amazon –River as it winds many smaller rivers people of the ACAI 31 along its journey to Amazon call the river in the world the sea. How many berries of the PALM its way through six countries can you see? ACAÍ PALM ‘the and thousands of kilometres of fruit that cries.’ 8 21 ANGELFISH breathtaking tropical rainforest. rive DISCUS F 7 PINK r DO 16 ISH BR The AMACAYACU The natives of theL P AZIL y! No H NUT Sorr NATIONAL PARK is Amazon once thought the IN T ehicles allowe RE otor v d mostly under water from PINK RIVER DOLPHIN E m PUERTO 26 nter October to June. Stay in had magical powers. AMAZONIAN MANATEE to e IÑO. NAR the boat, please! Early explorers from 30 s at the but Europe thought the live te NAR r rf TO INO 13 AMAZONIAN MANATEE e ly ER The ANGELFISH t 11 a f U S a P might be a mermaid! ITO e Look at those beautiful U t r got its name from the IQ n m fish swimming the boat! beside a . shape of its fins, This whopper is a famous

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h which look like an BRAZIL NUT TREE. T angel’s wings. LETICIA is the Amazon’s CO frontier port where Colombia, PINTUWASI SQUAWK LO Peru and Brazil meet. PIL M Yikes! Keep your BI s fing SCARLET HA ers A N ou 19 22 FLOATING HOUSE A t o MACAW R f I th The beautiful B P e R U A w Best not go sleepwalking R Z a SCARLET MACAW E IL 17 t

P 10 e is sometimes in this FLOATING HOUSE r

T RUBBER tapping . QUITOS is th IAN in Tefé! 2 I e lar G .. called a ‘flying 27 ANAVILHANAS ARCHIPELAGO that ge ILIES. rainbow.’ you s ERL L This 40-metre (130-ft) c t T r you to sit on. ET an c 3 A gh fo IC ’t ity 5 W enou IA tall RUBBER TREE may be We’ve taken a daytrip dr in the world big ive re 100 years old. to. ...a up the Rio Negro (Black River) to the ISLA amazing ANAVILHANAS DE 14 ARCHIPELAGO.

1 THESE ARE LOS HUGE! You won’t be alone for a moment 18 24 BLACK MICOS on MONKEY ISLAND! JAGUAR TINGRA RIVER ‘JAGUAR’ means ‘he who 28 RIVER S Y 9 23 SQUIRREL MONKEY We’ve popped SOURCE 4 kills with one leap.’ MAMIRAUA RESERVE up the River 29 MATSéS Solimões to The mighty Amazon When staying in this guest RI COARI. starts life as a tiny PEOPLE room in the MAMIRAUA OA trickle high up in the C years. RESERVE, we’re right in This tiny BLACK Peruvian Andes. T ungle for th of he eep in the j ousands the heart of the rainforest. SQUIRREL MONKEY MA ed d If you go for a paddle, TSÉS e liv PEOPLE hav is no longer than don’t tread on a RIVER your foot! STINGRAY! 631. DESSANA TRIBE ON 634. THE MEETING OF 636. HARPY EAGLE 639. KAPOK TREE 642. HOATZINS 45.6 SANTAREM 648. MONTE ALEGRE 50. ALTAMIRA 652. LOGGING 654. MACAPá 57.6 FRESH WATER 60. BeléM RIVER NEGRO THE WATERS The huge harpy eagle is what scientists call The kapok tree sticks out of the The hoatzin is one of the weirdest birds you Like Manaus, 725km (450mi) upstream, CAVE PAINTINGS The wealthy city of Altamira stands at The Amazon rainforest may be very special Macapá’s position at the mouth of the The Amazon enters the sea in a delta up Travelling around Belém is rather like being st There are some 250,000 indigenous Like two kids meeting for the first time an apex predator – in the natural world it rainforest’s canopy like a basketball player will ever see in the Amazon – or anywhere Santarem is a great base for exploring the The rock inside and around the Monte the point where the clear green waters and very beautiful – but it is also very Amazon’s north channel is a mixed blessing. to 240km (150mi) wide. This river system in a timewarp. One minute we’re in the 21 peoples in the Amazon rainforest. The at a new school, the Rio Solimões and the has no enemies. It soars above the canopy in a school photo. Its great height (61m else for that matter. It’s one-of-a-kind, Amazon. The city was founded 350 years Alegre Caves is decorated with eerie of the Xingu River flow into the great dark valuable. Wood from its great trees sells It is the most important city in the district has many mouths that between them spew century, with skyscrapers and sleek shops. peaceful and good-looking Dessana, divided Rio Negro take a while to become friends. of the jungle or perches on a branch looking / 200ft, more than the width of a field has a real stink about it, and is the only ago in the territory of the native Tapajó handprints and strange pictures of people swirl of the Amazon. To the north the vast for a lot of money. One cubic metre (35 but cut off from the rest of Brazil by the out more water than the world’s next eight The next, we’re in the colonial old town between some 60 communities, are one of The scientific properties of the two rivers out for prey. When it sees something tasty, hockey pitch) is supported on a 3-m (10- survivor of a bird species that appeared people. For a long time the city, the river and animals. These images are fascinating emerald valley of the Amazon stretches as cu ft) of mahogany, for example, can fetch wide river. The city’s name means ‘where largest rivers combined. - full of streets lined with mango trees, the best known. (temperature, speed and composition) are it swoops down, grabs it in its ferocious ft) wide trunk that at the bottom looks as around the time dinosaurs were dying out. and the people all shared the