Sunrise over the Rio NegroToday, our riverboat cruise on the Tucano began. There were 16 passengers in all, 3 from the USA, 3 from England, 4 from Sweden/Norway, and the rest were a Brazilian family (mom & dad, two grown daughters, one son-in-law, and a woman who'd worked with the dad for many years). We immediately bonded with Pat, one of the Brits who had to be at least 75 years old. This woman was a riot. Her husband doesn't like to travel, so for the past 20 years, she's been traveling and having adventures all over the world on her own. She's trekked 3 times in the Himalayas, tracked lemurs in Madagascar, went white water rafting in Thailand on a bamboo raft (where at one point, a big wave flipped her off the raft. As she was hanging on for dear life, trying to figure out to where on the shore she should swim, another wave came and flipped her back onto the raft). She's been to Thailand 17 times because she teaches Tai Chi and studies under a master there. She's gotten stranded in Siberia, traveled the Middle East, all through Asia...you name it, she's been there. But the crazy thing is, her husband doesn't know anything about any of it! She doesn't want him to worry about her, so she lies about where she's going. And she thinks it's perfectly natural not to tell him and didn't really understand why we thought it was so funny.
Our boat headed up the Rio Negro, one of the rivers that feeds into the Amazon. The Rio Negro is much less traveled than the Amazon and we pretty much had the river to ourselves for the week. We didn't see any other tourists, only a few locals here and there on their fishing boats. It was incredibly quiet and peaceful.
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.
