In the amazon jungle...

I returned back well from the Amazon jungle and it was amazing!!
Spent 6 days and 5 nights in the jungle next to one of the many side arms of the Amazonas.
On the way to the jungle lodge we saw the famous "meeting of the waters".
Where the Rio Negro (black river) and the Amazonas (white river) meet together. The funny thing is that they don't mix themselves. This is due to the temperature as well as the speed of the water. The Amazonas is colder than the Rio Negro and flows 3 times faster.
It is quite interesting to watch both rivers running side by side for about 6 km, till they finally unite.

After an rough car ride on a narrow street through the jungle and one more boat trip we arrived in the jungle lodge.
There we meet with our tour guide Nigel Kurt. He is quite a funny guy and he loves all kind of reptiles and other dangerous animals. So the amazon jungle is exactly his territory... :-)
We did a short canoe trip and Nigel showed us the area and the animals living there. We saw Caimans, Dolphins and all kind of different birds. 
The highlight was, when he climbed a tree to get a sloth for us. I was very impressed how he spotted it out on the tree, because it is very hard to see them! What a nice animal, always looking so cool and relaxed. :-)

In the evening i met 2 girls from England, a guy from France and a guy from Germany.
We played "Shithead" and "Asshole" and had a lot of fun... :-)

One the next day we went into the jungle and Nigel explained all the different plants and trees. What you can eat and what is poisonous. He also caught a big tarantula only with is hands and showed us "killer ants". 2 bites of them can kill a man!! 
We ate some brazilian nuts, which are apparently very hard to open and also a kind of larva
living in another nut. That was looking quite disgusting but it tasted like the coconut-meat.
Or as Pumba would say: "Slimy, but full of vitamins..." :-)

Pirania fishing was also a very nice. Caught 4 of this dangerous fishes! We had them on the next day for lunch. Tastes like captain Iglo's fish sticks... :-)
One evening we went caiman spotting. I was very impressed when Nigel spotted one of them and jumped right into the water to catch the alligator only with his hands! 

Another day we went to the local people called "cablocos" to see how they live.
When we arrived i thought they live from planting weed illegally. But the big plantations i saw are manioc-plants. They just look quite similar to weed. There is quite a long process to get some kind of powder out of the roots of the manioc-plant. Which the cablocos sell at the markets in Manaus.
Since a few years most of the houses also have power supply. There is a big project in Brazil called "Light for everybody" which makes it possible for them to cook without fire, to wash the clothes in wash-machines and not in the river and to even watch TV...
After that we went for a swim in the river. It was a kind of strange to go swimming there, once you have seen piranias and caimans... ;-)

One day there was a 2 meter anaconda in our camp. Another guide saved the snake before getting killed by the local people. Because they are very afraid of any kind of snake and kill them anytime they will see one.
After showing us the anaconda, it was released right in the middle of the camp.
At the beginning it was a strange feeling to know that the anaconda might be behind the next bush or tree. But nobody of us had seen the snake again... 

We also stayed on night in the jungle, only with our hammocks. Had a nice fire and grilled chicken. In the night we went spear-fishing. But this was not that easy to catch a fish, tried it two times but always failed...
And once it was getting dark, you can hear all different kind of animals singing together the "Symphony of the jungle"...

Paddeling along the river and a visit to the big Ceboka-trees was also quite interesting. I really enjoyed the paddeling, saw a lot of river dolphins coming very close to my canoe...

It was really an amazing experience during this 6 days. To see the all the different plants, trees and animals living in the amazon jungle.

Have now a few days left in Manaus. Today i was just walking in the city, let's see what else i can do here...

Finally one more picture for you: Who can spot the sloth in the tree?