The Amazon Basin is not a single forest but a continent-sized system of rivers, canopy and soil that regulates rainfall across South America and holds a tenth of the planet’s species. At Manaus, where the black Rio Negro meets the pale Solimões, the scale of the place becomes visible from a boat.
At a glance
The Amazon Rainforest covers roughly 5.5 million square kilometres across nine South American countries, an area larger than the European Union. It is generally regarded as the most biodiverse single ecosystem on Earth, holding around a tenth of all known species, and its trees are estimated to store somewhere between 150 and 200 billion tonnes of carbon. The forest also drives its own weather: through transpiration it generates so-called flying rivers, columns of water vapour that travel thousands of kilometres and produce rainfall well beyond the basin itself.
Scientists have warned of a tipping point: if deforestation reaches somewhere between a fifth and a quarter of the original forest cover, the remaining Amazon may no longer generate enough rainfall to sustain itself. Current estimates put deforestation at somewhere between 17 and 20 per cent.
Key facts
- Extent: approximately 5.5 million km² across nine countries
- Amazon River: carries around a fifth of all fresh water discharged into the world’s oceans
- Biodiversity: around 390 billion trees of some 16,000 species, roughly 2.5 million insect species, 40,000 plant species, over 1,300 bird species and over 3,000 freshwater fish species
- Indigenous peoples: more than 400 distinct peoples speaking over 300 languages, including uncontacted or voluntarily isolated groups protected under a no-contact policy maintained by Brazil’s FUNAI
- Heritage status: the Central Amazon Conservation Complex, which includes Jaú National Park, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000 and extended in 2003
History
Indigenous peoples have lived in the Amazon for at least 11,000 years. Patches of dark, nutrient-rich soil known as terra preta, found throughout the basin, point to long periods of settled farming, and some archaeologists now argue that pre-Columbian populations in the region may have run into the millions, far higher than once assumed.
The Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana became the first European to sail the length of the Amazon, in 1541 and 1542. From the seventeenth century Jesuit missionaries established missions along its tributaries. Large-scale deforestation is generally dated to the 1970s, when the Trans-Amazon Highway opened the interior to settlement and clearance, a process that continues to shape the forest’s fate today.
What you see
The Amazon is above all a sensory place: the constant soundscape of howler monkeys, macaws, frogs and insects is as much a part of the experience as the greenery itself. The forest has four distinct layers, from the emergent canopy down through the main canopy and understory to the forest floor, though most visitors on foot only ever see the last of these. Canopy walkways at some lodges give access to the bird-rich upper layers, and guided night walks reveal a different set of animals altogether.
At Manaus the dark, tannin-stained Rio Negro meets the paler, sediment-heavy waters of the Solimões, and the two rivers run side by side for several kilometres without mixing, a result of differing temperature, speed and density. Depending on the season, the river’s water level can vary by up to fifteen metres: in the dry months sandy beaches appear along the banks, while in the high-water months stretches of flooded forest, known as igapó and várzea, stand with their trees partly submerged.
Practical information
- Access point: Manaus, a city of around two million people in the heart of the Amazon, served by its own international airport
- Landmark: the Teatro Amazonas opera house, built during the rubber boom of 1896 and the setting for Werner Herzog’s film Fitzcarraldo
- Accommodation: floating lodges on tributaries near Manaus offer an alternative to staying in the city itself
- Seasons: river beaches appear in the drier months, roughly June to November, while the high-water season, roughly December to May, floods the forest along the banks
Getting there
Manaus is reached by air, with connections from major South American and international cities into Eduardo Gomes International Airport. From there, boat tours run out to the Meeting of the Waters and to lodges on the surrounding rivers; travellers wanting a longer immersion can continue by boat further into the basin, sleeping in hammocks aboard multi-deck river vessels.
Nearby
- Meeting of the Waters — a short boat trip east of Manaus, where the Rio Negro and the Solimões run side by side without mixing
- Jaú National Park — west of Manaus and reached by a multi-day boat trip, Brazil’s largest protected forest and part of the same UNESCO inscription, known for river dolphins, giant otters and black-water rivers
- Mamirauá Reserve — reached by boat from Manaus, home to pink river dolphins and hoatzins
- Iquitos, Peru — reached by air or by boat downstream from Manaus, the main gateway to the Peruvian Amazon, with its floating Belen market
Sources
- Wikipedia, Amazon rainforest
- Wikipedia, Amazon River
- Wikipedia, Meeting of the Waters
- UNESCO, Central Amazon Conservation Complex
- Alex Shoumatoff, The World Is Burning: Murder in the Rain Forest
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