A Wildlife Discovery Voyage through Amazon Country

For wildlife lovers nothing charms them more than a voyage of animal discovery through uncharted territory. If you are not aware of it, I tell you nothing in this world quite matches the joy of exploring the Amazon basin. It is the world's most complete ecosystem with thousands of species of birds, insects, and animals living in the midst of the still virgin unique rainforests that you can get to see on planet Earth.

Although man is known to exploit nature for his own short term goals and due to this lately the deforestation scourge has also touched Amazon territory, the scale of it is much less than in more habitable places. This one factor makes for a delightful journey over the Amazon river in Peru in South America.

The good thing about the region is that the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) has marked it as the protected region. So, hunting is not allowed. The real attraction of a voyage through the Amazon basin is that it allows you to sail upriver through the diversity of abundant wildlife, thick plants, and towering trees.

You begin the trip organized by the WWF in a four-day riverboat journey over the Amazon from the jungle surrounded city of Iquitos in Peru. A nature lover such as you will be overwhelmed to see the giant kapok trees. You will never fail to notice the macaws that fly past you in twin formation. The motorized riverboat lets you view the graceful dives of freshwater dolphins as also to view the sharp eyed black collar encrusted hawks zoom down to catch piranhas in one fell swoop.

Local guides will help update your knowledge about the various animal and plant species that inhabit the region. Their experience will be invaluable to you for they have lived in it for decades. You may want to note down insights that have left a deep impact on your psyche during the voyage.

The riverboat trip begins on March 7, 2009 from Iquitos. If you are making the trip as a US citizen, you can first fly out to Lima the capital city of Peru. From there you can get a connecting flight to Iquitos.

While on the journey upriver, you may get to see the oriole black birds, the yellow-headed caracaras and of course the beautiful white-necked herons too. So, keep your binoculars at the ready.

You can search piranha in the small tributaries of the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve, which is the largest wetland reserve forest in the world. If you are lucky, you will be able to spot saddle-backed tamarins, caimans, common potoos, and capybaras. You will also find the huge blue morpho butterfly in the region. Another aspect of the trip is that you will get to meet the tribesmen who live in little villages along the river. Their culture will have an impact on the way these simple people happily live their life in deep forests. The trip costs you approximately $4,000 per person. If you want to add Machu Picchu to it, it will cost you about $2,500 extra per person. You can request information from WWF about exclusions and other details.