Carlos Damasceno

We booked an 8-day riverboat tour with Carlos in late April/early May 2013, and we couldn’t have been more pleased. There are a lot of very commercial tours available out of Manaus, and that was not what we wanted. We wanted a custom tour just for our group (four of us), and we wanted to really get out on the river and go places where we would not see other boats or other tourists. We not only wanted some adventure, but we also wanted to learn as much as possible about the rainforest and the river and the people native to the area. Carlos delivered on all fronts. Having grown up on an Amazon tributary that swells as much as 40 feet in the wet season, he really understands the river’s fluctuations and what they mean for the people who live on the water. He introduced us to a few families and a few indigenous tribes who live on the river. He took us on off-trail deep jungle hikes and showed us medicinal plants and water sources that are vital should you get stranded in the jungle. With his keen eye, he was able to locate and point out various birds, butterflies, bats, and monkeys, sloths and other animals. He took us piranha fishing and night searching for caiman (he even grabbed a few and lifted them out of the water to give us a better view!), and he took us through a remote paradise of orchids that was absolutely surrealistic. Because we went on our tour at the end of the wet season when the river was still flooded, we spent much of our time roaming the exposed jungle canopy by canoe. Carlos’ crew included a really great canoe guide who was able to transport us safely through some very scary channels that seemed to us to go around in circles. The other crew members were the captain, a motor specialist, and a wonderful cook who provided us with three traditional Brazilian meals each day and snacks whenever we asked for them. If there had been ten of us, or two of us, and we’d wanted a different kind of boat or a different kind of tour, Carlos would have provided it. He is very well connected in Manaus, and he enjoys the challenge of creating custom tours, all for a very fair price. He even made our pre- and post-tour hotel reservations for us in Manaus, and he had someone pick us up and return us to the airport. Carlos speaks several languages fluently, which we found was important; because we wanted to really “learn” about the Amazon, we would have been lost if his English had just been so-so. Besides being the best and most knowledgeable tour guide in the area, Carlos was really fun to hang out with. Evenings on the boat we did a lot of talking, a lot of laughing and even some singing! Yet Carlos was always respectful of our privacy on the small boat, and gave us the space we needed when we felt the need to be alone. My family and I (we traveled with my son and daughter in law) adore Carlos. We plan to make our second Amazon trip with him in 2016, this time during the dry season. If you love adventure, learning about new things, and great company, Carlos is your man.