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Travel Daily News
13-06-2025
- Travel Daily News
Cruising the Amazon in style: Peru's most exclusive river expeditions
Gliding along the headwaters of the Amazon in a boutique river ship feels nothing like traditional cruising. Why the Peruvian Amazon? Northern Peru holds the confluence of the Marañón and Ucayali Rivers, the point that officially becomes the mighty Amazon. This sector is remote yet surprisingly accessible: a 90-minute flight from Lima lands in Iquitos, the world's largest city unreachable by road. From the private port at Nauta, guests board vessels designed to navigate narrow black-water tributaries and shallow lagoons unreachable by larger ships farther downstream in Brazil. For those seeking luxury tours Peru, this region offers an exceptional gateway to the Amazon, combining exclusivity, comfort, and deep immersion into the jungle's rich biodiversity. Floating Suites That Redefine Comfort Top-tier expedition ships resemble waterfront lodges pulled gently by an invisible hand. Aria Amazon and Aqua Nera lead the field, each carrying no more than 40 passengers. Suites measure up to 26 square metres, with floor-to-ceiling windows that frame dawn mist and moonlit riverbanks. King beds dressed in organic Peruvian Pima cotton, rain showers stocked with spa-grade products, and unobtrusive climate control ensure restful nights even during the humid green season. Delfin I raises exclusivity even higher, hosting just eight guests across four suites — two of which feature outdoor plunge pools where pink river dolphins occasionally glide past during afternoon tea. Service and Cuisine on Board Personalised attention begins before departure. Travellers receive a pre-voyage call from the ship's guest relations team to confirm dietary preferences, pillow choices, and special occasions. On board, a near one-to-one crew-to-guest ratio guarantees immediate service, yet staff maintain a quiet presence, so the rainforest soundscape remains undisturbed. Dining rivals top city restaurants. Menus by chefs such as Pedro Miguel Schiaffino elevate regional produce: paiche ceviche dressed with cocona fruit, yucca gnocchi in Brazil-nut pesto, and desserts built around aguaje ice cream. Wine cellars hold South American labels selected to pair with Amazonian flavours, while bartenders craft classics enlivened by jungle botanicals like sacha-citrus and camu-camu. Daily Excursions: Soft Adventure, Expertly Guided Each dawn launches a new programme tailored to river depth and wildlife patterns. Naturalist guides trained at Peru's best research institutes lead sunrise skiff rides beneath palm-fringed canopies where macaws glide overhead. Later in the morning, narrow creek paddles reveal sloths curled into Cecropia branches and scarlet-headed hoatzins flapping awkwardly across floating lilies. Afternoon walks along raised boardwalks trace medicinal plants used by local communities for generations. Because group sizes rarely exceed eight, guides can adjust pace and focus — pausing longer for photographers seeking the perfect anaconda coil or moving quietly past nesting herons to reduce disturbance. Night outings add another dimension: caiman eyes shine like amber beads in torchlight, and a billion stars crowd skies free of urban haze. Sustainability at the Core Operating in a fragile ecosystem requires rigorous stewardship. Leading vessels run on low-emission engines, treat greywater on board, and use advanced hull coatings that minimise drag and fuel use. Laundry services rely on biodegradable detergents, and kitchen teams source fish under strict quotas to protect breeding seasons. Partnerships with NGOs support manatee rescue programmes and fund ranger patrols in Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, helping to curb illegal logging. Guests hear briefings on these initiatives, turning holiday moments into informed support for conservation. Cultural Encounters with Respect The river is lifeline, highway, and pantry for countless Indigenous villages. Expedition itineraries include thoughtfully arranged visits that swap glass-bead souvenirs for genuine exchange. Community leaders demonstrate traditional fishing methods, artisans display basket-weaving using chambira palm fibres, and children perform ceremonial songs learned from elders. All commerce is conducted through a transparent cooperative model ensuring fair prices and ongoing benefit long after the ship sails on. Planning Your Exclusive Voyage Choose the Season Peru's Amazon sees high-water months between December and May, allowing skiffs to venture deeper into flooded forest. Low-water months from June to November reveal sandy river beaches and enable longer jungle walks. Wildlife viewing thrives year-round, though avid birders often favour the high-water period when migratory species arrive. Select the Right Vessel Couples seeking maximum seclusion gravitate toward Delfin I or the two-suite Zafiro Master Cabin, while multigenerational families appreciate Aqua Nera's connecting suites and plunge-pool sundeck. Review deck plans carefully: corner cabins often supply wraparound glazing for 90-degree panoramas. Book Early With capacity under 50 guests per ship, departures fill quickly — particularly holiday weeks and the July–August dry season. Six to nine months' lead time secures preferred sailings and allows for custom pre-cruise extensions such as Lima gourmet tours or Machu Picchu by luxury train. A Journey Beyond Ordinary An Amazon cruise through Peru offers refined comfort amid one of Earth's great wilderness regions. Floating spas administer massages scented with andiroba oil while the river drifts by, cocktail hours unfold on observation decks painted by sunset, and every dawn carries the potential for a first-ever wildlife sighting. For travellers seeking an experience defined by exclusivity, authenticity, and environmental care — all shaped by the hands of seasoned professionals — luxury tours Peru delivers the definitive answer. Photo by bilal findikci from Pexels
CNN
21-05-2025
- CNN
Armed assailants rob tourists, drain bank accounts on Peruvian Amazon boat trip
