The Peruvian Amazon is an area of mind blowing proportions and diversities. The sheer volume of just about everything is quite incredible; 2,700 square miles, 80 different biospheres, 1,100 tributaries. It is impossible to even scratch the surface and explore more than but a few thousand square miles of this immense wilderness. On my recent trip to Chile and Peru in July of 2018, I was blessed to get to do this in an entirely different way – charter your own ship.
The Aria is the very best available to charter on the Amazon River. This 45 metre ship has 16 suites (36 staff for 32 guests) complete with spa, gymnasium, plunge pool, river facing jacuzzi and floor to ceiling windows throughout offering unsurpassed views of the jungle and local villages. For our trip, which was organised through Abercrombie & Kent’s exclusive Chairman’s Club, the entire shhip was chartered on a private basis for one family group. For four days and three beautiful nights, we had this perfect medium of travel all to ourselves. The benefits were endless, from having all of the ship’s tenders and ‘toys’ along with incredibly professional local crew. For myself especially, this setup allowed me to adapt the normal runnings of the ship to suit my guests personal taste which is something I love to be able to do. I particularly enjoyed working with the local guides who were incredibly knowledgeable and skilled.
Staying in the middle of this vast river comes with another major benefit; the cool night breeze and distance from the shore line greatly reduces the number of bugs you could be exposed too, if staying in a jungle-based camp. A key thing to remember about visiting the Amazon rainforest is that your access to viewing larger mammals is greatly reduced by the sheer density of the forest itself and that is what you are there to see. It’s more about the birds, insects and reptiles of which there are many, especially snakes, although the local guides are very careful to only approach or handle the non-venomous or constrictor species. We were very lucky on this front and found two separate Red Tailed Boas and one young green Anaconda.
Owing to the huge number of bird species in this area, the birds are a constant. Of the 900 odd different species, if you only see 20% of those, that is still an incredible experience even for people who are not interested in birds – the colourful Macaws and the ungainly Screamers are always worth a second or third look.
If anything, be prepared not to see the incredibly tall canopy one might expect as sadly the long arm of modern logging has long passed this area, in fact the best species are of the Ficus and Kapot family owing to their soft fibrous wood. The best example of which is shown in these photographs was in a community based protected area which I estimate to be about 120 to 140 years old and a magnificent specimen.
