A captivating cruise on the Amazon River

The sun is high in the sky, and I am already sweating profusely when the driver of our skiff cuts the motor. We drift toward a rustic looking dock that must belong to the village I see up on the bluff above us. Suddenly, two machete-wielding men burst out of a thatch-roofed building and come barreling down the hill straight toward us. “Uh, what is happening?” I nervously ask our guide, Alex. It turns out they are local park rangers here to guide us into the Pacaya - Samiria National Reserve, the largest protected area in the Peruvian Amazon and home to 200 communities scattered throughout the area. As they jump on board to greetings and handshakes all around, Alex turns to me and grins, “Rule number one. Never go into the jungle without a machete!”

I am somewhere on the Amazon River, a guest on the Aqua Nera, the newest vessel of Aqua Expeditions which charters luxury cruises based out of Nauta. It is a floating, five-star hotel with unrivaled service and a professional staff that caters to your every need.

We continue on and turn into a tributary that begins to narrow. Towering palms dot the sky while white cranes, stoically perched on sunken tree trunks, watch us go by. Someone spots two river otters so we idled for a bit watching them watch us, their heads comedically popping up out of the water only to disappear just as quickly. As we “oohed” and “ahhed,” Alex tells me, “They are very curious creatures and quite silly!”

Eventually our boat pulled up to a muddy bank where we put on knee-high boots and mosquito nets and followed the park rangers into the jungle. Alex gets down to business pointing out a termite mound, catching a frog for us to examine, telling us to steer clear of a parade of ants down at our feet and showing us a tree with medicinal bark. “Don’t touch anything! Please!” he yells cheerfully from the front of our group. We stopped to examine a vine, and the park ranger demonstrates how to use the machete. Taking turns, we all give the vine several whacks. It’s a lot harder than it looks! We manage to cut a piece about 18-inches long. Holding the vine, Alex tells me to open my mouth and pours the liquid dripping from the vine into it. To my surprise, it’s pure delicious cold water. “We call this the water vine,” Alex tells our group. “You live on this when you are hunting. So, now you know how to survive in the jungle! But please, don’t get lost,” he laughs. Back on the skiff, Alex regales me with stories of his life on the Amazon and at a previous job leading macho guys on survival tours. “I would just wait nearby in the bushes so they would think that they were alone until they cried for help which they always did,” Alex says. “Then I’d go rescue them. People think they can survive in the jungle, and they just can’t.”

This is how a cruise with Aqua Expeditions unfolds: a series of creative, authentic adventures with unscripted moments while the caring and knowledgeable crew cater to your every need. “This is quite a lofty undertaking,” I said, sitting down for a chat with Israel Yong, the food and beverage manager, who happened to be onboard that week. I had seen him copiously taking notes over the past couple of days. “We want to make sure our product is consistent,” he said. “Luxury expedition travel is a well-choreographed dance between understanding and mitigating the dangers of exploration while pampering our guests in every way imaginable.”

He is not kidding. The guides are all from local villages and very aware of how dangerous the Amazon can be. “The food can kill you, the animals can kill you, and the insects can kill you if you don’t know what you are doing,” says Juan, one of our guides, as I show him a painful bite on my neck. He examines it and nods, “Ah, that’s a bullet ant. You can see the hole! Well, you’re going to be fine. One ant, it’s painful but okay. A bunch – not good – probably, well, we won’t go there,” he jokes while the assistant bartender, Luis, hunts down the medic who arrives with some first aid cream.

The rest of the trip, Luis checks on my bite each day. “You aren’t from here, so I want to monitor it,” he explains. I press him further, and he says, “My people have immunity from being exposed to all the insects their whole life but guests, not so much. I’ve seen a lot of weird stuff happen.”

To give their customers an immersive experience requires flexibility and spontaneity, and it's clear that Aqua Expeditions’ guides have free reign to pivot to where the action is. One day, as we pass a village, we see a child holding a monkey. Alex tells the driver to stop, and as we pull up to the dock, he calls the child to come over. Soon we had a crowd of smiling children around us with Alex peppering them with questions in Spanish. He tells us the monkey's mother was killed during a hunting trip, so the boy brought the baby monkey home with him. He feeds it only what it would find in the forest so that one day, when it leaves, it will know what to eat on its own. The boy tells Alex something, shaking his head in exasperation. Alex laughs and says, “The monkey is very spoiled and wants to be carted around everywhere.”

Alex gives the kids a short ride to the end of the village which brings wide grins to all their faces as they scramble aboard, monkey included. As we motor slowly along the bank, Alex explains that this particular village raises turtle eggs, an initiative that is part of the Sustainable Landscapes Program, an ongoing partnership with the government and the World Bank (among others) to help reduce deforestation and over-hunting. “The villagers can’t keep doing what they have been doing in the past because it’s not sustainable anymore. So, each village is paid to do a project,” explains Alex. We left the children at the edge of the village waving goodbye to us, all smiles and giggles.

