Showing 1-14 of 14 results
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Bosque da Ciência
Occupying a 13-hectare (32-acre) plot of secondary forest within the city, the Bosque da Ciência (Forest of Science) has ageing enclosures containing animals such as giant otters and caimans, but a great many creatures roam freely about the park - in the underbrush, high in the trees, and even ambling down the paths - including monkeys, sloths, turtles, various tropical birds, pacas and anteaters.
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Centro Cultural Palácio Rio Negro
The former home of eccentric German rubber baron Waldemar Scholz, the Centro Cultural Palácio Rio Negro was built in the early 1900s, and served for many years as the state capital and governor's residence. Converted into a cultural center in 1997, it now hosts temporary art exhibits and occasional concerts and performances in the eclectic main house. Other buildings contain a fine art gallery, a ho-hum coin museum, and a sound-and-image museum.
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Encontro das Águas
Downriver from Manaus, the 'black' (actually reddish-brown) water of the Rio Negro meets the 'white' (light brown) water of the Rio Solimões, but owing to differences in speed, density and temperature, the waters don't immediately mix. Instead, they flow side by side for several kilometers, an occurrence known as the Encontro das Águas.
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Mercado Municipal Adolfo Lisboa
This imposing cast-iron city-market building opened in 1882 is a copy in miniature of Paris's famed Les Halles market. Although the Art Nouveau ironwork was imported from Europe, the place has acquired a distinctly Amazonian character. In and around the market, you can purchase just about anything, from leather hats and Indian crafts to bizarre fruits and traditional medicines.
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Museu Amazônico
Housed in a converted mansion a short walk from the center, the Museu Amazônico has a small but excellent collection of indigenous items and artifacts from around the Amazon. Highlights include Xingu feather headdresses; Yanomami weapons, and terrific masks and costumes used in Kobewa and Ticuna rituals.
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Museu de Ciências Naturais da Amazônia
Known by many locals as the Museu Japonesa (Japanese Museum: it's run by Japanese-Brazilians and located in a largely Japanese-Brazilian area), the Amazon Natural Sciences Museum has an extensive exhibit of stuffed fish, preserved butterflies and some unnervingly large beetles and spiders from the region; descriptions are in English, Portuguese and Japanese. An aquarium contains live Amazon fish, including the impressive 2m-long pirarucú .
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Museu do Homem do Norte
The Museu do Homem do Norte (Museum of Northern Man) is an ethnology and anthropology museum dedicated to the lifestyle of the people of northern Brazil. There's a particular focus on the riverbank-dwelling Caboclos (literally 'copper-coloured') people, the mixed descendents of indigenous people and Portuguese.
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Museu do Índio
Sandwiched between two churches and run by Salesian nuns, the Museu do Índio displays artwork, musical instruments, fishing and hunting tools, and ritual objects of indigenous groups from mostly Amazonas and Pará states. The collection is large and quite good, but the displays are artless and the explanations seriously lacking.
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Museu do Seringal Vila Paraíso
The Museu do Seringal Vila Paraíso is a 25-minute boat ride from Ponta Negra, which is itself a 20-minute bus ride from the center. Fortunately, the trip there is part of the fun, and can be combined with a stop at Praia da Lua, Manaus's best beach. Guided tours include an opulent rubber baron's townhouse and a replica rubber tapper shack, and walking a short trail to see how rubber trees are tapped, and the latex processed in a thatch smoke house.
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Parque do Mindú
Believe it or not, Manaus has its own endemic primate: the tiny Sanguinus bicolor , better known as the pied bare-face tamarin. The species is critically endangered, with no known groups in the open forest - they seem to thrive only in areas of secondary growth - and are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity. The best place to observe this curious and vanishing creature is Parque do Mindú, located in a residential area of Manaus.
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Porto Flutuante
Officially called the Estação Hidroviária de Manaus, the Porto Flutuante is where you'll disembark if you come to Manaus by boat. Inaugurated in 1902 and designed by the British, it was considered a technical marvel because it rises and falls with seasonal water levels, which can vary as much as 14m (annual high-water points are marked on the wall beside the bridge leading to the dock). It's quite a scene, with cargo and passengers being loaded and unloaded.
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Praia da Lua
Manaus's best beach is a short boat ride up the Rio Negro and can be coupled with a visit to the Museu do Seringal for a nice city escape. The sand is surprisingly fine and the water good for swimming, despite the tea-color. Like all river beaches, Lua is biggest when the water is low (November and December) and smallest when it's high (June and July). Trees provide some shade, but the midday sun can be intense. Semi-permanent eateries serve fish and beer at tables set up along the water.
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Teatro Amazonas
Opened in 1896, the Teatro Amazonas opera house symbolizes the opulence of the Manaus of old. It was designed in eclectic neoclassical style by engineers from Lisbon and a team of interior designers at the height of the rubber boom. Most of the artists and materials (Italian marble and glass, Scottish cast iron) came from Europe.
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Zoológico do cigs
Operated by the Brazilian army, the Zoológico do cigs contains jaguars, anaconda, tapir and other animals supposedly 'rescued' by soldiers training in the jungle, but the sorry little enclosures make you wonder just how dedicated to animal welfare the place really is. Take bus 120 from Praça da Matriz.
Showing 1-14 of 14 results
