Amazon Jungle: A Voyage into the Soul of the Earth
Victoria Regia Lily in the Amazon jungle
With the largest tropical rainforest and the most copious river in the world, the Amazonas Jungle we share with our neighbors is another of Colombia’s treasures. It is a prodigious place, not only for the aboriginal people that inhabit it and the sheer size of the river, but also for the life it spawns and nurtures on land and water.
In the Colombian part of a region many call Amazonía, Leticia is a hospitable and comfortable city, surrounded by paths that lead to fascinating places in the Amazonas jungle.
For instance, the path to Tarapaca, a Huitoto Indian village, leads to the Tanimboca reservation, part of which is a 45-meter high platform built amid trees. In Tanimboca you can climb 35-meter high trees and slide 80 meters from one tree to another through the beautiful forest canopy.
River trips take visitors to extraordinary unimagined places, supposedly forbidden to those who have not experienced the jungle.
Exploring the Amazon jungle exposes travelers to countless plant and animal species
Leticia, Monkey island and Amacayacu National Park
Motor boats also set forth from the pier in Leticia to the Isla de los Micos (monkey island), 450 hectares of primary forest full of birds, mammals and apes. It is also possible to take a boat to the Peruvian villages of Santa Rosa and Bellavista. Along the way you will encounter the Yabarí river, with its sites for nature lovers to admire pink dolphins, black caimans, and the Victoria Regia lily.
The Amacayacú river offers another great exploration opportunity. The Amacayacú national park is perfect for becoming acquainted with the palafitte dwellings of the Indians, biological stations, river paths for excursions in search of caimans, and virgin islands where, once more, the Victoria Regia abounds.
Several paths through the Amazonas jungle lead to Indian settlements. Palmeras, a Tikuna Indian community is small and rarely visited. San Martín de Amacayacú is bigger, but entails a two-hour hike along a path that borders the Amazon river. This hike is perfect for sighting armadillos, borugo rodents, squirrels, hawks, and possibly, the footprints of a tiger.
In San Martín visitors can participate in basketry, weaving, and wood carving activities in the workshops where the products are manufactured. Another recommended stop is Puerto Nariño, the second municipality of the department, to enjoy Amazonian cuisine, which is based on pirarucú, gamitana and tucunare fish and served with cakes made with cassava flour. From Puerto Nariño, visits can be organized to the Tarapoto lakes, a network of dark waters where one can swim with pink and gray dolphins.
Monkeys in the Amacayacu National Park in the Amazonas jungle.
Back in Leticia, you should visit the zoo, where you will be able to see a manatee, a harpy eagle, two tigers, an anaconda, and several friar monkeys. The Brazilian village of Tabatinga, at the border between Colombia and Brazil, is worth a visit. The beautiful obelisk that signals the border is interesting. And the purchase of typical products and the shows by Brazilian garotas are worthwhile.
The Colombian Amazon jungle is a traditional destination for scientists interested in learning from Indian shamans the secrets of “talking” with nature. The world normally sees the Amazonas Jungle as a reserve of oxygen, but it is much more than that: it is home to a very special people and a living laboratory of plant and animal life.
