Amazing Amazon: A Traveller’s Tale

The Amazon rainforest, also known as ‘the lung of the world’, is said to have formed in the Eocene era. The rainforest is said to have derived its name from the Amazon river, which was named when the first European to explore the Amazon in 1541, the Spanish soldier Francisco de Orellana defeated the tribes of female soldiers. Then he derived the name ‘Amazon’ from Greek mythology. The Amazon rainforest is divided into 9 countries, with the majority going to Brazil, Peru and Bolivia. I, Syed Abdallah Alman Ahmad is fortunate to have visited the rainforest.

Tourism in the Amazon rainforest peaked in 2014 with over 1.17 million visitors, but has dwindled ever since. In the Brazil’s region of the Amazon, some of the tourist attractions and activities include: the meeting of Rio Negro and the Amazon river, the Museu da Amazonia, a boat ride which includes various tourist spots. I personally enjoyed my time there, and I would recommend trying the local pirarucu fish.

My experience: We went from Brasilia, the capital city of Brazil, to Manaus, the capital city of the Amazon State in Brazil through flight. The next day, first, we just drove around the city, then we went to the place the boats are berthed at, then we bought the tickets and the boat ride started. The boat then sailed through the meeting place of two rivers, the Rio Negro and the Amazon river. Then, the boat stopped at the dolphin point, where you can swim with pink dolphins. Then the boat sailed once again and stopped at the natural observatory where you can take photos with snakes, crocodiles, sloths, macaws and more! Then the boat sailed and took us to a river restaurant where we had the delicious lunch of fried pirarucu fish and other local foods. From there, we took a hike and we went a little inside the rainforest. Then we returned to our boat and it sailed again and then stopped at the Desano indigenous community where they presented some tribal dances. Then the boat sailed once again and after some time we reached the observatory of pirarucu fish where you can try to fish the gigantic 200 kilogram fish and taste some local snacks. Then we returned to the boat and we went back to Manaus, and the total trip took us around 6 hours. At night, we had dinner at a restaurant our local guide and driver recommended, where we had some local fish curry with rice. Then we went back to our hotel and retired for the night.

The next day, we had breakfast at the hotel, then we set out for the day. At first, we were just roaming around the city, stopping at nice places and taking photos, such as the Bridge named Ponte Rio Negro which stretches around 3.6 kilometres. Then we drove to Zoologico do CIGS, which is a zoo maintained by the Brazilian Army, and CIGS stands for Centro de Instrucao de Guerra na Selva, which translates to Jungle Warfare Instruction Centre. It was a nice place, we got to see some animals that are particularly unique, such as the boa constrictor, which is a large, non-venomous snake. We also saw jaguars, which is the national animal of Brazil. There is a saying known by Amazonians: ‘If you confront a jaguar in the Amazon, then all you can do is pray’, and the reason for this saying is that, jaguars can swim, so you are not able to take shelter in the water! Jaguars can climb trees, so you are not able to take shelter in the trees! Also, they are fast runners, so a normal person will not be able to outrun it! Then, we went to the Museu da Amazonia which is a museum located in Manaus. To enter, you have to wear boots, which they will provide. Then, during the hike, we saw some rooms, and inside the rooms, were different sections of the museum. Some rooms had samples of different insects, some rooms had snakes, some had other creatures such as arachnids. Then, in the hike, they showed us a very large sequoia tree. We saw a lot of ant colonies, the guide told us that the tree and the ants coexist together supporting each other. Then after some hiking, we reached the observatory in the middle of the whole museum. We climbed up the stairs, and the view was mesmerizing. We could see the Amazon rainforest and the whole city, then we climbed back down. Our hike then ended and then we had lunch and returned to the hotel. That evening, we went to an amusement park. There I rode on roller coasters and also a few other activities. We then went to a shopping mall where I spent some time in an arcade, then we went to the food court and had dinner there. The next day, we had breakfast at the hotel, then we packed our bags and drove to the airport to catch our flight back to Brasilia, and thus, our 3 nights and 2 days trip ended!

An interesting fact I learned regarding the indigenous people’s social construct:
When a baby is born in the tribe, all of the tribe members treat the baby like their own, and everyone takes care of the baby.
Dangers of visiting the Amazon rainforest:

When visiting the rainforest, everyone has to be careful regarding a few things. People need to be careful of the wild animals, and the tribal people. Not too long ago, a British journalist was found impaled, dead in the remote area of the forest, which was believed to have been done by an indigenous person.

Lastly, I would like to say that it I got to learn a lot of new things, such as their culture and cuisine. And I would recommend it to other people also. After all, Brazilians say ‘God is Brazilian’, and the Amazonas state is the largest state of Brazil by area, and after travelling through the Amazon, seeing the biodiversity, and the natural bounties in the Amazon, I could finally see why they say that.

 
Syed Abdallah Alman Ahmad
is a student of Madrasatun
Noor, Dhaka.