same name. and very important. To understand why, we far as the eye can see. To the south the $2,500 (£1,752). you can find lots of bacabas’. A bacaba is As the fresh water from the river is elegant mansions and ancient churches. talons and carries it off for dinner. if it’s made out of pastry. Its folds are home land rises into the Brazilian Highlands. the local palm tree whose fruit is used for The Dessana belong to a group known as the so different that they flow side-by-side Four unusual things about a hoatzin: Santarem, like other towns along the need a bit of a history lesson. An estimated 30 million cubic metres lighter than the salty seawater, it stays on Belém means Bethlehem, the place where for 6km (3.7mi). The Solimões, is a cool to dozens of plants and small creatures. making unusual ice cream. Tucano. They all have one unusual and very A harpy can lift a monkey or sloth (its • It allows food to ferment (go rotten) in Amazon, enjoyed a boom when South The first human beings to reach North When the Brazilian government decided to (1,059,440,000 cu ft) of hardwood the surface for miles, travelling far out to Christians believe Jesus was born. Not special custom: no husband may marry a stream, (22˚C / 71.6˚ F) that flows at favourite meal) weighing as much as itself Kapoks are also found in Africa. Why? American rubber was sent all over the America crossed from Asia perhaps build an enormous dam logs are dragged out of the Amazon Macapá used to belong to the Portuguese, sea. When still 400km (250mi) from the surprisingly, religion plays an important 6kph (3.7mph). The tea-coloured Negro is the top of its gut before digesting it. That’s wife who speaks the same language as him. – that’s up to 9kg (20lb), the same as Scientists believe the fruit fell into the why it stinks. world. Nowadays it still trades in rubber 14,000 years ago. We used to think they across the Xingu, it each year. That’s enough to fill 30 giant who started to build the star-shaped fort shore, sailors approaching South America part in city life. The Santuario de Nazaré As a result, Tucano men and women speak much warmer (28˚C / 82.4˚F) and potters 320 doughnuts! Amazon and was washed down to the and other forest goods, but products like then migrated south very slowly, taking brought thousands sports stadiums or 12,000 Olympic-sized of São José de Macapá in 1764. It took 18 are surprised to find themselves sailing church is at the heart of Brazil’s largest along at a leisurely 2kph (1.24mph). • Its chicks have claws at the end of their at least three or four languages, and their sea. It then floated across Atlantic to an oil and aluminium earn the town more money. many thousands of years to reach South of people and new swimming pools. The Brazilian government years to finish because the slave workers through fresh water. religious festival. Known as Círio de Nazaré, settlements are a buzzing kaleidoscope of They are eventually churned into each African shore, where it took root. wings. America. job opportunities has passed laws to prevent logging. But it’s kept running away into the forest. We can it attracts over a million Christians every to Altamira. The very hard to stop, and Greenpeace reckons hardly blame them. October. chatter. other by the river’s twists and turns in a 37. SATERé-MAWé TRIBE • It makes a terrible racket – croaking, But the images and tools from the Monte spectacular meeting of the waters 10km 6 hissing, grunting and groaning according to 46. GIANT OTTER population shot up from 80% of Amazon logging is illegal. 58. MARAJó The Sateré-Mawé are a tough people. 6 Alegre Caves are more than 12,000 years 40. BOI BUMBá 100,000 to 140,000 6 (6mi) outside Manaus (35). 6 its mood and what it’s doing. A 1.8-m (6-ft) giant river otter needs old. This suggests that the first Americans Marajó Island is as big as Switzerland. It Hunting in the jungle is a dangerous and Boi Bumbá festivals take place throughout 3-4kg (6-9lb) of food per day to keep in just two years. often painful experience, and no man is • Its wing muscles are so feeble it can’t arrived here much more quickly than we was formed over centuries by the soil, the Amazon region, but the one in the city its tummy full. Because it can’t always 55. BELO MONTE DAM allowed to join in until he has passed the take off after eating a large meal. thought, making these ancient markings 6 rocks and dirt brought downriver by the 32. ELECTRIC EEL of Parintins on Tupinambarana Island is the catch enough fish, it tops up with anything 6 famous Sateré-Mawé tribe test. a vital clue to understanding early 51. TRANSAMAZôNICA The purpose of the gigantic Belo Monte Amazon, and during the rainy season large Keep your eyes out for these slimy fellows. biggest and, locals say, the best. Two teams tasty that comes along, including birds and 6 areas of it are under water. human history in this part Dam is to use the waters of the River Xingu 35. MANAUS Hundreds of vicious but unconscious bullet compete to tell the legend of Catrina, her snakes. HIGHWAY The Amazon’s electric eels are swimming 6 43. HAMMOCK of the world. to generate electricity - clean electricity, When the river and the moon are full, Manaus started