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Amazon Village: Your own hut in the rainforest
This is as I said in my intro one of the mid-priced lodging options in the Manaus area. Accommodation is in 32 individual wooden huts, each with a small deck in front (complete with hammock) and basic en suite facilities consisting of toilet, wash basin and cold water shower. Don’t worry about the latter – the temperatures here are such that you won’t be wanting a hot shower at any time during your stay! There is battery-run electric lighting in the evenings only – candles and matches were supplied but I recommend you take a torch too. The huts don’t have air-conditioning – however at night the temperature drops sufficiently that with no glass in the windows (just a screen to keep out insects) you won’t be kept awake through being too hot. You may though be disturbed by noise: when the resident green parrots finally quieten down for the night a chorus of bull-frogs and insects begins, and we found there were only a few peaceful hours in the dead of night before we were woken early by more frogs and the parrots starting again.
All meals are included in your bill, as are all activities. We enjoyed excellent breakfasts with a good selection of bread and pastries and of tropical fruit – I particularly liked the star-fruit juice. Lunch and dinner were buffet style with local delicacies such as cat-fish and again a great selection of tropical fruits. There is also a small bar area (open air as is the restaurant) with cold beers and other alcoholic and soft drinks for sale, and a small shop selling locally-made souvenirs – my father-in-law was thrilled with the blow pipe we bought him, though to the best of my knowledge has never tried to fire it!
A standard package here consists of two or three nights (3-day packages currently start at US$440 per person) and during your stay you’ll be offered the chance to participate in a range of activities. We went on the following:
~ jungle walk
~ visit to local village
~ back-water boat ride
~ night-time caiman viewing
I’ve described each of these in more detail in my Things to Do tips. You can also go for short walks on your own in the immediate area of the lodge, though wandering too far afield is discouraged, for obvious reasons.
From what I’ve read all the jungle accommodation options offer a similar range of activities, so it’s best to make your choice based on the degree of luxury you want and are able to pay for, or conversely on how close you want to feel to nature. Whatever you choose, this is an unforgettable experience.
It’s also worth noting that the Frommer website recommends this as the best of the options close to the city, and therefore a good choice for travellers with limited time. In their words: “the Amazon Village is a class act – owners treat guides well and do a good job presenting the rainforest.”
By the way, I’ve put the URL below but when I tried the website recently I could only get the German-language pages to load, not the English. The map there will give you an idea how relatively close to civilisation this is, al though I can assure you it won’t feel like that while you’re there!
