The mighty Amazon River is home to 2.5 million square miles of rainforest—one of the earth’s largest and most intact wildernesses. Aboard the luxury yacht Aqua, we explore its many wonders as we journey in style along the Ucayali and Marañon rivers, the two largest tributaries of the Amazon, and through the remote Pacaya Samiria National Park and Reserve, set deep within the rainforest at the headwaters of the Amazon. This vast wetland reserve is a haven for Amazonian flora and fauna, a world filled with birds in neon-bright colors, playful monkeys, graceful hawks and herons, and millions of butterflies. As we cruise along, we’ll try our hand at fishing for piranha, visit riverside communities to witness their culture and traditions, learn about the area’s conservation and sustainability projects, and enjoy night excursions by skiff under a canopy of sparkling stars. There are two seasons in the Amazon: low water (June to November) and high water (December to May). Each season offers extraordinary experiences of the Amazon.

Itinerary at a Glance

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Days 1-2
Iquitos, Peru / Embark / Tahuayo River

Arrive in Iquitos, embark on the Aqua, and begin our journey on the legendary Amazon River. Our first excursion is at the Tahuayo black water river, where we see fishermen paddling dugout canoes and a vast variety of wildlife: terns, orioles, blackbirds, black collared hawks, monkeys, and sloths share this wonderful environment with us. We can try to catch one of Amazonia’s fearsome piranhas, and as the sun sets, we may have the opportunity to see gray and pink freshwater dolphins.

Days 3-7
Marañon River / Pacaya Samiria National Reserve / Ucayali River / Pacaya River

We make our way toward the headwaters of the Amazon, where the Ucayali, Marañon, and the Amazon rivers merge. Along the way we explore riverside villages, whose inhabitants share their culture, traditions, and folklore with us, visit a sustainable resource management project, take nature walks into the jungle to learn firsthand about the important medicinal value of jungle plants, and see tamarin, howler, and capuchin monkeys and a vast variety of birds including laughing falcons, gray tanagers, sandpipers, and five kinds of parakeets. As the Aqua skirts the edges of the vast Pacaya Samiria Reserve, a flooded forest covering five million acres at the headwaters of the Amazon, we board skiffs to view one of the great spectacles of the southern hemisphere: the birthplace of the Amazon River. Our ship then brings us along the Ucayali River, the Amazon’s largest tributary. As the sun sets, we hear the loud, ferocious-sounding warning signals made by the howler monkeys as they mark their territories. When night falls, we hear the second movement of the rainforest symphony, as other nocturnal animals send their shrill calls across the treetops.

Day 8
Iquitos

Docking in Iquitos, we visit the lively riverside community of Belen, the market hub of the Peruvian Amazon, and the Manatee Rescue Center, where biologists and volunteers care for endangered Amazon manatees. We disembark the Aqua and depart.

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