On our way back to the Aqua Nera, we encounter elusive pink dolphins feeding at the mouth of the river and stop to take pictures. Over the course of the week we spot gray river dolphins, river otters, iguanas, caimans (alligators), parakeets, macaws, gray and white cranes, four types of monkeys, and a gazillion other birds. 

The river is an ever-changing landscape with muddy banks, shifting with islands made of pristine sand appearing and disappearing year to year. I tell Neycer, another guide, how beautiful the beaches are. The next day Alex says we are “making a special stop before we meet up with the others.” He takes me to the beach across the way and says, “take your time.” I eagerly jump off the skiff into clear, ankle-deep water and wander off. I happen over a bluff, startling a massive flock of birds who scatter across the sky. I snap a picture of a huge frog hiding under a log. My feet start burning so I run back to the boat, laughing. As we speed off, I glance backward seeing my trail of footprints, and a sense of awe overcomes me. 

The Aqua Nera is a gorgeously appointed boat and the only cruise ship on the Amazon with a plunge pool on its bow. The pool serves as a refuge from the intense heat and quickly becomes a part of our daily routine; a place to compare notes with fellow passengers or just sit blissfully content, sparkling beverage in hand, watching the world go by.

The personal service provided by the crew on the Aqua Nera is beyond excellent. They know your name the first night and memorize how you take your coffee by the next day. I enjoyed a morning routine of greeting Robinson, the bartender, and heading out to the deck. Five minutes later, he would deliver a delicious cappuccino to me while I sat and enjoyed the sunrise.

The food on the Aqua Nera is also spectacular. The menus are local recipes and made from foods from the Amazon, and every meal is a delicious, cultural immersion. We interacted with the chef through several cooking demonstrations and learned how to make pisco sours, ceviche, and the famous local fish, paiche, which is cooked in a bijao leaf. Of course, we get to eat and drink everything!

Whenever we return to the ship, we are warmly greeted by the cruise director and her assistant with a cold, delicious, unique combination of fruit and water. Back in our room, dirty clothes from yesterday magically re-appeared, cleaned and folded on the bed, ready for our next outing. And, each night, our cabin steward leaves us a special treat with a card describing its significance in Amazonian culture.

We joked with the guides all week that we were going to be disappointed if we didn’t see an anaconda. On the last day, Neycer announces he is going to find one. We go up and down the river with Neycer standing at the bow flashlight in hand, diligently poking and prodding various masses of branches along the shore. He tells us, “This is where they hang out.”

We give up for a while and float along watching some pink dolphins swim by. Suddenly, Neycer yells “anaconda!” and points to the opposite shore. Working the radio, he calls the other guides who arrived with their skiffs. After an intense discussion, they settle on a plan. We watch, spellbound, because it takes the whole team to catch it. “Always grab the tail first,” narrates Neycer, as if we were students who would be hunting them on our own next week. “If you grab the head, the tail wraps around you, boom, you're gone… that's no good.” After they coax us to pose for some pictures, they release the giant snake who slithers off.

On our last night, we toast the crew who serenade us with Peruvian music after dinner. I am sad and can’t quite believe it’s over. From service to food to activities, Aqua Expeditions is a five star experience you won’t soon forget.  

How to book an Amazon River cruise

I booked my Aqua Expeditions cruise as part of a custom, private-guided tour with Kensington Tours. With Kensington Tours’ luxury meet-and-greet packages with seamless private touring and transfers, you can have peace of mind while you travel, with 24/7 support along the way.

Having traveled in South America multiple times, I knew that logistics can be challenging because South American airlines are notorious for changing their schedules last minute. I called up Sean Griffin, one of Kensington Tours’ South America Destination Experts, and together we crafted a 10-day tour which included sightseeing in Lima, hotels, and flights to and from Iquitos, the city you need to fly into to get to the Amazon.

Sure enough, a month before our departure, all of our internal flights were canceled. Sean immediately notified me and within 24 hours he had completely reworked the trip, rebooking our hotel at the Lima airport so our late arrival was less painful, canceling our museum tour in Lima, and making sure it all still worked with our international flights. He also reached out to Aqua Expeditions, who added a special stop at the San Jose de Paranapura, an animal sanctuary and a gourmet lunch on our last day so we weren’t stuck at the airport for hours waiting for our flight. It is certainly reassuring to know that when I use Kensington Tours, my clients will receive top shelf service before, during and after their trips.

Lillian Martin owns CR3 Travel and is an expert on creating tailor-made trips. Follow her on Instagram @cr3ativegirl.