Taking Wildlife Tours in the Amazon Rainforest

May 12, 2016 eweekendbreaks 0 Travel America,

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If you enjoy exploring the great outdoors, then the Amazon may be the perfect place for you to visit. The rainforest is teeming with wildlife and flora that cannot be found anywhere else in the world, and researchers continue to discover new species of reptiles, mammals, and other wildlife deep in the forest. Many tour companies offer trips to the Amazon rainforest so you can explore the area on your own or with a group of fellow travellers.

Amazon Tours

The Amazon is one of the world’s largest rainforests and it spans eight countries in South America, including Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. In fact, it covers about 40 percent of the entire landmass of South America, which is about 1.4 billion acres. There are many tours that cover parts of the Amazon in Peru, Ecuador, and several other countries.

You can choose from several types of tours of the Amazon, from those in which you can go birdwatching or can tour the Amazon River by travelling in a canoe. You can spend as much time as you wish on a tour of the Amazon by booking them for four, five, or up to eight days. Although parts of the Amazon are primitive, the accommodations you stay in on your South America tours won’t be, because you will either spend the night at a luxury hotel or lodges within the rainforest that have all the comforts of home.

Wildlife Tours

The wildlife tours in the Amazon include looking for the exotic, tropical birds that live in the rainforest, or you can take others in which you will visit wildlife preserves that contain jaguars, monkeys, and butterfly and frog exhibits. Since the Amazon rainforest contains one of every 10 species on the planet, there is a lot to see and explore during your stay.

You will either travel to Peru or Ecuador to start many of the Amazon tours, and then be taken into the rainforest by a guide. Some of the tours will take you to your destination by boat and, once you arrive at your accommodations, you will be lead on daily hikes through the area to find birds, animals, and to enjoy the exotic flora of the area. There are some wildlife tours that allow you to sample fruit from trees grown in the area.

Packing for the Amazon

Since you will be staying in lodges during your time in the rainforest, the only things you will need to worry about packing are your personal belongings. You should bring comfortable hiking shoes, wet weather gear, and a jacket, depending on the time of year you are visiting the rainforest, as well as sunscreen and other personal items you may want to use to fend off mosquitoes while in the rainforest.

The tour company you book with can give you a list of suggested items to pack. You will also want to take a camera to capture memories of your time in the Amazon.