Leticia: Amacayacu vs Yavari (Sacambu, Palmari)

Hi,

We are going to Leticia on Sept. 2 and are looking for similar recommendations... we know we'll be there for about a week but need to know where to go, and any recommendations for travel agencies that can set this up. Aviatur had been recommended in another post but my experience so far is that they're unresponsive... We also want a less-touristy experience.

Have a great trip, Dani. I will post back here with recommendations when we get back (Sep. 10)

Nora

Hi there

Amacayacu is crowdy but the indigenous communities in the surroundings are an option. The Javari River is nice and there is a better option: Heliconia Reserve and Lodge. www.amazonheliconia.com. You can get there in 2 hours using a good boat.

We can help you two. We are a tour operator in Leticia and our tailored made plans will fit your expectations. We are specialized in little groups and best resources in the zone.

I will be at info@borugo.com for any commercial question.

Hello Nora,

Good to hear from someone else going there soon so we can hopefully get some first hand info. We've trawled all forums and manage to compile a list of sort-of-recommended agencies. We've sent emails to all of them and a few replied quite promptly but I still have no idea which part of the jungle is best if there is any difference. Unfortunately I don't have the details of all of them with me right now but here are the main ones:

1- Borugo: http://www.borugo.com</a><BR> 2- Amazon Jungle Trips: amazonjungletrips AT yahoo.com
3- Amazon Green Forest: http://www.geocities.com/amazongreenforest/</a><BR>

#2 and 3 do Sacambú up the Yavarí. 5 d/4n tours, price range from 750k or 1.5mill. pesos per person depending of group size.

I'll post the rest if I get the chance.

Look forward to hearing from you when you get back.

Adios,
Dani

Hi, I went to the Amazon two years ago and stayed at Amacayacu and all I can say is that it was absolutely wonderful, arranging the boat is not a problem, you only need to go to the pier and there are little boats every couple of hours until about 3pm if I remember correctly, that go from Leticia up to Puerto Nariño, and stop at Amacayacu, they call them "la linea". Over there the park staff was very helpful and they even arranged for a local guide to take us for a 3 day hike into the jungle, which was a scary but wonderful experience.

We arrived at Leticia without even a hotel booking there and everything went fine for us

From what I've heard, Heliconias is full of gringos, so avoid it if you're looking for something off the gringo path

I don't know about Javari, so I can't help you there.

Email me if there's anything else you'd like to know

Hi Dani,

I hope you are doing well!

We are back from Colombia and wanted to let you know what we ended up doing:

Day 1: Arrive in Leticia, overnight at the Hotel Anaconda (we wanted to use the pool!)
Day 2: Private guide to Zacambu on the Javari river, about a 3-hour ride. Hiking and exploring, watching dolphins and swimming in the river
Day 3: At Zacambu, more hiking and some fishing
Day 4: Leave Zacambu, private boat back to Leticia, stopping at the way in Benjamin Constant. Lunch in Leticia and fast boat to Puerto Narino, overnight in Puerto Narino
Day 5: Puerto Narino, Natutama museum and walking around
Day 6: Puerto Narino, exploring and walking around
Day 7: Leave Puerto Narino on fast boat to Leticia, walk around Leticia and catch plane back to Bogota

It was a great trip. We arranged it with Alejandro from Borugo (he offered her services earlier in this thread). The arrangements were excellent and everything went very smoothly. We had a limited period of time, and I feel like we saw everything we wanted to.

Zacambu was very remote; really just an open-air lodge in the middle of nowhere. We were the only tourists there. Right now the river is very low so there was some concern that soon the Zacambu river would be impassable. So I'm not sure if that will be an option for you.

Puerto Narino is absolutely charming and the Natutama museum there is excellent. We stayed at the Casa Selva hotel, which is very cute. We had a great time just relaxing in Puerto Narino, walking around and watching the local soccer games.

I think part of the trouble I had with planning this trip is that I am used to traveling very independently, and in that area I would find it impossible to see the jungle without a guide. There's simply no other way to go to Zacambu- it's so out of the way, but we saw wonderful animals there and it was very relaxing.

In addition, our Spanish is not great, and that is very limiting. Our guide at Zacambu, Luis, spoke excellent English. He was a character but a good guide and we had fun spending time with him. Your experience will no doubt be very different from ours if your Spanish is good! You have a much wider pool of guides and tour companies to choose from, and can do more package-type things. Our experience had to be personalized just because of our language limitations.

We did not go to the Amacayacu park, but our boat back from Puerto Narino stopped there. Four tourists from the UK got on- this is remarkable only in the fact that, besides them, we only saw two other European tourists all week! So, simply going on that, it is a bit more touristy than what we did. But, the entire area is so beautiful that I can't imagine it's not great. Our guide did not recommend it but I take that with a grain of salt since it was sort of a competitor to what he was doing.

Have a wonderful trip.

Nora

Hi, great to hear that a bunch of you are travelling to the Amazon! It's a great place!!! Truly magical!! I came across this link which can be of some help... www.morelocal.co

Good luck with your trips and enjoy the jungle!!