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 N W IANT MONKEY FROG 12 The huge GREEN 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 s i 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 or you to sit on. ET an cit 3 A ugh f IC ’t y i 5 W eno IA tall RUBBER TREE may be We’ve taken a daytrip dri n the world big ve 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).