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AMAZON CROSSING

 

 

 

 

Destination: Amazon Rainforest

Country and Region: Peru, Loreto

Arrival/Departure City: Iquitos

Airport: Coronel FAP Francisco Secada Vignetta 


Main Objective: Nomadic Exploration and Crossing of Remote Amazonian Territories, Focused on Reaching Multiple Areas of the Pristine Jungle Rich in Wildlife, and Disconnected Settlements of Indigenous Inhabitants living in Voluntary Isolation.
 

Type of Jungle Expedition: Non-Survival 

Phases Involved: Indigenous Custom/Tradition Phase, and Exploration/Crossing/Trekking Phase

Levels of Difficulty: Easy to Moderate, Moderate to Challenging, and Challenging to Strenuous

Other Services for Additional Cost: Hire Ayahuasca Master Shaman (For The Last 3 - 7 Days of Your Expedition) For an Genuine Ayahuasca Experience in the Middle of the Amazon, and/or a Trekking Backpack Porter (For your Trekking Days)

Availability: January - November

Early Booking: 1 Year Maximum

Last Minute Booking: 3 Weeks Minimum

Booking Deposit Amount Required: 50%

Booking Payment Method: Credit/Debit Cards

Remaining Balance Payment Method: Cash at Arrival

Departure Days: Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays

SEPTEMBER BOOKED
OCTOBER BOOKED
NOVEMBER 2024 UNDER EVALUATION
DECEMBER BOOKED

AMAZON CROSSING EXPEDITION (STARTING FROM 10 TO 90 DAYS LONG) - This expedition will take travelers to explore and cross several interesting isolated territories of the Amazon Rainforest, including several stops to some of the remote villages in the area to identify the older traditional men and women from different ethnic groups who are still present in the area as the truth keepers and guardians of their now titled assigned lands. We'll try to search for some of the last of the old generations who are still alive and the only ones keeping fresh in their memory their past life and the unforgettable moments they lived during their first contact with modern civilizations. If time allows we will stay with some who live in voluntary isolation to share ancient customs and traditions with them.

This nomadic expedition to explore and cross Amazon Jungle will be simply performed with the combination of (2) jungle navigation modalities;"Land Navigation (Trekking Through Dense Primary Rainforest )", and "River Navigation (Either Paddling Dugout/Log Canoes or Using Small Motor Propellers for the Same)" and whatever it takes us to reach and achieve our previously planned program.

Just keep in mind, that the longer your availability to embark on this expedition, the more extensive and intensive your experience will be, and the more you extend and intensify your experience, the more remote, isolated, challenging and interesting your journey will get. 

 

As a quick note; The remote jungle territories found within the Ampiyacu-Apayacu National Protected Area, are normally one of the main territories we are choosing to explore more lately due to its adaptable geography year round for our nomadic exploring style, which makes us the only Operator in the region exploring it vastly. Amongst other remote, rarely explored, and unexplored territories we also navigate based on season of the year are "The Matses", "Jenaro Herrera", "Yaguas", and "Sierra del Divisor" territories, all rich with fauna and flora.

 

The jungles of the Ampiyacu-Apayacu is also one of few Amazonian territories with lots of untouched jungle and stories to tell in the present time same as (The Yaguas) which are two that are connected with each other, both now considered and recognized as "National Protected Areas", territories that are also near the borders of Colombia and Brazil, where the ethnic groups described below (Bora, Huitoto, Ocaina, Yagua, and others extinct ones) went through a large period of slavery and inhuman atrocities during the exploitation of rubber in Amazonia between 1879 and 1912.

FOR TRAVELERS LOOKING FOR A JUNGLE EXPERIENCE INMERSION OF MORE THAN 2 MONTHS LONG, RIGHT WITH THIS PARTICULAR EXPEDITION, KNOW FOR SURE THAT WITH SUCH LENGTH OF TIME WE'LL BE ABLE TO EXPLORE AND CROSS MULTIPLE REMOTE AND PRISTINE AMAZON TERRITORIES SUCH AS THE YAGUAS NATIONAL PARK, THE PUTUMAYO, AND WITH THE GREATER POSSIBILITY OF REACHING THE TRIPLE FRONTIER (PERU, BRAZIL AND COLOMBIA) AS A FINAL CHALLENGE.

