Since 1998, we've crafted journeys using knowledge gained on our own explorations of South America's spectacular wilderness, fascinating cultures and diverse wildlife.
Bring a sense of adventure and an open mind. We'll take care of the logistics and support you round the clock.
We only work with small, locally owned operators and guides. Your money stays where you travel, and a share of every trip supports local communities and the wild places they protect.
Colombia’s Amazon remains an authentic rainforest experience. Its flooded forests and great rivers are home to a few riverside communities and an incredible density of wildlife.
Fly from Bogotá to Leticia, near the borders of Colombia, Brazil, and Peru. Next, travel through natural reserves to the inspiring Puerto Nariño. This Indigenous-led municipality has banned motor vehicles, creating unmatched tranquillity.
Journey upstream to discover remote lodges, keeping an eye out for pink river dolphins, caimans, birds, and reptiles, including the anaconda. Visitors can also sleep high above the forest floor in treehouses at Tanimboca.
Cultural interactions with Indigenous communities await in Colombia’s Amazon, with handicraft workshops and explanations of forest myths and legends.
Rurrenabaque is the gateway to two contrasting wildlife experiences in Bolivia.
First, there is the rainforest of Madidi National Park, where the foothills of the Andes give way to vast stretches of Bolivia’s Amazon.
Travel upriver by motorised canoe to Chalalán, a community-owned eco-lodge beside a beautiful forest lake. Explore forest trails and waterways with local guides, listening for howler monkeys and watching for macaws, caimans, and other wildlife.
Your hosts from the San José de Uchupiamonas community combine rainforest exploration with insights into their ancient knowledge and conservation techniques.
Alternatively, head downriver from Rurrenabaque to the Pampas area. This offers a contrasting experience, with open wetlands and excellent opportunities for wildlife watching, including spotting pink dolphins.
Peru’s Amazon boasts vast swathes of rainforest and cloud forest reserves that support an immense diversity of wildlife.
Tambopata National Reserve and Manu National Park are both accessible from Cusco, offering contrasting rainforest experiences.
Tambopata, reached via Puerto Maldonado, is famous for its spectacular macaw clay licks, oxbow lakes, and giant river otters, with comfortable lodges as bases. Further west, the Manu region offers extraordinary biodiversity, with opportunities for extended camping expeditions to get close to nature.
Both regions combine wonderfully with Cusco, the Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu.
In contrast, in Peru’s north, Iquitos offers a different Amazon experience: multi-day boat trips to explore vast rivers and flooded forests.
Ecuador offers an excellent introduction to the Amazon: extraordinary biodiversity, comfortable lodges, and welcoming Indigenous communities.
From Quito, fly 40 minutes to Coca and continue by boat into the Napo region, gateway to the wildlife-rich forests of Yasuní National Park. Yasuní is one of the world’s great biodiversity hotspots, with exceptional numbers of amphibians, birds, reptiles and tree species.
In Ecuador’s Amazon, you’ll explore forest trails, climb canopy observation towers, and paddle along quiet waterways in search of monkeys, toucans, macaws, caimans, and giant river otters. Parrot clay licks are another highlight.
Community-owned lodges offer fascinating cultural insights through expert Indigenous guides. A four- or five-day stay is ideal and pairs well with the Andes or the Galápagos Islands.
Brazil’s Pantanal is a vast seasonal wetland, quite different from the dense Amazon rainforest, and one of the best wildlife-watching destinations on Earth.
Its open, savannah-type landscapes, rivers, and lagoons make wildlife easier to observe than in the rainforest. Look out for capybaras, caimans, giant river otters, giant anteaters, hyacinth macaws, and an extraordinary variety of waterbirds.
The Pantanal covers 170,000 square km—it’s larger than Tunisia—and is where the jaguar is king. Brazil’s northern Pantanal, particularly around Porto Jofre, is renowned for jaguar watching, home to one of the world’s highest concentrations of this beautiful big cat.
Explore the wetlands on guided drives and boat excursions, staying in wildlife lodges or comfortable floating accommodation. Cuiabá and Campo Grande provide access to different parts of this remarkable ecosystem.
Brazil is where the mighty Amazon River winds through seemingly endless stretches of forest.