out as a Portuguese fort ants are sewn onto the inside of a pair husband Chico and an ox that was killed and 6 stun guns. They have two sets of muscles Giant otters build dens on the river bank, Back in the 1970s, when we didn’t really produced without burning fossil fuels such th Hammocks were invented by the people something extraordinary happens along that act like the poles of a battery. In deep in the jungle. In the 19 century, when of large gloves, with their stings pointing brought back to life by magic. understand how important the Amazon of the Caribbean and first brought back and defend them fiercely if threatened. as oil or coal. Brazil produces 80% of its the shores of Marajó. The advancing tide defence or attack, they send a massive industry developed a thirst for rubber, the inwards. When the ants have woken up, a rainforest is for the world, officials decided The three-day open-air festival presents to Europe by the explorer Christopher Like us, they live in family groups. They electricity in this manner. clashes with the river to make a rushing 860 volts zapping between these muscles. trees from the surrounding plantations would-be hunter boy, aged as young as 12, to open it up. They wanted hundreds of six different performances, each a thrilling Columbus. They returned to the New work together on hunting trips, too. Sadly, The dam has many supporters, but a lot of wave (called a ‘bore’) twice the height This is enough to stun any fish or animal, produced 90% of the world’s rubber. puts the gloves on. To show his bravery and thousands of settlers to go and live there. 61. CRUISE SHIPS mix of dance, song, drama, floats, puppets World (North and South America) with the these sleek swimmers have been over- opponents too. They say the dam will ruin of a man. It can speed inland for half an 6 Manaus became the wealthiest city in South courage, he must not give any indication of including us! and parades. The crowd joins hunted for their meat and fur, and there hour – a surfer’s dream. They call it the Each year some 2 million tourists visit America, known as the Paris of the Tropics. the pain he is suffering. Portuguese, who found them ideal beds for A road was needed to take people into the Xingu, and the people and wildlife that The so-called ‘eel’ is actually a stretched- in, too. They try to earn a rainforest. are only a few thousand still living in the wild. the forest. And so the idea of the 53. GRAZING LAND depend on it. Areas below the dam will run pororoca, which means ‘roar’ in the local the Amazon rainforest. Some stay on The city’s grand cathedral and opera house The ants sting him for about 10 minutes points for their team by 49. ZEBRA CATFISH 6 out, scale-less fish that needs to come 6 Transamazônica Highway (or Trans- dry, and those above will flood. The dam is Indian language. their cruise ship or riverboat. The more remind us of those days of gold and glitter, A hammock is cool (good on board a The Amazon rainforest has been called the to the surface every ten minutes or so to while the tribe dances and sings. When waving flags and candles, The zebra catfish (aka zebra pleco) is Amazonian Highway) was born. adventurous visitors explore by canoe or when millionaire rubber barons sent their stuffy boat) and keeps the sleeper safe ‘Lungs of the Planet’ because it produces still under construction, and it’s one of the breathe. Weighing 22kg (50lb), it makes a the gloves are removed, the boy’s hands and rocking and rolling a shy creature that usually comes out on foot. Very, very few do what we have laundry to be washed in Europe! from nasty creepy-crawly-slithery things The plan was to build a 5,200 km (3,321 around 20% of the world’s oxygen. Its most controversial building projects in Brazil. hearty meal. But take care: it can still deliver and parts of his arm are paralyzed and he when their heroes appear. of hiding only at night. It will eat almost done, and travel right down the river from that live at ground level (not needed on a mile) paved highway across Brazil, right trees and plants also store an estimated an electric shock eight hours after death. And today? Manaus is the capital of Brazil’s shakes uncontrollably. anything it finds. its source to the sea. Amazonas State. Though 1,400km boat, we hope!). through the rainforest. Settlers were 80 to 120 billion tonnes of carbon. If Only when he has survived this ordeal 20 Are tourists good for the Amazon? Yes and (900mi) from the Atlantic, it is a port for Unfortunately, because it given money and land beside the road, and they were burned, turning the carbon into times is the boy thought to be a man – and no. Their planes, cars, boats and hotels ocean-going ships and a centre of industry is so beautiful, the zebra catfish told to clear the forest for agriculture. carbon dioxide, global warming would soar 56. SOUTH AMERICAN ready to go hunting. is extremely popular in aquariums. In Disaster! Here’s why: out of control. 