“That’s not a branch. It’s a boa constrictor.” Our long boat idled in the swift, muddy current as we scanned the trees on the riverbank. Our naturalist guide Milton was pointing out the snake and a dozen pair of binoculars scanned the ridge. The snake was easily 12 feet long. Even looking carefully, the only way to tell it from a tree branch was by the regular patterns along its back.

Our boatman gunned the engine and we slid away from the bank and out into the vast flowing expanse of the Napo River.

The Napo is one of the Amazon’s major tributaries. It rises on Ecuador’s eastern Andean slopes to wind through some of the most incredible and varied ecosystems in the world on its way to meet the Amazon and, eventually, the Atlantic Ocean.

Vast and wild, yet fragile and threatened by the exploitation of the oil that lies beneath its lush surface, the Napo basin had long been on our short list of “must-see” places. Along with a group of good friends, my wife Suzan and I were finally plying its brown waters and marveling at its endless menagerie of birds, reptiles, monkeys, insects and plant life from our base on board the Manatee Amazon Explorer.

And what a base it was… three decks,  14 private cabins with air conditioning and hot showers, a dining room served by a professional chef, a sundeck and a lounge with a fully stocked bar.

But it wasn’t all cocktails and dancing…. Our days started at around 5:30 a.m. when we’d don rubber boots and life jackets and take long boats up hidden streams and into oxbow lakes to see birds of every description flitting from tree to tree, threading the tangled banks between massive roots and floating mats of lilies, diving in backwater lagoons for their daily catch.

At night, we’d go out for walks to see how the other half of the Napo’s denizens lived… the insects, bats, cats, and foragers of the night that make their living in the darkness. Or the long boats would take us along the edges of hidden lagoons, the banks lit by millions of fireflies. With flashlights at the ready, we’d quietly cruise the dark waters until our guide would point—and our torches would light the eyes of caiman, the local version of alligators, floating just at the surface.

Getting to the Manatee Amazon Explorer was an adventure in itself. We flew out of Quito, the capital of Ecuador, down the western slopes of the Andes to Coca, an oil industry service town on the Napo. From there it was 90 minutes by long boat to meet the Manatee Amazon Explorer near the borders of several protected areas — the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve and National Park, the Limoncocha Biological Reserve, the Panacocha Protected Forest and the Cuyabeno Reserve.

Many of these preserves have been set up to help foster ecotourism in the area. Often administered by the local tribes such as the Waorani, the hope is that by making the business of ecotourism profitable, the locals can preserve and protect these environments from further damage and exploitation for their natural resources.

The Manatee Amazon Explorer is part of this effort. And although it is definitely a pleasure to return to after a day in the field, it is less a fancy cruise ship and more a floating environmental, cultural, and biological education center. Staffed by trained naturalists, it allows you access to some of the most sensitive and beautiful parts of the Napo basin without making a mark on the land.

It also affords a glimpse of what life along this mighty river is like for the indigenous peoples who still live here, mostly near the banks in small communities of raised houses built around small fields of coffee, corn, squash and fruit. During one stop, a local family hosted our group, taught us to use a blowgun, and offered a traditional welcome of chicha, a fermented drink made from corn, cassava or fruit.

All that exploring works up an appetite, and the onboard staff know what all good tour providers know… good meals make good tours. The dining room and kitchen of the boat host three large, tasty and very welcome meals a day with well-practiced precision.

There are a lot of ways to see the Amazon, but without the well-trained and dedicated guides who staffed the Manatee Amazon Explorer, we wouldn’t have left with the same appreciation for the extraordinary diversity and importance of this natural paradise.

************************************************************

Aboard the Manatee Amazon Explorer

There are many tour companies offering excursions in conjunction with lodges near or within the Napo preserves where you can explore a part of the area from a base on land. But the Manatee Amazon Explorer offers a unique advantage…it can cover nearly the entire length of the Napo down to the border with Peru and offer a tremendous overview of the basin and its various ecosystems.

Editor’s Note: This article was taken from a past issue of International Living’s monthly magazine. To get full access to all past and future articles and to receive the magazine in the mail or online each month, you can subscribe here.

Read more articles from our sample issue here.