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to Flotel Piranha
Flotel
Piranha - Piranha
Sustainable Development Reserve
"We Cruise
& We Lodge"
 Meaning
that, a large and specifically for river and
lake navigation built flat bottom barge, will
continuously and smoothly guide us around
the entire area of the reserve, moving everyday,
for a few hours only, to another place for
overnight. Bottom line, we have the advantages
of a luxury yacht and lodge without the inconveniences
of the lack of space.
Main attractions
- Bird Watching
- Wildlife Observation
- Environmental trekking
- Tours to flooded areas
and nesting grounds
- Catch & Release
Fishing
- Visit to the Natives
Communities
- Special Night Adventure
Tours
- 180 Lakes to Explore
!…if you can afford the time needed…
Transfers
 The transfer from Manaus
to the Fotel Piranha Lodge or vice-versa is
divided in the following parts:
Daily departures: 02:00pm ( total transfer
time is around 3 1/2 hours )
1) Manaus (AIRPORT OR HOTEL) - São
Raimundo port: 1/2-hour trip by van or microbus
2) São Raimundo port to Cacau Pereira
town by boat, around 30 min
3) Cacau Pereira town to Manacaupuru town
by van over paved road , around 60 min
4) Manacapuru town to the Fotel Piranha Lodge
by boat, through channels and lakes , around
1 1/4 hr
Daily return transfers to Manaus (AIRPORT
OR HOTEL) with arrival at 12 noon
Bird Watching
 Bird
watching is a unique experience here . It
is not by chance that it occupies the first
place in our "main attractions list"
. Those large wetlands , naturally preserved
areas due to the difficulty of access in the
low season , roughly November and December
, are the ideal places for nesting to several
dozen different migrating and local bird species.
As a consequence, we dedicate
a great deal of time to bird observation with
specialized naturalist English speaking guides,
using our canoes in one/two hours excursions
very early in the morning, 5:30 AM ( sunrise
is around 6:00 AM all year around ) , and
also very late in the afternoon 5:00 / 6:00
PM , when our winged friends are leaving or
returning to their resting places.
A spectacular visual show
, it is also a sort of modern cacophonous
comic opera , since the number of branches
on a designated tree and the space available
, is not, most of the time,coincident with
the volume of different species landing candidates
, resulting in violently aggressive arguments
, covering basically all tones in the sound
scale ( and this can go for a long time indeed
… ) .
It goes without saying
that binoculars are mandatory for this type
of excursion and ear plugs are optional for
those musically sensitive.
Environmental trekking
 Recently , and this was
not easy since we are basically in a 100.000
ha flooded area , we discovered a pristine
rain forest highland area , near the Sacambu
Lake ( please see map ) and not far from two
small villages " Campinas" and "Castanho".
Therefore we can offer
from now on, guided excursions that will leave
our cruising Flotel when it is at the mouth
of the Piranha Channel with the Great Manacapuru
Lake , its nearest point.
Our guides will take you
, after a one and a half hours canoe ride
, by foot trough the dense high land rain
forest ( see photos ) which is totally different
from the "varzea" flooded areas.
Here we find the giant
brazil nut trees, the red woods, the dry land
rubber trees, the medicinal plants , the water
vines , the dark mysterious spots and the
furtive animals that dwell on it , guessing
it's presence mostly by the noises, the tracks
we find here and there , or the snack remains,
proof of it's recent presence , since in the
jungle , nothing edible stays for long anywhere
unless it's alive and in good physical condition.
Incidentally , we customize
our walking tours according to the demand
, the condition and the interest of our guests
; and since our Flotel is limited to 20 apartments
, groups are never very large, which is always
a plus regarding any nature observation tour
, and of course , your total satisfaction
is our main goal.
Tours to Flooded
Areas
 Since
all around us everywhere is a flooded area
, we do not have to go very far away from
our cruising Flotel to do these tours.
However , none of those
tours resembles in the least the first or
the last you will participate during your
stay.
Why is that so
?!
Just because once you enter
the Piranha Reserve , you enter a self sustainable
biome and Water Planet , composed of a myriad
of labyrinths , channels , lakes , short cuts
, hidden ponds, islands , peninsulas , lagoons
, a real paradigm of life in all its Amazonian
forms and all its possible levels , underwater,
slightly submerged , plainly floating , in
and out , barely touching, suspended, hanging
, hiding , in plain view , jumping around
or slowly disappearing in the horizon…
Anyway , each of our tours is a learning experience
even for us, since we just discover a large
cormorant crowd which is not sleeping on the
same place anymore, or there is a new family
of howler monkeys growling around , and yes,
last week we finally could navigate the "caipira"
lake or the "gaivota" channel which
results in a 30 minutes economy to get to
the pink dolphins lagoon .
So , life is the same and
every day is different at Piranha Lake Amazon
Brazil ! Please let us be your host in this
magnificent and unique experience .
Fly Fishing - Catch
& Release Fishing
 Yes,
we do fish for Piranhas at Piranha Lake ,
that is obvious and much too easy .
Actually the variety and
quantity of fish available associated with
the expertise of the local inhabitants , our
guides, has led us not to put over emphasis
in our fishing tours , unless it is the main
interest of a particular private group .
So many secrets now disclosed
, so simple after discovered , like for instance
why there is such a huge quantity of fish
available for the taking , always in the vicinity
of the large groups of sleeping birds …(
and the reason, I let you guess…).
Night Tours
The so many times wrongly
called alligator spotting tour , hardly reflects
the experience of a night tour in the Amazon
, and specifically in our Piranha Reserve
area .
First, it is the night
in itself , the raw beauty of the natural
moon and star reflections without the artificial
lights of civilization .
Secondly the sounds , a
midnight serenade ( no, we actually start
sooner than that ) of crickets, frogs, nocturnal
monkeys , Caymans , birds …what was
that ?
 And finally the observation
in itself , since besides the omnipresent
Cayman , available in all shapes ( the piranhas
sometimes slightly modify their tail end shapes
) sizes ( from baby dino to Godzilla ) species
( 3 - melanosuchus niger - paleosuchus trigonatus
and cayman crocodilus ) and moods ( from apparently
catatonic to… Jaws - the movie - The
Amazon Connection ) , besides our reptilian
friends , we will encounter night jars, giant
potoos , dart frogs , sleeping birds, insomniac
birds , birds that had no problem at all sleeping
until we accidentally woke them up, etc, etc.
Visit to the Native
Communities
 Yes,
our resident natives are called "caboclos"
and they are the direct result of the genetic
melting pot originated by the European colonization
, the African slavery and the original Indians
, accelerated on the last 150 years by the
discover of the Hevea Braziliensis - rubber
tree and the resulting boom , attracting thousands
of immigrants from the dry lands of Northeast
Brazil.
Living in floating houses
they are fiercely proud of their knowledge
of the jungle ( a Indian legacy ) , of their
knowledge in boat construction , ( a Portuguese
legacy ) meanwhile the elders remember nostalgic
stories of half a century ago , when the abundance
of turtles and other animals was amazing (
a legacy no one wants to take credit for )
, but we sure want to contribute to reinstate
this abundance , with our educational and
preservation philosophies .
So, by visiting
these communities , educating and hiring its
members we are contributing decisively to
the sustainable development of this area trough
eco-tourism in which you, dear guest, is the
main factor.
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