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.

Machu Picchu - Peru

Dominated by the magnificent Andean mountain range, and wedged between the South Pacific and lush, humid Amazon rainforest, Peru is a country that has so much to offer travellers and trekkers. One of Peru’s most famous travel experiences is the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, a 43 km trek into the Andes. You will journey to a city that has evolved 3,400 metres up in the mountains — perfect for acclimatising to high altitudes. Your host city of Cuzco was the capital of the Inca Empire and is designated as the Historical Capital of Peru.

The Killke occupied this region from 900 to 1200 AD. But in the 12th century, the Incas — a local tribe in this area — killed off the Killke. Growing from tribe to imperial power, the Incas, under their Sapa (Emperor), transformed the Kingdom of Cuzco from a sleepy little city-state into a vast Empire.

More properly known as Tawantinsuyu, the Inca Empire was the largest force in the pre-Columbian Americas. Its centre was here in Cuzco, Tawantinsuyu (today’s Peru is part of old Tawantinsuyu). Passionate about Empire-building, the Inca civilization was on a roll in the 15th century. So it’s fairly understandable that from 1438 to 1533, the Incas used both violent and non-violent means to cram more and more of the Andean mountain range into Tawantinsuyu.

High up in the Incas’ prized mountains, you will trek through cloud forest, into subtropical jungle and up tiers of granite steps. Next you’ll negotiate some rocky tunnels and pass some Inca remains. At an altitude of 2,430 metres, here is your first astonishing view of the 15th-century ruins of the ‘Lost City of the Incas’. Discovered in 1911 by American historian, Hiram Bingham, this expansive UNESCO World Heritage site is among the most spectacular architectural relics in the world.

It is widely believed that the Incas designed and built this ‘City’ to be an Imperial estate with-a-view; a mountain ‘resort’ for the Sapa (Emperor) of Tawantinsuyu, Sapa Pachacuti, his family and other Inca high-flyers. Their prized Machu Picchu Mountain ‘resort’ could accommodate up to 750 fortunate members of their Inca class.

Construction began around 1430, and the ‘resort’ gave pleasure for 100 years. But in 1533 Spanish conquistadors invaded this massive continent and, together with conscripted local mercenaries, they began to quash and conquer the Incas and their empire of Tawantinsuyu. Remarkably, and to our huge advantage, the Spanish invaders failed to stumble upon the great Machu Picchu Mountain estate. So the ‘Lost City’-on-high continues to astound all who walk this beautiful land and trek its fabulous Inca trails.

To find out more about our tours to Peru, visit http://www.encounterstravel.com/peru.html or call us on 0800 088 6002.

Spread the Facebook 'like' to your friends and win a £50 Encounters voucher.

Spread the Facebook ‘like’ to your friends and win a £50 Encounters voucher. We are offering a £50 Encounters Travel voucher to anyone who invites 20 friends to ‘like’ our page on Facebook. Our page is here http://www.facebook.com/encounterstravel.

Suggest our page to your friends either on Twitter or Facebook and if they like us we will thank you with a voucher.

Just send us the names and email addresses of the friends you suggested to tours@encounterstravel.com quoting promo code 1121 for Twitter and 1122 for Facebook.

They will then receive our specials for Facebook fans and Twitter followers only.

All your friends will be entered into a draw for a voucher too! Just one voucher per entrant and we will close this offer on 31 December 2011!

Share the news about our fab tours and be a winner!

Istanbul - The Blue Mosque - Visit with Encounters Travel on our Turkey Tours

Warning: Blue Wow-factor Inside!

Istanbul began as the city of Byzantium in 667 BC under the ancient Greeks. Later called Constantinople, it became the imperial seat of the Roman Empire. Then, for over 1,000 years, it was the capital of the Greek-speaking Roman-operated Byzantine Empire.

Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Turks, and became the Ottoman Empire’s capital from 1453 until 1922. Following the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, it took 7 more years for the city to be renamed Istanbul.

After losing all his wars with Persia, Sultan Ahmed-the-1st wanted to boost everybody’s morale by building an imperial Mosque. Earlier rulers had paid for their mosques with the loot of war, but Sultan Ahmed had never been victorious, so he took his money out of the treasury. This caused anger among lawyers and other highflyers in his Empire.

Teenage Sultan Ahmed wanted to build a grander and more beautiful Mosque than any in Constantinople, so he had some plans drawn up by his architect. Construction began in 1609, and his Mosque was fully built by 1616.

So keen was Sultan Ahmed to finish his dream Mosque, it is said that he got as muddy as his builders when he sometimes stepped in to speed things up. But, aged just 27, he died just 1 year after his Mosque was completed. He is buried in these sacred grounds.

The Mosque has 6 lovely minarets, but Sultan Ahmed’s 12 spires were a big problem. The world’s largest and holiest Mosque — the Masjid al-Ḥarām in Mecca — also had Islam’s maximum-of-6, so craftsmen were urgently sent to Arabia to add a 7th!

To get the full impact of The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, enter through the middle of the Hippodrome. Once inside the courtyard, you’ll be struck by its vastness, by its amazing dome-work and the hundreds of fine stained glass windows.

The Mosque’s alternative ‘Blue Mosque’ name is puzzling when you view it from the exterior, but inside, the Wow-factor is the over 20,000 patterned and hand-carved Iznik tiles — many in different shades of blue. Some of the tiles have abstract patterning; others are decorated with flowers and trees. It’s no wonder that this interior is thought to be the most beautiful in present-day Istanbul.

Explore Turkey with one of our Turkey Tours and see the Blue Mosque for yourself. More details here:

http://www.encounterstravel.com/turkey.html