| From Manaus we took a two day guided trip on the Rio Negro and surrounding jungle staying overnight in a floating lodge. |
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| The ‘meeting of the waters’. The Rio Negro, originating in the lowlands of Colombia, is blackened by tannins from decomposing vegetation; whereas the Rio Solimoes, originating in the Andes of Peru, is white from clay and rock deposits. The 2 rivers meet 5km downstream of Manaus to form the Amazon River. There is a clear delineation between the white and black waters until they mingle a further 11km downstream. |
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| These are Victoria amazonica, the largest water lily in the world with leaves between 2 and 6 ft in diameter. One of these had a small alligator resting on it, unfortunately it was out of photo range. |
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| Some local children paddled out to our boat with their pets hoping to make some money from tourists being photographed with them. This boy had a pet sloth. Most of the girls had alligators. |
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| The day was going well until we got stuck in the lake weed. |
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| Out came the machetes and a path was cut to set us free. |
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| The beautifully carved channel. However the whole process took around 2 hours so we arrived at our lodge very late for lunch at 5pm. |
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| The floating lodge where we spent the night. |