Manaus is the main gateway, with its magnificent opera house and fascinating rubber-boom history. From here, take a river cruise along the Amazon and Rio Negro rivers, visiting riverside communities and exploring smaller waterways by canoe.
Alternatively, stay at a remote jungle lodge, setting out with local guides on forest walks and boat excursions to look for monkeys, sloths, caiman, and river dolphins.
River levels shape the experience: higher water allows canoe trips through flooded forests, while lower levels reveal beaches and additional walking trails.
From: $7200 per person
Duration
From the moment you arrive, the Amazon rainforest reveals itself to every sense.
This enormous region is constantly evolving, sculpted by its countless waterways. As you travel upstream into dense forest, the strange, liquid song of an oropendola may carry over the humid air. Flashes of bright macaw feathers paint images against the deep blue sky.
A caiman’s eyes, floating like marbles on the dark, still waters, sink before your canoe gets too close.
There are many ways to explore South America’s Amazon rainforest, the largest tropical rainforest on Earth, covering Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, and Colombia. Forest trails and waterways lead to intimate lodges, remote communities and extraordinary wildlife habitats.
You might hear monkeys crashing through the foliage as you explore trails, the rich, earthy smell of damp soil filling your nostrils. Raindrops gather on leaves before falling to the forest floor; around your feet, the Amazon teems with buzzing insects.
The forest is a stage, decorated by flowers, bark, and leaves, where frogs, birds, and mammals provide an ever-changing soundtrack.
There's always more happening in the rainforest than you can see; every outing reveals something new. Whether you're paddling through flooded forest, walking beneath towering trees, or listening to the night chorus, the Amazon’s sensations will stay with you forever.
A seamless journey from the jungles of Manu to the heights of the Inca Trail, with fantastic guides and a perfect stay at Cusco’s charming Amaru Hotel.
A wonderfully smooth and well-organised trip from the Andes to the Amazon, with excellent guides, great food, and unforgettable adventures like tree climbing and kayaking.
Good kit is vital for every trip.
Book with Andean Trails and get 15% off Páramo’s fantastic ethical and high-performance outdoor gear.
You can also read our blog about a day in the Amazon rainforest of Peru.
Please note: Guests should arrive in clothes which they do not mind getting slightly dirty or wet, and should wear footwear that is suitable to walk on a rainforest trail. Sun cream, insect repellent, hat and waterproof clothing should be carried in hand luggage and kept accessible for the journey to the lodge.
You may want to keep your binoculars and camera handy, too.
All bedding, toilet paper etc. is provided at the lodge (or camp, if camping).
We strongly suggest that everyone planning to travel to Bolivia visits their local doctor/travel clinic prior to departure for the latest vaccination information.
Malaria risk is present throughout the year in Bolivia’s Amazon areas.
Malaria risk also present in all areas below 2,500m and in the departments of Santa Cruz, northern Beni and Pando, especially in the localities of Guayaramerin and Riberalta.
We strongly suggest that everyone planning to travel to Brazil visits their local doctor/travel clinic prior to departure for the latest vaccination information.
We strongly suggest that everyone planning to travel to Colombia visits their local doctor/travel clinic prior to departure for the latest vaccination information.
We strongly suggest that everyone planning to travel to Ecuador visits their local doctor/travel clinic prior to departure for the latest vaccination information.
For people travelling to the Amazon/coast and regions below 1,500m (excluding Galapagos, which is malaria free):
We strongly suggest that everyone planning to travel to Guyana visits their local doctor/travel clinic prior to departure for the latest vaccination information.
We strongly suggest that everyone planning to travel to Peru visits their local doctor/travel clinic prior to departure for the latest vaccination information.
For people travelling to the Amazon/coast below 1,500m north of Lima and regions below 1,500m:
Year-round, weather conditions are hot and humid and there is always the risk of rain
There is a ‘dry season’ in Tambopata and Manu between May and October. The average daytime high temperature is between 25°C and 34°C and the average nighttime low is between 16°C and 22°C. Heavy downpours typically occur every few days.
Around 80% of annual average rainfall – approx 2,000 mm in Manu and Tambopata and 1,400 mm in Iquitos – occurs in the wet season Nov-April.
On rare occasions, between May and September, cold fronts from Argentina – ‘friajes’ – can sweep into southwest Amazonia and push temperatures down to 9° C. (Friajes usually last between 1 and 3 days).
