26/02/2025
Awesome Amazon River Excursions with Gil Serique
We cruised aboard the Amazon River Oceania Insignia in January 2025. We were extremely fortunate to find a private tour operator Gil Serique who offered tours in Alter do Chao and Santarem. Gil is a great communicator and stayed in touch with us before and after the excursions, clearly describing the tour and where to meet up at the tender landing. These were our best tours during our week on the Amazon River. The tour in Alter do Chao met us up at the tender landing and we drove in a very comfortable van to the Tapajos National Forest where we embarked on wonderful hike in the rain forest exploring the lush forest and its exotic plants, insects (including a tarantula), wildlife, and beautiful scenery. The drive went through parts of Belterra, part of Henry Ford's second failed rubber plantation. At the end of this excursion, we were hosted at Gil's private residence, located adjacent to the harbor with views of the ship at anchor and the resort beach. He provided us with fresh fruit and other snacks along with a choice of beverages. There was an abundance of wildlife in his back yard including monkey's, caiman, and exotic birds, including a blue crowned mot mot and beautiful exotic flowers and plants. Gil is an amazing guide and wonderful host with an incredible passion for life. This was a wonderful welcome to the Amazon by one of the most engaging and most optimistic people we have met anywhere, a kind and a wonderful guide with deep knowledge of the history of the Amazon and the Amazon wildlife and their behaviors. The cost of the tour was $130 pp for 7 hours.
In Santarem, we were met by Gil at the tender landing for a tour of the meeting of the waters and then traveled deep up one of the Amazon River tributaries. We saw pink dolphins and hundreds of birds. We then embarked on a small skiff to venture deeper still up the tributary. On this excursion we saw hundreds of exotic Amazon birds, including hoatzins, toucans, hawks, etal. We even spotted a three toed sloth and iguanas in th trees along the river banks. One of the boat crew caught some piranha, which were cooked for us to sample and is one of the best fish we have ever eaten. We also had snacks and soft drinks. Once again, Gil was an amazing host and kept us engaged with descriptions of the wildlife and birds we saw. The tour length was 6 hours and cost was $130 pp.
For both tours, we were back to the port in plenty of time - and had no worries about meeting the ship.
