Four professionally trained naturalist guides lead guests of the Aria Amazon on daily expeditions aboard our comfortable skiffs deep into the Amazon’s tributaries and on foot into the sultry Amazon rainforest. True ribereños, or “river dwellers”, our English speaking Peruvian experts grew up here on the banks of the Amazon, and know every bird and mammal call as well as they do the sound of their mother’s voice. They possess a local native’s ability to spot a brown-throated three-toed sloth sleeping high up in the tree canopy, an anaconda slithering along the shoreline and even the elusive capybara hiding in the high grass after nightfall.

Aqua Expeditions guests unanimously report back to us that their favorite memories of the river journey were made thanks to these talented and experienced naturalist guides. Their firsthand knowledge of the Aria Amazon, Amazon wildlife, plants and birds, as well as the history of this part of Peru and the expert skills of our captain and crew, as well as the support of our on-board paramedic make the difference between a tourist’s visit to Peru and an unforgettable, life enriching experience deep in the Amazon jungle.

“Hold my legs! Hold my legs!” shouted Victor from the prow of the boat. I grabbed an ankle as his head and shoulders disappeared over the bow. “It’s black. Aaaaargh. Endangered. Urgh.” For a moment I was unsure whether he had caught a caiman or was being eaten by one. He wriggled back on board, gripping a small black alligator in one hand and the lamp he had used to find it in his other. The caiman, black with flecks of ochre and an alabaster belly, was at least a metre long…“It’s about 18 months old,” said Victor. “Full grown it will be around seven metres. Here, hold it, but don’t let it bite you.” Photos were taken before the creature was carefully returned to the river.

– Peter Hughes, Sunday Times Magazine