About Iquitos and the jungle - 5 days in the rainforest

Finally, I have seen the rainforest as I have wished for the whole time! I spent 5 days in a lodge in the middle of the rainforest near Iquitos.

The so-called mototaxis are typical for Iquitos, which are the main means of transportation. Almost no one has a car, since people mostly move within the city. There are only a few roads to leave the city, so people mostly travel by boats.

On the first day, we also took a boat ride from Iquitos into the rainforest. The journey takes about one hour and in between, we walk a bit through a community on the edge of the rainforest. The houses here are built on stilts for protection against animals and floods, and there are no windows due to the heat.

And speaking of the heat... even though it is currently winter or rainy season in Iquitos, it is still incredibly hot and humid, like in a reptile house at the zoo. Luckily, our lodge had a pool where we could cool off after hiking through the rainforest.

The rainforest is filled with a huge variety of animals and plants. During the day, you can only encounter a few animals in the rainforest, apart from mosquitoes and ants. It is only at night that you can encounter animals like snakes or tarantulas.

In order to observe certain birds, called Shanshos, we had to walk deep into the rainforest and cross ponds and small rivers along the way, where the water reached up to our necks. The Shanshos are prehistoric birds, which means that, for example, their wings resemble those of a dinosaur. Unfortunately, they (and many other animals) could only be observed from a distance, so they are hardly visible in photos.

We were able to see and touch the animals of the rainforest up close at a wildlife rescue center, where injured, sick, or weak animals are rehabilitated and then released back into the wild.

In the rainforest, you can also find huge trees, as well as the so-called 'wandering trees', which are formed by lianas over more than a hundred years and were also the inspiration for the trees in the movie Avatar.

Lastly, we took a boat trip across the Amazon River to observe the pink dolphins that live there and swim in the Amazon River.

After four days without electricity and internet, we returned to Iquitos and spent the last day of our trip in the city. There, we visited a zoo and a wildlife rescue center that is known for its large water residents, the manatees, which are raised there.

The highlight was a visit to the Mercado Artesanal, where handmade items such as jewelry, dishes, bags, decorations and much more from the rainforest are sold.

Although life in the rainforest was not particularly comfortable, I would have liked to stay longer. Nature, with its many plants and the unique sounds of birds and grasshoppers, offers a very special kind of relaxation, and I know that there is so much more to see than I could discover in the 5 days!