The Amazon Regions Guide - attractions

The Meeting of the Waters
Where the dark waters of the Rio Negro join the lighter muddy waters of the Rio Solimoes a natural phenomenon is caused: the separate shades of water run side by side for a length of more than four miles (6km) without mixing. The separation is apparently caused by the difference in temperature, density and flow rate of the waters from each river: Rio Negro travels at about a mile (2km) per hour with a temperature of 72ºF (22ºC) while Rio Solimoes flows at between two and four miles (4-6km) per hour with a temperature of 82ºF (28ºC). This phenomenon has become a major tourist attraction in Brazil, best accessed by taking an hour's journey by boat from the floating docks in Manaus.
Telephone:
Website:
Transport:
Opening times:

Lake Janauari Ecological Park
This park, an hour by boat from Manaus on the Rio Negro, provides a taste of the Amazon experience with its 9,000 acres of dry land forests, lowlands and flooded forest (known as igapos). Day package trips are available from Manaus including lunch in a typical regional restaurant and a visit to the area's other main attraction, The Meeting of the Waters. Daytrippers are also taken on a canoe trip on the lakes and streams. Lake Janauari Park has abundant examples of the famous Amazon Victoria-Nympheaceae water lily that spreads its round leaves, measuring up to seven feet (two metres) in diameter, on still shallow waters. The flowers, which start out white and turn mauve then dark red, only last three days.
Telephone:
Website:
Transport:
Opening times:

Adolpho Ducke Botanical Garden
This vast forest reserve, covering more than 39 square miles (100 sq km) to the east of Manaus, provides tourists with the opportunity to discover what lies beneath the dense Amazon rainforest canopy. The park building complex hosts plant nurseries and an exhibition of the woods of Amazonas, as well as a library and restaurant. A network of trails has been created in the forest, and local youths are trained and employed as guides to direct visitors along the paths.
Telephone:
Website:
Transport:
Opening times: