Amazon Rainforest

Every adventurer dreams of a truly intrepid travel experience; foraging through dense rain forests, coming face-to-face with indigenous tribes, and living with the clear and present danger of horrible exotic creatures that lurk in the undergrowth. If this is your idea of excitement — perhaps toned down a little with the protection of an experienced guide at hand — then an ultimate Peruvian Amazon adventure will thrill you to the core.

Covering more than 7 million square km of South America, the Amazon basin is one of the largest and most impressive river systems in the world, and is lined on either side by deep wild jungle. Because of its enormity, the variety of Amazon tours, trips and journeys that you can experience along its mighty stretch are numerous — from trekking beneath forest canopy and canoeing along its steamy shore, to dozing in a hammock as you chug upriver.

In the Republic of Peru, many travel experiences will take you off river and into dense jungle with a local specialist. He or she will have an extensive knowledge of Amazonian food, medicine and local flora and fauna. A 5-day tour to the Tambopata Research Centre will see you canoeing to search for giant river otters, turtles, hoatzin and wading birds.

The Tambopata Research Centre is a comfortable 18-bedroom lodge situated by one of the world’s largest macaw clay-licks on the uninhabited frontier of the Tambopata National Reserve and the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park. A founding venture of Rainforest Expeditions, the Research Centre was established to contribute towards the protection of the region’s magnificent bird species, and is engaged in long-term research projects to ensure their survival. The Research Centre’s location is unrivalled in its access to pristine Amazonian forests. Having no neighbours whatsoever, it is so far from human populations that you’ll overnight in Refugio Amazonas before arriving here.

Peru’s wonderful Ocelot Trail is a 2 km hike, which will give you that genuine rainforest experience. Making you feel so small, the Amazon Rainforest is 200 to 300 years old and shelters mammals such as the saddleback tamarin, squirrel monkey, brown capuchin monkey and collared peccary. The birdlife nearby in the U-shaped oxbow lake is also remarkable, with high chances of watching varieties of woodpecker, parakeet, ibis, chachalaca and oropendola.

The Amazon River is vast, and everything about it seems to be never-ending. Its bird, insect and animal life won’t turn up on-demand, but something amazing is always happening, and minute-by-minute, your Encounters Travel experience will become more rewarding.

Ask our team about tours to Peru. Email tours@encounterstravel.com.

Manyara flamingoes - Tanzania wildlife

It helps to remember that Tanzania’s name is two old African states spliced together. Back in the ‘60s, Tanganyika and Zanzibar united to form the ‘United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar’. Later in 1964 they trimmed it down to the handier, ‘United Republic of Tanzania’. Rising from the republic’s Maasai landscape to lure climbers, snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro is Africa’s highest mountain, and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area protects its dead volcano-crater.

Tanzania’s massive Serengeti National Park is a continuation of Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve. Between July and October every year, nearly two million wild animals leave these southern Serengeti plains and charge 2,897 km to the Maasai Mara. This ‘Great Migration’ involves 1.3 million wildebeest, 97,000 topi, 18,000 eland, 200,000 zebra and 500,000 Thomson’s gazelle. It’s a never-ending vicious circle of a route for these animals — all desperate for grassy grazing lands and wet water-holes. And every year an estimated 250,000 wildebeest don’t make it as they fall prey to lion and hyena. Then, during November and March, the herds charge all the way back here again to calve.

One of the most naturally diverse country’s; Tanzania provides ideal habitats for elephant, antelope, lion, cheetah and leopard, and 1,500 species of bird. Lake Manyara lies in the shadow of the Great Rift Valley, whose burnt red escarpment-walls loom 600 metres over the eastern horizon. With waterfalls spilling down cliffs nearby and some hot springs bubbling, Lake Manyara sometimes gets blurred with heat-haze. But this environment and microclimate attracts birdlife like crazy, and its banks, shore and wider terrain support numerous animal species.

A wonderful travel experience for anyone interested in wildlife, Lake Manyara National Park also protects 300 species of migratory birds and is keenly appreciated for bird watching. Fish-eating species, such as pelicans, storks, cormorants and Egyptian geese live, swim and feed here. Flocks of flamingo tint the waters’ surface hazy pink as they arrive to feed during migration. Rare long-crested eagles and grey-headed kingfishers make regular appearances; and in-season, giant flocks of red-billed quelea hover like insect swarms.