 

DETAILS OF SOME TERRITORIES WE EXPLORE: 

The Ampiyacu-Apayacu Regional Conservation Area (ACRAA) is a protected area in Peru, and covers an area of 434,129.54 hectares in the provinces of Maynas and Ramón Castilla, in the Loreto region.

The path towards the designation of the Ampiyacu-Apayacu zone, in the provinces of Maynas and Ramón Castilla, in Loreto, as an area of Regional Conservation (ACR) has been long and intense. It started in 1998, when the population of the area, composed mainly of boras, huitotos and ocainas, gave the alert about the conservation of their forests before the entrance to the area of a mining company.

Starting in 1998, work began on preserve this area. According to the National Service of Natural Areas Protected by the State (Sernanp), which named the area as ACR in December 23, 2010, it is one of the most biodiverse areas in terms of plant species in the world: it is home to 1,500 types of plants. In addition, in this ecosystem there are 207 species of fish, 64 amphibians, 40 reptiles, 362 birds and 60 mammals.

Another important feature of this new ACR is that the upper parts of the Ampiyacu and Apayacu basins are a permanent source of water to maintain the habitat of aquatic fauna, which constitutes the main source of food resources for the 16 native communities settled in its basins.

Yaguas National Park (YNP) was created on January 11, 2018 and is located in the Loreto Region of Peru near the border with Colombia. It covers an area of 8,689 km² (2,147,100 acres) of tropical forest. Along with Río Puré, Cahuinarí and Amacayacu National Park in Colombia, as well as the Regional Conservation Areas Maijuna Kichwa and Ampiyacu Apayacu in Peru, it is part of a huge biological corridor.

​There are approximately 600 species of birds, 150 species of mammals, 110 species of amphibians, and 100 species of reptiles in the national park, such as brown wooly monkey, anteater, South American tapir, giant otter, Amazonian manatee, Amazon river dolphin, caiman, and yellow-footed tortoise. More than 300 species of fish are also found in the park, among them fish that cross the forest not swimming or floating down a river, feeding on fruits and living in branches and Arapaima gigas, the largest freshwater fish in the world.

More than 3,500 species of plants abound in the park, among them Hura crepitans, Cedrelinga catenaeformis, Simarouba amara, Macrolobium acaciaefolium and Ceiba pentandra.

ETHNIC GROUPS IN THESE TERRITORIES: 

The Bora Ethnic Group; are an indigenous tribe of the Peruvian, Colombian, and Brazilian Amazon, located between the Putumayo and Napo rivers. The Bora speak a Hitotan language and comprise approximately 2,000 people. In the last forty years, they have become largely settled people living mostly in permanent forest settlements. In the animist Bora worldview, there is no distinction between the physical and spiritual worlds and spirits are present throughout the world. Bora families practice exogamy. The Bora has an elaborate knowledge of the plant life of the surrounding rainforest. Like other indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon, such as the Urarina plants, especially trees, hold a complex and important interest for the Bora. The Bora have guarded their lands against both indigenous foes and outsider colonials. Around the time of the 20th century, the rubber boom had a devastating impact on the Boras. A book that recorded the mistreatment of the Boras during that time period is "The Putumayo; The Devil's Paradise" which was published in 1912 and written by W.E. Hardenburg. The tribe's ancestral lands are currently threatened by illegal logging practices. The Bora has no indigenous reserves.

