Hands down one of my coolest gigs as a travel writer so far was to update the Fodor's Guide book to Brazil for a few editions.  Perhaps this was what travel writing were like long before the days of smart-phones, easyjet and the endless online copy monster. When, first and foremost, you were an adventurer with the time to go and get lost. 

My lovely editor at Fodors would give me a chunk of $ to cover expenses and fees, a set target of listings and then leave me to it for a few months. I guess some writers saved the dollars and did a lot of updating from their living room, but I used to spend pretty much all of mine on the road.  I lucked out by getting to cover Bahia, the North-East of Brazil and finally, the Amazon. (Access the guides in the links below)

I'd been in Brazil for 5 years at this stage and had yet to make it to the Amazon.  I think, like many people, i was scared to get it wrong, that it would be more hassle than it was worth, that i'd get eaten alive by mosquitos. How wrong i was. Travelling through the Amazon for a month was once of the stand-out experience of my life.  I got my pick of the best lodges and house-boats and see what really stood out - my tip... it's not always the expensive ones... Two places really stand out.  Put them on the bucket-list and start planning NOW!

The first is the Uakari Lodge which is set on the Mamirura Reserve.  Its a simple structure of 8 floating huts in the middle of one of the largest fresh water reserves in the world, and its one of the only examples of tourism integrated into a protected environment like this.  First off, this means you wake up and the animals are everywhere! Pink river dolphins and alligators float by for their morning ritual, parrots swoop by to say hello, and we even stumble across a panther on one of our walks.  Secondly, instead of run-of-the-mill tourist guides, there's only the local community and biologists, so you get to explore the most remote places while learning from the experts about the realities of conservation and how to help.

Once you've got you full taste of the jungle, head to Alter do Chao, which is like the Caribbean of the Amazon - all white sand beaches and crystal clear waterways where you can do stand-up paddle past giant lily-pads and take a house-boat out for days to be met with iridescent horizon and wild rain-forest dotted with communities of craftsman.  When you get there, the only people you need to call are Adhara Luz and Daniel Govino, who own the inspirational agency AMZ Projects, and will ensure you have an amazing tip while at the same time, contribute to the preservation of the Amazon and its people.  Top of my list for next year's New Year's Eve is to join their brigade of house-boats full of Brazil's artists and eco-warriors and glide you off-grid for a week, with ayahuasca ceremonies and tribal dance-offs with the communities on tropical sand-banks under the stars... not a bad idea hey?! You can read more about it in this article for Amuse on How to nail New Year's in South America. 

For the full Fodor's Guides:

The Amazon

The North-East

Bahia