Lake Manyara National Park must be accessed by road; through Mto wa Mbu — a market village with a mix of converging tribes. If you’re visiting for game-viewing, the best period is from July to October. But if your passion is birdlife, book your trip during Kenya’s rainy-seasons. The short rains are from November to December when it becomes hot and humid; the long rains are from March to June. This long rainy-season is best for all things watery — from bird-watching to canoeing.

Check out our Tanzania Tours here http://www.encounterstravel.com/tanzania.html or email tours@encounterstravel.com for more information.

Jerusalem - Holy Land Journey with Encounters Travel

Known in the 4,000 year-old City of Jerusalem as ‘Haram Esh-Sharif’ and ‘Western Wall’, your guide will explain all this stonework — the remains of the original Fort Antonia. The early Roman fortress was named after General Marcus Antonius of Antony-and-Cleopatra fame. Forty years after King Herod Antipater crucified Jesus, Fort Antonia was used to house the Roman 10th Legion. In 273 AD the soldiers were ordered out of Jerusalem.

At the Western Wall, remember that it is Jerusalem’s oldest preserved building fragment since Jesus of Nazareth lived here. For ages, people have argued about the origins and history of these holy places. That’s why the Western Wall (Hakotel Hama’aravi) is believed by some to be what is left of the outer walls of King Herod the Great’s long-ago destroyed Temple Mount. It was the Christians of the 1660s who christened it the ‘Wailing Wall’.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is within the city walls of Old Jerusalem. Fire has licked and regularly destroyed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre over the ages. In 1808 the dome of the rotunda imploded spectacularly, its disappearance caused the equally spectacular Ottoman Baroque restoration work of 1810. Improvements never stop at the Church, but its appearance hasn’t really changed since 1854. Today’s 1870s dome was restored between 1994 and 1997 — renovations that have hammered and sawn away since 1959.

No crusading Knight’s 12th-century ‘armed pilgrimage’ was considered complete until he had knelt down to pray at the Holy Sepulchre. This was because in 1149, all traces of Jesus Christ’s execution, entombment and resurrection were placed together under one roof. Following structural improvements in 1555, management of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre alternated between Franciscans and Orthodox. After many discussions and arguments, they were given permanently shared control in 1853.

This land of Golgotha — of the Hill of Calvary — where Jesus was crucified, entombed in a sepulchre and then rose again, was worshiped as holy. But in 135 AD, seething with anti-Christian rage, Roman Emperor Hadrian blotted this landscape with a temple to Venus and her Greek equivalent, Aphrodite. He also dumped his province’s ‘Judaea’ name, re-branding it as ‘Syria Palaestina’. Then, around 325 AD, 1st Emperor Constantine fully supported his mother’s ambition to destroy Hadrian’s tasteless temple. And over its foundations a basilica was built to honour the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

Visit Jerusalem on the Holy Land Journey Tour with Encounters Travel

http://www.encounterstravel.com/israel/holy_land_journey_tour.html

Special offer departing 12 February 2011 from £800 per person.

Iconic Russia Tour with Encounters Travel

For those wanting guaranteed snow this Christmas, Encounters Travel (www.encounterstravel.com / 0800 088 6002) is offering a saving of £200 off their eight-day Iconic Russia tour, departing 24 December. Available for a reduced rate of £749 per person, the price includes return airport transfers in Russia, accommodation in three-star hotels, plus an overnight train journey on a mixed board basis. The tour offers the perfect introduction to this vast country, beginning in historic St Petersburg before travelling through the 10^th century town of Veliky Novgorod on the way to discover the world famous landmarks of the capital, Moscow.

Famous for its freezing temperatures, dramatic history, hearty food and of course vodka, highlights of this all-encompassing eight-day trip include a full day exploring the former Russian capital of St Petersburg with a visit to the infamous Yusupov Palace, before travelling to the magnificent Pavlovsk Palace followed by the old Russian city of Veliky Novgorod. Next, the tour takes to the rails with an overnight train journey to Moscow followed by a tour of the nearby religious site of Sergiev Posad, which is the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. Home to a museum rich with Russian history, the group has the whole day to explore before returning to Moscow. More information is available on the tour here: http://www.encounterstravel.com/russia/iconic_russia_tour.html?action=Itinerary

Contact Encounters Travel to book your place. Email tours@encounterstravel.com.