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The journey
Cruise deep into the Peruvian Amazon on an 8-day voyage that begins and ends in Iquitos, combining the comfort of Aqua Nera with daily skiff adventures, guided walks, and immersive wildlife encounters. With naturalist guides, you'll explore a changing mosaic of mighty rivers and black-water tributaries, watching for birds, sloths, and pink river dolphins while meeting local communities and artisans along the way. The journey includes a full day inside the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, visits to Amazonian markets and villages, and a stop at the Manatee Rescue Center before your departure. Between excursions, return to your suite and enjoy onboard hospitality, including dinners from Pedro Miguel Schiaffino's menus.
At a glance
Day by day
The crew meets the midday flight from Lima at Iquitos airport and takes you to lunch at a restaurant in town, then on to Aqua Nera. Settle into your suite, meet the naturalist guides, and run through the safety drill before sitting down to the first dinner from Pedro Miguel Schiaffino's menus. Night on board.
Travel by skiff off the Amazon into the Yanayacu Yacapana, with binoculars ready for songbirds, black-collared hawks, and sloths, and a line over the side for piranhas while the guides explain the forest around you. In the afternoon, the ship moves to the Yarapa, a black-water tributary of the Ucayali, for an evening under the stars and a search for the animals that come out after dark. Night on board.
Start early on Clavero Lake, where the villagers get about in dugout canoes. Swim in the calm water of the lake, or visit one of the families who live on its shore. In the afternoon, the skiffs go out on the Marañón for more wildlife. Night on board.
Take a guided walk through the market at Nauta, with the produce of the Peruvian Amazon and snacks to try. After breakfast, artisans show how palm fibre is woven, and in the afternoon you visit a beekeeper in the community of San Francisco before the skiffs take you to the meeting of the Marañón and the Ucayali, where the Amazon begins. Three-night guests see the market, then leave the ship after breakfast and visit the Manatee Rescue Center on the way to Iquitos airport. Four-night guests board at Nauta at nightfall. Night on board.
Go birdwatching on the Marañón at sunrise, then enjoy breakfast set up in the middle of the forest. Visit a village for a demonstration of the aguaje palm harvest, then go swimming, kayaking, or canoeing on the Yanayacu Pucate while keeping an eye out for pink river dolphins, followed by a bicycle ride along the riverbanks of the Pacaya-Samiria reserve. After lunch, those who wish can spend time with a Kukama Kukamiria healer, and after dinner the skiffs head out on the Yanayaquillo for the stars and the night animals. Night on board.
Set out early for a full day inside the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve. Fish on the black water of the Samiria, then choose between canoeing, kayaking, swimming, or a walk in the forest, with a picnic lunch to the sound of the jungle. On the way back to the Marañón in the afternoon, the skiffs watch for pink river dolphins. Night on board.
Enjoy a morning wildlife excursion on the Nauta Caño, a black-water river, with the option of cycling along the riverbank from Puerto Prado to the village of Santa Cruz. In the afternoon, a walk in the forest looks for medicinal trees, insects, and poison dart frogs, and explains the layers of the rainforest. Before dinner, meet the crew who have been working behind the scenes all week. Night on board.
Begin with a guided visit to the market in the morning, then choose between a boat ride on the Itaya River past the floating houses of Belén or a visit to the Chullachaqui Ecomuseum and the hunting traditions of the Yagua people. Have breakfast on board, then leave the ship and visit the Manatee Rescue Center, where orphaned Amazonian manatees are cared for until they can return to the wild, on the way to the airport for the afternoon flight to Lima.
The route
The fine print
Aqua Nera, a three-deck river ship with 20 suites, a dining room, an indoor and outdoor lounge with a bar, a plunge pool, a screening room, a games room, a spa, a gym, a boutique, and an infirmary. Registered in Peru and run to the International Safety Management code.
Twenty identical design suites of 30 m² (322 sq ft) for two, with a king bed or twin beds, a sofa, air-conditioning, floor-to-ceiling windows, and a walk-in rain shower. Ten are on the first deck, nearer the water; ten are on the second, nearer the lounge, for a little more.
Your suite, all meals, non-alcoholic drinks, selected wines and beer, two guided excursions a day in small groups, the Pacaya-Samiria entrance fee, satellite Wi-Fi, laundry, and the group transfers between Iquitos airport and the ship on the recommended flights.
Naturalist guides lead every excursion, by skiff, kayak, canoe, bicycle, and on foot, in small groups.
Peruvian cooking from Amazonian ingredients, on menus by Pedro Miguel Schiaffino, with selected wines and beer. Vegetarian, vegan, kosher, gluten-free, dairy-free, and low-salt diets are available on request; tell us about allergies when you book.
High water, about December to June: the rivers run up into the forest and voyages begin or end in Iquitos. Low water, about July to November: beaches and forest trails appear, and every voyage starts and ends at Nauta. The ship's calendar sets the changeover each year, and the dates below follow it.
Each date below is the day a voyage starts: 3- and 7-night voyages on Saturdays, 4-night voyages on Tuesdays.
Hot and humid all year. About 3.6 metres of rain falls on some 250 days a year, mostly in short cloudbursts of an hour or two; ponchos and rubber boots are on board.
International flights and the flights between Lima and Iquitos.
Private transfers for other flights.
Drinks beyond those included.
Hotel nights in Lima or Iquitos.
Travel insurance.
Comfortable walking shoes
Sun protection and a hat
A light layer for cooler evenings
Your passport valid for at least six months
Some cash in local currency
Logistics
Your 8 days finish where they began, in Iquitos.
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