Journeying Along the Amazon

The jungle trail winds from the Amazon River through tropical sunlight into the flickering shadows of one of the world’s oldest and most dense forests.

We are warned by our guide not to step from the trail or to try to swing like Tarzan from a hanging vine.

The warning is not only to protect us from razor-sharp leaves but to ensure that tourists and tourism do not further ruin the forests.

The concern is the same on the upper Amazon, where the skipper of an exploring boat watches for both onrushing logs and the gleaming eyes of the alligators that are part of life in the largest of all river basins.

The Amazon is the second-longest river in the world and, along with its hundreds of tributaries, forms the world’s largest watershed, supplying one-fifth of the fresh water that drains into the sea.

Society Expeditions Cruises of Seattle offers an expanded series of tours aboard vessels small enough to sail the entire 2,300-mile length of the navigable Amazon from the Atlantic coast of Brazil to Iquitos, Peru.

Other ocean ships call at Manaus, Brazil, 1,000 miles up the river, but the shallow-draft Society Expedition vessels can continue to Iquitos, the farthest point from the sea that serves ocean traffic.

Society Expeditions’ 285-foot World Discoverer carries 140 passengers and has a small fleet of inflatable boats for exploring the river and its tributaries and for visiting remote villages. Jungle hikes with naturalists are part of every expedition.

Growing concern over the continuing destruction of the Amazon rainforests and interest in the attempts being made to save it is one attraction. The main appeal of such voyages, however, is in the romance of the Amazon and the discovery of towns and villages along the most remote reaches of what is referred to as the “Father of Rivers.”

Society Expeditions is offering three departures--Oct. 16, 25 and Nov. 1--covering the Amazon and its tributaries between Iquitos and Manaus. Participants study jungle birds and other wildlife, the forests, the amazing curative powers of some of the vegetation and the centuries-old life styles and rituals in remote villages.

Departing Iquitos on Nov. 11, a Society Expeditions trip travels the length of the Amazon to Belem on Brazil’s Atlantic coast. A stop in Manaus allows a visit to the “Wedding of Waters,” as the tan-colored Amazon merges with its black Rio Negro tributary in whirlpools of color.

From March through May, 1990, the Society Explorer, sister ship of the World Discoverer, will offer the first springtime expeditions on the Amazon.

Facilities on board the World Discoverer and Society Explorer include the dining room, fitness center, sauna, pool and library.

Rates for the three upper Amazon expeditions this autumn start at $3,450 per person, double occupancy, including all boat and hiking adventures, port/airport taxes and on-board tipping. An add-on of $500 will cover round-trip air fare from Miami. The 17-day trip starts at $4,990 per person, double occupancy, with an add-on of $700 for round-trip air fare from Miami.

For details and reservations, contact your travel agent. Society Expeditions Cruises Inc., is at 3131 Elliot Ave., Suite 700, Seattle, Wash. 98121. Telephone (206) 285-7917.

To extend a Society Expedition voyage or explore the Amazon and its tributaries near Iquitos on your own, book the Amazon Camp, where we stayed, through your travel agent or through a company known as South American Reps, which handles Amazon tours and cruises. It is based at 1013 S. Central Ave., Glendale, Calif. 91204. Telephone (818) 246-4816. A two-night stay with meals and collectivo (thatched-roof river boat) transportation from Iquitos is $130 per person, which also includes jungle hiking.

Check with your travel agent or call Aero Peru for further details at (213) 488-0515.