 

The Huitoto Ethnic Group; were once composed of 100 villages or 31 tribes, but disease and conflict have reduced their numbers. In the early 20th century, the Witoto population was 50,000. The rubber boom in the mid-20th century brought diseases and displacement to the Witotos, causing their numbers to plummet to 7,000–10,000. Since the 1990s, cattle ranchers have invaded Witoto lands, depleted the soil, and polluted the waterways. In response to the incursions, some governments established several reservations for Witotos, one almost remote one is located at the Ampiyacu not too far from the Bora Indigenous tribe. Huitoto people practice swidden or slash-and-burn agriculture. To prevent depleting the land, they relocate their fields every few yields. Major crops include cacao, coca, maize, bitter and sweet manioc, bananas, mangoes, palms, peanuts, pineapples, plantains, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, tobacco, and yams. Ethnobotanists have studied Witoto agriculture due to its efficiency and sustainability. Huitoto men hunt with blowguns and shotguns.


The Ocaina Ethnic Group; are an ethnic group of the Amazon that inhabit the banks of the Yaguasyacu, Ampiyacu, jamayacù, Putumayo, and Algodon rivers (in Peru); Although they are known as ocaina, they call themselves Dyo'xaiya or Ivo'tsa. Ocaine language found within the Huitoto linguistic family. Bora-witotoque language family includes besides the ocainas, nonuñas, uitotos, muninanes and bora-mirañas, among others. The Ocainas share history and many cultural characteristics with the Huitotos, Resígaros, and Andoques. These groups inhabited the southern tip of Colombia and were brought to Peruvian territory by the bosses during the Amazon rubber boom. The violence infringed by the bosses descended their population and they are currently in the process of assimilation into the Huitotos.

The Yaguas Ethnic Group; is estimated that there are some 6,000 Yagua living in north-eastern Peru and southern Colombia, in 30 communities along the Amazon, Napo, Putumayo, and Yavari rivers, and their tributaries. This makes it one of the larger indigenous communities in Amazonia, and this is reflected in the name of the recently-created Yaguas National Park in the Department of Loreto. Currently, the Yagua live in some 30 communities scattered throughout a section of the Peruvian and Colombian Amazon basin which can roughly be described as a rectangle 200 miles wide and 350 miles long (70,000 sq. miles) extending southward from the second to the fifth parallel and westward from the 70th to the 75th meridian west.

 WHAT IS INCLUDED:

  • Airport Pick Up and Drop Off Transportation.

  • Hotel/Hostel Search Assistance Upon Arrival to Iquitos (If Needed).

  • Fluvial Transportation Service to and from Remote Destinations (Speed & Slow Boats).

  • Entry Permits to Indigenous Territories.

  • Economic Support to Villages Nearby.

  • Professional First Responders Wilderness Kit for Emergencies.

  • Satellite/GPS Communication Devices with 24/7 SOS Coverage and Live Locators. 

  • Meals Based on National Peruvian Food and Traditional Amazonian Food.

  • Filtered Water Every Day.

  • Guided Expedition with a Six-Men Team Minimum.

 

WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED: 

  • Airfare to and from Iquitos.

  • Personal Travel Insurance.

  • Hotel/hostel in Iquitos.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTES:

  • Booking in Advance is Highly Recommended for the collection of personal information, request authorization of entry to indigenous territories at all levels (national, regional, and communal authorities), logistic preparation, personnel assignment, etc.

  • Arrival and Departure Recommendation to and from Iquitos 1 day before and 1 day after your trip.

  • Trekking Backpack Size/Weight Recommendations; 55-65 liters and 10 -15 kilos approx.

  • For Packing List Recommendations visit the following page What to Pack.

  • To Be in Decent Physical Condition is highly advised as you will be responsible for carrying your own gear at all times.

  • Travelers Requesting an Ayahuasca Master Shaman are encouraged to read the following page Ayahuasca Diet Guide.

  • All Activities are Subject to Change due to weather conditions at any time of the year. The main rivers and the levels of the tributaries can vary and, therefore, the navigation times and the excursions may be modified at the discretion of your Lead Guide.

  • For Additional Information visit the following page Frequently Asked Questions.

  • For Other Questions and Concerns or to Proceed with Reservations contact us via WhatsApp. at +51 999 116 499.

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