Brazil - The Amazon - June/July 2026 - Logistics and Itinerary

Logistics

• A nine day guided trip with Bob and Richard, my companions from the first trip to Brazil a few years ago. This time we were going to the Amazon, centering on the improbable city of Manaus and birding on the Amazon and Rio Negro rivers as well Guiana Shield forest around the town of Presidente Figueredo.
• Guide: We were with Brad again, the same guy who led us on the Pantanal trip and drove me to hospital when some ants tried to kill me. It is getting to the point  where I really don't want to travel with anyone else. Although I would rather he guided us and us alone, his company is called Agami Nature Tours and I recommend that you check them out for all your Brazilian birding needs. As I have said before, he is an excellent birder, but better than that he is also one of the least flustered and most calm people you could ever wish to meet. In a crisis, or even just a slight hitch, he is the guy you want. And he is great company to boot.
• Costs: This particular trip is another long one and also quite expensive with a few boat trips. I think it was perhaps marginally cheaper than the Pantanal trip coming in at $3750 excluding the flights, which equates to £3000 or thereabouts. It was worth every penny frankly. This is of course all inclusive - guiding services, hotels, meals, and all transport. A 30% deposit is required up front, with the remainder due three months before departure. You get hit for foreign exchange charges that I have yet to find a way around, so plan for about +6%. Outraged? Yes I am.
• Flights: We flew on one ticket purchased from LATAM from London to Manaus return via Sao Paulo and, on the return leg, via Madrid, which cost around £1200 in economy. The transatlantic leg left at 9.20pm arriving in South America at 5am lcoal time the following morning. This left us with a perfectly easy two and a half hour connection on to a LATAM flight to Manaus which takes a further four hours. With a further one hour time change west we arrived in the Amaaon at 10.30am local time. Brazi is huge. On the way back we left Manaus at 4pm which was supposed to arrive back in Sao Paolo at 9pm local time, which would have left us about two hours. In the event it arrived quite late and we only just made our onward flight to Madrid, needing to change terminals and charge through Guarulhos at high speed. Once back in Madrid we changed to British Airways flight to London. A direct flight GRU-LHR was available but at the point of booking was unaffordable. 
• Transport:  A regular SUV was included in the package with Brad as the driver.  The roads, albeit that there are not many, are largely fine. Be prepared for pothold hell up near Novo Airao. We also went on three boat trips.
• Accomodation: All included in the price, we stayed in regular hotels in Manaus, and in lodges at Presidente Figueredo and Novo Airão. We shared a three person room almost everywhere we went which brought the price down a bit.
• Literature/Resources: The day-by-day trip itinerary provided by Agami told us most of what we needed to know, and I think Richard brought Van Perlo which likely didn't get touched. We eBirded the whole thing. And of course we had a walking talking encyclopedia of Brazilian birds on hand the whole time.
• Clothing - light clothing that dries quickly is recommended, and as this is a wet landscape, also wellies. This is as for the mud and puddles you will need to wade through as a method for defeating chiggers that for whatever reason cannot conquer a rubber slope of this height. I don't know what a chigger is but I suspect I don't want to know. Fun fact - the same wellies I trudge around Shetland on have now been to the Amazon.
• Food - Vast quantites of stunningly good local fish. You will never want to see a Tambaqui again.

Itinerary

• Day 1 - Mid morning arrival into Manaus. Leaving Sao Paulo the southern Amazon is quite fragmented but after a while all you can see is green. Brad picked us up right on time and we went straight to lunch, In the afternoon we travelled south to the várzea at Iranduba to get the list started. This is the area where the Solimoes and Rio Negro meet to become the Amazon proper.
• Day 2 - An early start CEASA port on the west side of Manaus was delayed by a monster electrical storm rolling in from the east. All morning boat trip around the Marchanteria islands, flooded at this time of year so you bird from the boat amongst the top third of the trees. After lunch a quick twitch for an improbable Agami Heron at the INPA Bosque da Ciencia, and then north to Presidente Figueredo where we managed about an hour of forest edge birding before last light.
• Day 3 - Birded the Ramal do Tucumanduba all morning, and the Ramal do Bacura in the afternoon, both east of Presidente Figueredo. We tried for a juvenile Harpy Eagle that had been seen back at the nest site with no luck. In the evening a successful excursion for White-winged Potoo.
• Day 4 - A quick change of plans this morning involved returning to the Harpy Eagle site and this time the bird was there! This did mean we started our planned birding at the Cachoeira da Neblina a little later than we would have wanted but we all felt it was a wothwhile trade-off. In the afternoon we birded Aldeia Mari Mari, well known for a Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock lek. The birds were magnificent, but this low forest was unpleasantly hot and humid and not for the faint of heart.

• Day 5 - We departed in the middle of the night to head south back towards Manaus, with the aim of being at the ZF-2 Tower at first light. This is permit only and representatives from the university met us on entrance track and as first light dawned we started climbing this extraordinary research tower that extends 40m upwards and above canopy. We hadn't even made it to the top when a passing squall had us scurrying down again. I think we went up and down three times as the weather forced us to abandon birding for lengthy periods. We were away by midday for the long drive around Manaus and up the south bank of the Rio Negro to Nova Airão, our base for the remainder of the trip. We managed an hour or so at the Ramal da sombrinha cor de rosa before heading to the hotel. 

• Day 6 - Boat trip to the PN Anavilhanas with Vermelhinho, also flooded this time of year, starting at the Furo do Tamuata. Words cannot describe how beautiful the Rio Negro is. All day on the boat, simply wonderful birding. In the evening a quick outing to try for Rufous Potoo.

• Day 7 - Morning trip by boat up to some land owned by Vermelhinho where we got off and had a look around his little parcel of forest. In the afternoon we tried the Sombrinha cor de rosa again.

• Day 8 - Birded the well-known Ramal do Medico all the morning before departing for Manaus in the afternoon.

• Day 9 - Morning birding from the MUSA tower in northern Manaus, accessed via the Adolfo Ducke botanic garden. Organised in advance we got early access to the reserve and at first light you have the tower to yourself. Once the gates open a stream of regular visitors start to appear. Back to the hotel to pack, clean up, and Brad delivered us the airport for our mid-afternoon flight back to Sao Paulo.