6 bring pollution, use up natural resources – most of Brazil’s TVs are made here. In TAPIR and disturb the delicate balance of the 2014 it became famous as a football city 641. RIVER CRUISES the past, large numbers of the fish were • The project was vastly more expensive The answer seems simple: don’t destroy eco-system. Yet, when they have seen 633. IRACEMA FALLS when it hosted World Cup matches. The extraordinary Amazon is a magnet caught in nets and exported from Brazil. than planned any more rainforest. But we must not The South American tapir looks like the the unique wonders of the place – as we The Iracema Falls are not only beautiful, 38. ARAPAIMA for tourists from all over the world. Every 647. MONTE ALEGRE As this threatened to make the species forget that the seven billion human beings strange cousin of a pig and an anteater! 59. CAPYBARA For travellers like us, the city is best known • Much of the road was never paved 6 6 extinct, the export of zebra catfish was However, it’s not related to either. Its have done – we hope they will return home they’re safe to swim in too. There’s year, thousands come to sail the river and The views from Monte Alegre over the on the planet need food, and people living Fully grown capybaras are at least as big as the gateway to the Amazon rainforest. determined to help preserve one of our nothing quite like a cool natural shower The size of a small whale (or a very large explore the vast jungle through which it 44. ALTER DO CHão Amazon Valley are breathtaking. But take banned. • Rain is continually washing away stretches in and around the Amazon need to earn a closest relatives are other creatures with as a human teenager. This makes them the Each year hundreds of thousands of 6 world’s greatest treasures. man), the arapaima lives mainly off fish. of the highway; other parts are knee-deep hooves, such as horses and rhinoceroses. world’s largest rodent (gnawing animals like after a hot and sweaty trip through tourists pour in by boat and plane before flows. They stay in special lodges, trek It’s best to visit Alter Do Chão during the a 4x4 trip 10km (6.2mi) west of the town But the poor fish is still not safe. The new living. As a result, the Amazon rainforest Though it can breathe under water, it in mud rats, mice, squirrels, and guinea pigs). They the jungle. setting off into the steamy jungle. In the through the forest on foot and paddle dry season, August-February. In fact, and you will find a very different but equally threat is the construction of the Belo has been cleared at a rate of 500,000 Although tapirs are land animals, they love prefers the fresh air up above, and has 2 live in herds, sometimes 100-strong, on the There are no waterfalls on the Amazon opposite direction go Brazil nuts, rubber, silently up backwaters in canoes, a bit like it might be the only time to visit: during astonishing sight. Monte Dam (55) across the River Xingu. • Builders, loggers and settlers have km (200,000 sq mi) a year. swimming. But danger lurks in the murky even been known to grab a passing bird we’re doing. the wet season the village can disappear When it opens, the dam will change the flow water: there’s not much a crocodile or banks of the Amazon and its tributaries. itself, but dozens on its 1,100 tributary jute and rosewood oil. Sadly, despite the when popping its head above the surface. In front of us stands the mouth of the destroyed vast areas of unique rainforest. Trees are cut down and sold or burned. The rivers. New ones are still being found. The best efforts of the authorities, there No visit is complete without a few days completely under water! Pedra Pintada Cavern, as big as a mansion. of the river and could destroy the habitat cleared land is then used for grazing cattle an anaconda likes more for supper than a By and large, the capybara is a rather Yumbilla Falls (Peru), one of the five largest is also an illegal Because it rarely dives deep, the arapaima spent chugging along the river in a three- As the crystal green waters of the Rio And long ago that is exactly what it was. of the rare and lovely zebra pleco. or planted with crops such as soybean. tasty tapir! pleasant animal. It’s friendly and makes in the world, were only discovered in 2007. trade in exotic is an easy target for hunters with deck River Cruiser. Passengers experience Tapajós subside in the dry season, the The cave was the spacious home of some Environmental campaigners demand that The tapir has an even more deadly enemy: all kinds of funny noises, including purring, The water falls over 895m (2,936ft) – fish, animals, harpoons. This has led to a tragic decline the sights, sounds and scents of the village and its sandy beaches emerge bright of the earliest human beings to live in South Amazon deforestation (clearing the man. Hunting and the destruction of clicking, squeaking and barking. It does, more than three times the height of Paris’ plants and in its numbers – in some parts of the rainforest – and if they’re lucky they’ll see and clean: the Tapajós is the only river in the America. They’ve left us their tools and their rainforest) stop immediately. their environment has made these gentle however, have one less attractive habit – it Eiffel Tower. timber. rainforest it is already extinct. a pink river dolphin. Amazon network whose waters are clear. brightly coloured artwork on the cave walls. vegetarians an endangered species. eats its own dung! Delicious.