2008 Mann/Hill World Cruise

Scenic Cruising the Amazon River
The Amazon is a gigantic system of rivers and forests, covering almost half of Brazil and extending into neighboring countries. The wide stretch of river, known as Rio Amazonas, runs between the cities of Manaus and Belém, though the various rivers that join to form it provide a navigable route for ocean-going vessels to the other side of the South American continent. The forest still keeps many of its secrets; to this day, major tributaries of the Amazon are unexplored. Of the estimated 15,000 species of Amazon creatures, thousands of birds and fish and hundreds of mammals have not been classified. A cursory sampling of known animal species found in the forest - some common, some rare, some virtually extinct - includes jaguars, tapirs, peccaries, spider monkeys, sloths, armadillos, caimans, alligators, river dolphins, boa constrictors and anacondas. Forest birds include toucans, parrots, macaws, hummingbirds and gaviào (birds of prey), and insect life is well represented, with over 1800 species of butterflies and more than 200 species of mosquito. Fish such as piranha, tucunaré, piraracu, anuanã, piraíba and poraquê (electric eel) abound in such an amazing diversity of species that biologists are unable to identify much of the catch found in Belém’s markets. Don't expect to meet remote Indian tribes or dozens of free-ranging beasts though, because in both cases contact has been synonymous with destruction, and both have sensibly fled from accessible areas.

posted by Hills @ 1:30 PM