Skip to content
Wooden houses beneath tall trees reflected in calm floodwater at golden hour in the Brazilian Amazon

Sample journey · 7–9 days

The Amazon's black river: the Rio Negro and Anavilhanas

Manaus, the Meeting of the Waters, the Rio Negro & the Anavilhanas archipelago

Photo: Nareeta Martin / Unsplash

Illustrative journey ideas — not bookable packages. No prices, dates or accommodation are implied.

Other journeys in Brazil head for Rio, the Pantanal or the north-east coast. This one goes to the heart of the Amazon basin: Manaus, a city the rubber boom of the late 19th century adorned with an opera house and an iron market hall, and the Rio Negro flowing past it. The river's water is as dark as strong tea, from tannins in the forest leaves, and its slight acidity usually means fewer mosquitoes than on other Amazon rivers. Upstream, the river breaks into the Anavilhanas archipelago: hundreds of long, narrow, wooded islands threaded by channels.

Water sets the rhythm of the journey. In the high-water months the river floods the forest, and canoes glide between the treetops; when the water drops, white sand beaches and forest trails appear. Days begin at dawn and end in the dark, torch in hand, looking for the eyeshine of caimans. You'd stay at a lodge on the riverbank or a floating lodge, or instead choose a small river boat with just a few cabins, depending on how much you'd like to move and how much comfort matters to you.

The route

The journey

  1. Manaus
  2. The Meeting of the Waters
  3. The Rio Negro
  4. The Anavilhanas archipelago
  5. Novo Airão
  6. River villages
  7. Manaus
  1. The colourful Adolpho Lisboa market hall in the centre of Manaus

    01Days 1–3 · Manaus

    An opera house in a rubber town

    Two nights in Manaus, the largest city within the Amazon rainforest. After the journey, a slow evening and an early night, as the warm, humid air is tiring on the first day. The next morning, a walk through the old centre with a local guide. The Amazon Theatre, opened in 1896 when rubber barons were shipping in marble from Italy and chandeliers from Europe, still holds concerts, and its dome is covered in coloured tiles. Nearby is the iron market hall by the river, selling giant river fish, tropical fruits whose names you've never heard and medicinal herbs. In the afternoon, the river port, full of wooden boats on which locals travel for days, and sunset by the Rio Negro. If your dates fall on a concert night, it's worth hearing music in the theatre.

  2. A river boat against the sunset on the broad Rio Negro at Ponta Negra, Manaus

    02Day 3 · The Meeting of the Waters & the Rio Negro

    Two rivers that refuse to mix

    On the third morning, by boat to the Meeting of the Waters near Manaus. Here the dark Rio Negro meets the sand-coloured Solimões, and for several kilometres the two flow side by side, barely mixing: on one side of the boat the water is black and warmer, on the other brown and cooler. Because of their different speed, temperature and density, they only merge further downstream, and from here the river is called the Amazon. Back on shore, about three hours by car across the long bridge and north-west along the Rio Negro, or, depending on the lodge, by boat upriver. You arrive in the afternoon as the heat eases, and that evening you hear the forest for the first time: frogs, insects and the distant roar of howler monkeys.

  3. Rainforest and a cloudy sky mirrored in still river water in the Brazilian Amazon

    03Days 4–5 · The Anavilhanas archipelago

    A canoe among the treetops

    Five nights on the Rio Negro, with the first days given to the Anavilhanas archipelago, a national park of hundreds of wooded islands. In the morning, before sunrise, a canoe with no engine heads into the narrow channels: at high water you paddle right through the flooded forest, between trunks and lianas, on water so still that every branch is reflected. The guide points out toucans, macaws flying in pairs, sloths in the canopy and small monkeys. Pink river dolphins often surface in the wider channels, and we watch them from the boat at a respectful distance, not at feeding platforms. In the heat of the afternoon, a hammock, a swim in the dark water where the guide says it's safe, and an evening boat out to look for caimans. In the low-water months, sand beaches appear and lunch can be on the shore.

  4. A wooden house on the water at the forest's edge, reflected in a calm river near Manaus

    04Days 6–8 · River villages & the forest

    A life set by the river

    The following days bring the forest closer. On foot with a guide along forest trails, where he points out medicinal plants, trees whose sap has long been used, and how to find water in the forest. In the afternoon, a riverside community: people living in wooden houses on stilts or floating on the water, growing manioc, fishing and making flour the way their grandparents did. We always visit villages with local guides and on their terms, often when we've been invited. If you like, piranha fishing, with the catch fried in the lodge kitchen that evening, and a night at a simple forest camp with hammocks and nets to bring the night-time forest even closer. On the last morning, one more dawn canoe, as the mist lifts off the water and the birds are only just waking.

  5. Victoria water-lily pads in a pond among palms and rainforest, seen from above in a forest park in Manaus

    05Days 8–9 · Manaus

    The forest from above

    On day eight, back to Manaus for a last night in the city. If there's time, it's worth visiting the forest park on the edge of town, where a tall observation tower rises above the canopy: from the top you see how far the forest stretches, and in its ponds float the huge leaves of the Victoria water lily. It's a good place to round off the journey, as the canopy you've watched from below for days now opens out beneath you. In the evening, a last dinner of river fish and a tropical-fruit dessert. On day nine, the flight home via one of Brazil's big cities, or onwards to the Pantanal, Salvador or Rio.

Experience highlights

  1. 01

    The Amazon Theatre

    A rubber-era opera house with a coloured dome, in a city surrounded by forest.

  2. 02

    The Meeting of the Waters

    A black river and a brown one flow side by side for several kilometres before becoming the Amazon.

  3. 03

    The flooded forest

    A dawn canoe with no engine through the channels and treetops of Anavilhanas.

  4. 04

    Pink river dolphins

    Often seen in the Rio Negro's wider channels; we watch them from the boat, at a respectful distance.

First, we listen. Then, we explore what's possible.

Make it your own

  • By river boat

    Instead of a lodge, a small river boat with a few cabins that moves through the archipelago's channels each day and stops wherever looks most interesting.

  • Choosing the water level

    High water (roughly May to July) means canoes through the flooded forest; low water (roughly October to November) brings sand beaches and longer forest trails.

  • With the Pantanal

    From Manaus you can fly via Cuiabá to the Pantanal: two completely different sides of Brazil's wildlife in a two-week journey.

  • With the sea

    After the humid forest, a few days by the Atlantic: Salvador's old town or the beaches of Rio.

Practical considerations

  • The Rio Negro rises and falls by several metres each year: usually highest around June and lowest around October to November. Both seasons have their rewards, and exact timing varies from year to year.
  • The climate is hot and humid all year, and rain can fall at any time. Light long-sleeved clothing, a rain jacket, a torch and insect repellent are all useful.
  • Forest lodges are usually simple: a fan or air conditioning for only part of the day, and limited or no internet. Wildlife sightings are never guaranteed.
  • For vaccinations and health advice for the Amazon region, we suggest speaking to a travel health clinic, and we check current entry requirements for Brazil before you travel.

General guidance only. Seasons, weather and wildlife are never guaranteed, and travel requirements are always worth checking before you go.

Keep exploring

Destinations

Ways to travel

Related articles

More journey inspiration

Plan your journey

Shape a journey like this

Would you like to paddle into the flooded forest and hear the Amazon wake up? Tell us when you can travel and how much comfort matters to you, and we'll choose the lodge or river boat together.

Shape a journey like this

This journey becomes the starting point of your enquiry — you can change or remove it.

All journey inspiration