Manaus and Iberostar : Pink Dolphins

I had heard of the Amazon River in Brazil for many years and had wanted to visit. I found ship boat named Iberostar which offered a tour of multiple rivers in that area starting from Manaus.

From Rio de Janeiro, I took a flight to Manaus and a taxi to the port. It was raining heavily, and I reached the port a few hours before the ship was boarding.

From where I was sitting, I could see many ships of different sizes some huge, and some small and all were destined to go on the different rivers which are in that area.

I found a café and sat drinking coffee until it was time to board the Iberostar.

Of all the different drinks offered, there were some alcoholic ones and the Jambu drink caught my eye. I had heard that the Jambu leaves are special and endemic to this region. These leaves make your tongue and mouth numb. It has many medicinal properties.

As I drank this, I was surprised that within minutes, my tongue was numb, and the whole mouth had lost it’s feeling.

Looking at the map, I found I was at the confluence of Solemus and Black river (Rio Negro)and the Amazon river was further up front.

The boarding of the ship started and the house rules were explained in the large event room which had audiovisual capabilities.

The ship had three decks which hosted the staterooms and the fourth floor at the top had a bar and a viewing area. The best part was food and all kinds of drinks, soft and hard, were freely available any time, day or night.

After sunset, the ship sailed underneath the Rio Negro bridge and the view was amazing.

The lighting from the bridge was reflected on the clouds and it made the view look surreal.

The ship was modern and had a lot of seats on the top floor along with a swimming pool. There was a hot tub as well.

The ship was not huge like the American cruise ships, because its main purpose was to navigate the relatively narrow span of the Brazilian rivers.

This modest size ship could house 144 guests and had all conveniences including air conditioning.

One could just sit on the deck and see the river pass by along with the rainforest and its dense jungle.

And when your drink was running low, all you had to do was to motion to the wait staff. They were eagerly awaiting instructions on what other food or drink you wanted to consume next.

There were many small islands and land masses visible as we glided on the Rio Negro.

It was a good way to completely unwind, disconnect, find the peace and be in nature — something everyone on the ship evidently longed for.

The lunch restaurant was huge and has elegant seating with very, very huge selection of local fruits like açaí or passion fruit, salads, drinks, soups, Amazonian fish, meat, desserts. There was a feast for each meal, lunch, dinner and breakfast.

Another good thing about this trip was that all the excursions were included in the price of the voyage. Contrasting this with the American cruises where you have to pay for anything extra. However, the American cruises are relatively cheap while this one was modestly priced or a bit on the high side.

Each day, they were a couple of excursions in the morning and afternoon. There were sign-up sheets to choose a particular excursion. Many motorboats on Iberostar were available for this, each could accommodate about 20 people.

Some excursions were popular, some had a limited audience.

The motorboat pilots got a kick out of going fast and it was thrilling to be bobbing up and down on the river at a fast clip.

They would take the motorboat to the shallow edge carefully avoiding the two engines from hitting any rock or debris.

The first excursion I went on was a couple hours walk in the rainforest.

After stopping the boat on the very small beach, we followed the guide in the rainforest, taking care not to touch anything because there could be anything anywhere. There could be bugs or insects, snakes or other life-threatening things. We all wanted to survive this rainforest walk.

Giant termite nests were everywhere.

Ferns and creepers were all vying for sunlight.

The creepers from one tree looked especially gnarly.

Roots went in all directions to find water.

Termites had created interesting patterns on different trees.

Epiphytes grew on trees.

At one point the guide did a shaman like performance for us and it was entertaining.

After enjoying the walk and very informative lecture from the guide, we got back onto the motorboat and fed along to the mothership.

We got to see the crane lift our motorboat to stow it.

From the upper deck, I resumed the relaxing journey in the river and watched the landforms pass by.

We could spot toucans on the trees.

Dark clouds were gathering. The sunset was giving the sky, a beautiful color.

In the next excursion, we went in the motorboat inside the swamp.

We were expecting to see more animals and birds in this excursion.

we were not disappointed and saw interesting-colored birds.

The motor board zigzagged through the swamp to the river and back.

The guide’s keen eyes spotted a sloth on a tree on the bank.

As it became darker, the guide could spot many Caimans from a far distance, and later I found that his trick was to look for the shining eyes of the reptile.

The whole place was full of them.

After that, we went back to Iberostar and had some delightfully well-presented food.

The next excursion was to an indigenous tribe and their school on the Rio Culeiras.We were visiting the Kambeba tribe.

It showed a giant Caiman's skin on display.

The school was medium size, had good lighting and was airy. It had received good scores and accolades from the ministry of education.

There were many trees around the grounds, and I saw the cashew nut trees with fruit on it.

Many local flowers bloomed.

There was a cute art piece on one of the schoolhouse's walls.

The trees and flowers in Brazil are unique and varied.

The tribe's name was on one of the buildings.

The local arts and crafts were on sale.

We were treated to a performance by the Kambeba community with multi-generational participants.

The next excursion was to fish for piranhas.

The small boat took us to the swamps.

The swamp with the trees all around and the solitude was enchanting.

Each of us got a fishing rod and it was quite easy to catch a piranha. Every one of us caught at least one and then released it back to the river.

The sunset on the Amazon was breathtaking.

And so was the dawn.

On the next excursion, we saw birds, sloths and very cute monkeys.

The monkeys were very friendly.

We had come prepared with bananas and the boat was taken to the very edge of the river.

The monkeys were not shy about taking the food out of our hands.

They were cute and numerous.

Soon they jumped on the boat.

And next to the guide's head.

The monkeys gave a good performance.

We resumed the journey on the river.

A sloth was lazing around on the top of a tree branch.

Some cute birds on trees were eyeing us.

Another cute bird was showing off its colors.

Some huge tree roots were quite interesting to note.

Next on the agenda was to experience the highlight of the trip, the pink river dolphins. There was a conservancy center in the middle of the river where we went to see them.

One volunteer had a box of chum to attract the dolphins.

The volunteer whistled and banged the fish on the water, that was the signal to the dolphins to come get the treat.

This pink river dolphin is unique to the amazon river.

The dolphin show went on for a while and we did not tire of it.

The dolphin teeth were very cute.

We went to the rubber museum next. It had the remnants of workshops and warehouses where rubber was collected, processed and stored. Rubber was very expensive in the heyday of Manaus. Manaus had so much wealth at that time that the rich at that time sent their clothes to launder in France, per our guide.

The rubber was made into balls and several tonnes of these rubber balls were sent on a boat to Europe for sale under supervision of armed guards.

The workplaces of the employees who made rubber were preserved here.

The Rubber Master's opulent house and the modest homes of the employees were the main attractions.

All good things must come to an end. The next morning when I woke up, the ship was very close to the starting point. It was at the confluence of the three rivers.

You could see the different colors of turbulent waters where the rivers met.

The previous night, there was a show on the ship. It was a cultural dance which was high energy, elaborate and very skillfully done.

The ship reached the Manaus port where the journey began four days ago.

I came out of the ship happy, with a unique experience. I had made several good friendships, enjoyed good food, and relaxed fully. This is a trip not to be missed when you are in Brazil.