Uakari Floating Lodge consists of 5 bungalows with two rooms and two bathrooms in each bungalow. Each room has a porch with a view of the river and the forest. In total, there are 10 rooms with a capacity of 20 guests. The Lodge has a central floating area with a small deck, a kitchen, a restaurant, a bar, a video room, and a library.
Uakari Lodge serves food traditional to Brazilian and the region. There is seasonal fresh fruit, beiju, homemade bread, juice, coffee, and milk. The typical Brazilian rice and beans are delicious as well as the salad and vegetarian options. Delicious desserts, made with local fruits are available as well. You can also observe and try some typical Amazonian fruit such as açai, cupuaçu, sapodilla fruit, camu camu, araza, pineapple and passionfruit.
Sustainable & Community Run
Started in 1998, Uakari is managed by the Mamirauá Institute and the communities from Mamirauá Reserve. The enterprise’s aim is to generate income for the local people and to contribute to the preservation of natural resources. Ten different communities from the reserve manage the Lodge, the employees, the contractors, and the salespeople.
The facilities are sustainable. The energy comes from the sun. The rain is collected and kept. The effluents are treated before being discharged back to the river. The tiles are ecological, made of recycled PET from plastic bottles.
Uakari Lodge’s operation is a performance line of Mamirauá Institute’s community-based tourism program. Uakari Lodge has two teams. One team works in Tefé town and takes care of reservations, arrivals and departures of the guests. The other team works at the Lodge. You’ll probably have more contact with the Lodge’s team. You’ll find a bilingual naturalist guide. He’s going to be your host.
Most of the employees come from riverine communities, the management, local guides, maids, cooks, auxiliaries and janitors. The Lodge’s team works in a rotation system. Each person works about 10 days a month before returning home. The objective is not to make the people depend on the touristic activity, but they can keep doing other activities. Mamirauá’s Auxiliaries and Ecotourism Guides Association (AAGEMAM) was created by local people to organize tourism management and to strengthen community organization.
The trip might have been the absolute best of our lifetime (thus far). We particularly want to commend our guide Peter in the Guilin area-he was so incredibly attentive, energetic, enthusiastic-and absolutely dedicated to ensuring that our meals were 100% vegetarian.
Jack Charney
TrustScore 4.8 | 174 reviews
TrustScore 4.8 of 5
Based on 174 reviews on
1 day ago
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
2 days ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.