The Amazon Rainforest is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. Its broadleaved forest is the largest on the planet. This basin encompasses 7,000,000 km2 of which 5,500,000 km2 are covered by the rainforest. This region includes territory belonging to nine nations. The majority is contained within Brazil, followed by Peru, Colombia, and with minor amounts in Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. It’s a region of immense diversity, sheltering plant species, fish, bird species, mammals and amphibians.
You can visit the Rainforest from different starting points, and different countries. All present different kinds of experiences and their own logistical challenges. I decided to visit it from Iquitos, with the Muyuna Lodge.
The experience was memorable, incredible, and I don’t even have the words to describe it. Being out into the wild, no cell reception for days, the river and the submerges forest, it feels enchanted, alone with just the plop sound of water dripping, the strange call of a bird and the green magnificence of the jungle for company. I would go back in the Rainforest in heartbeat!
At the Muyuna Lodge, you’ll have a local guide, from the Amazon. You will only be in small groups (4-5 people) or even alone if it’s not too crowded. The program depends on your preferences but you will have one similar to mine:
Day 1: a car will pick you up at the airport then bring you for a 20 min car drive to the agency. After a little paper work and choosing your rubber boots, off to the port to get on the boat for a 3h ride on the Amazon river. And the magic begins! You’ll feel your body travel, your eyes wonder on everything because there are so many trees, plants to see. And arriving at the lodge, it takes your breath away.
The afternoon, first activity: walking a few hours in the jungle to see monkeys, birds and other animals. Our guide is amazing, it’s like he smells the animals! I don’t know how he does it, he must have super eyes because he spots monkeys or sloths at 100m away! Just incredible.
After dinning very good traditional Peruvian jungle food, we hoped on a boat at night to go and look for caymans and nocturnal animals. Our guide catches a baby cayman with his bare hands! Little tip, look for two red lights hidding in the plants, the cayman’s eyes get a red reflection with light.
Day 2: after a good night sleep (bring earplugs, because the jungle doesn’t sleep!), a good and healthy breakfast, we went swimming in the Amazon river. Of course, we all hesitated a bit because we had just seen caymans in the water the night before, but the guide assured us that animals have their favorite spots so there are safe places to swim. We then road a bit around to see some amazing pink dolphins. They are pretty shy and really fast so hard to take a picture of, but the experience is great. There were also grey dolphins, and smaller dolphins jumping around us.
After a nice lunch at the lodge, we went fishing! We stopped the boat in different spots of the laguna and actually fished a few piranhas (the most dangerous, apparently). And trust me, you don’t want to put your finger in the water, these crazy fish will eat it just as they swallow the pieces of fish or chicken we’re using. Of course, for dinner, we get to eat our trophies! Not much meat but it’s actually really tasty.
After this emotional dinner, we head to the jungle, covered from head to toes, to avoid mosquito bites as much as possible. You should wear long sleeved shirts with a hood and light-colored cotton. Ironically, the darkness attracts mosquitoes! A few hours in the deep jungle and we get to see the nocturnal animals such as different birds, huge frogs, different spiders (including the fatal tarantula).
Day 3: another big walk through the jungle to spot animals, followed by a tour in an amazonian canoe. It’s very relaxing, because you’re the only canoe just riding across the river. You’ll eventually meet another canoe with locals that will kindly greet you. We went to see the Victoria Amazonica, the largest specie of the water lilies. We then went to visit a local village, but I didn’t enjoy that so much, as I always feel this is fake.
Spending a few days in the Amazon Rainforest was just incredible. Everything is magical, even when it rains, it feels amazing. Big drops making different sounds on every leaf, every tree. I could explain it, you need to live it!
I wish I could have stayed longer and I recommend it to anyone! Of course, you can find different types of lodges with different standards, but it’s a must do once in your life, really…
Muyuna Lodge Website, reservas@muyuna.com
Just meets World 
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