Armed men hijacked a tourist boat in the Amazon rainforest in Peru, robbed all 14 people on board and forced them to empty their bank accounts via mobile apps, according to one of the victims. Spanish TikToker Elisabet de la Almudena, who has more than 235,000 followers on the platform, described the ordeal as the 'worst day of her life' in a 4.5-minute video uploaded Tuesday. According to her account, she was part of a 14-person group, including her parents and 6-year-old daughter, that set off on an all-day boat tour from the city of Iquitos, a popular jumping-off point to explore the rainforest. 'We contracted a family tour, a sightseeing tour, and we ended up being kidnapped,' she said. Four men armed with pistols and a machine gun boarded the boat and sailed it deep into the forest, said de la Almudena, where they took everyone's belongings and even the vessel's motor. 'Through mobile phone applications, they asked us to take the money out of our accounts and transfer it to one of their accounts, otherwise they would not leave,' she added. 'I wouldn't wish it upon anyone,' de la Almudena said. The passengers then took pieces of wood from the boat and used them to row down the river, where they came upon a family in another boat that towed them to safety, she said. De la Almudena claimed that the tour company, Canopy Tours Iquitos, had no GPS tracker on the boat, no insurance and no security measures in place, despite the fact that she was later told that this kind of incident has happened in the area before. 'We were completely abandoned by the people that were supposed to look after us,' she said. In response, Canopy Tours Iquitos said the incident, which occurred on May 14, was a chance event outside of its control that 'was immediately reported to the authorities.' 'We activated our emergency protocols straight away, offered our assistance to the affected group and have been actively cooperating with the investigation,' the company said in a Facebook post published Tuesday. In addition, the company said it would strengthen security measures, including introducing GPS monitoring, closer cooperation with the police and more training for staff. According to the US State Department, travelers to Peru should 'exercise increased caution due to crime, civil unrest, and the risk of kidnapping. Some areas have increased risk.' In a travel advisory update published May 16, the department underlined that 'crime is common in Peru.' 'Petty theft, carjackings, muggings, assaults, and other violent crime often happen even in daylight hours and with many witnesses around. Kidnapping is rare, but it does occur,' it said. CNN has contacted Canopy Tours Iquitos, the Peruvian national police and the Spanish Embassy in Peru for comment.
CNN
21-05-2025
- CNN
Armed assailants rob tourists, drain bank accounts on Peruvian Amazon boat trip
Armed men hijacked a tourist boat in the Amazon rainforest in Peru, robbed all 14 people on board and forced them to empty their bank accounts via mobile apps, according to one of the victims. Spanish TikToker Elisabet de la Almudena, who has more than 235,000 followers on the platform, described the ordeal as the 'worst day of her life' in a 4.5-minute video uploaded Tuesday. According to her account, she was part of a 14-person group, including her parents and 6-year-old daughter, that set off on an all-day boat tour from the city of Iquitos, a popular jumping-off point to explore the rainforest. 'We contracted a family tour, a sightseeing tour, and we ended up being kidnapped,' she said. Four men armed with pistols and a machine gun boarded the boat and sailed it deep into the forest, said de la Almudena, where they took everyone's belongings and even the vessel's motor. 'Through mobile phone applications, they asked us to take the money out of our accounts and transfer it to one of their accounts, otherwise they would not leave,' she added. 'I wouldn't wish it upon anyone,' de la Almudena said. The passengers then took pieces of wood from the boat and used them to row down the river, where they came upon a family in another boat that towed them to safety, she said. De la Almudena claimed that the tour company, Canopy Tours Iquitos, had no GPS tracker on the boat, no insurance and no security measures in place, despite the fact that she was later told that this kind of incident has happened in the area before. 'We were completely abandoned by the people that were supposed to look after us,' she said. In response, Canopy Tours Iquitos said the incident, which occurred on May 14, was a chance event outside of its control that 'was immediately reported to the authorities.' 'We activated our emergency protocols straight away, offered our assistance to the affected group and have been actively cooperating with the investigation,' the company said in a Facebook post published Tuesday. In addition, the company said it would strengthen security measures, including introducing GPS monitoring, closer cooperation with the police and more training for staff. According to the US State Department, travelers to Peru should 'exercise increased caution due to crime, civil unrest, and the risk of kidnapping. Some areas have increased risk.' In a travel advisory update published May 16, the department underlined that 'crime is common in Peru.' 'Petty theft, carjackings, muggings, assaults, and other violent crime often happen even in daylight hours and with many witnesses around. Kidnapping is rare, but it does occur,' it said. CNN has contacted Canopy Tours Iquitos, the Peruvian national police and the Spanish Embassy in Peru for comment.
The Guardian
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Burden of Dreams review – on-location account of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo is a gruelling delight
In 1982, film-maker Les Blank released this sombre, thoughtful, quietly awestruck documentary account of Werner Herzog's crazy sisyphean struggle in a remote and dangerous Peruvian jungle location, making his extraordinary drama Fitzcarraldo, which came out the same year. Fitzcarraldo was Herzog's own bizarre and brilliant story idea, crazily amplifying and exaggerating a case from real life. Early 20th-century opera enthusiast Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, played with straw-hair and mad blue eyes by Klaus Kinski, goes into the rubber trade to make enough money to realise his dream of building an opera house in the Peruvian port town of Iquito; he works out that the steamship needed to transport materials can only be brought into the required stretch of water by dragging it across land between two tributaries. This is a crazy, magnificent and operatic obsession, more grandiose than anything that could be presented on stage, for which he will need Indigenous peoples as slave labour to haul the ship. By playing these tribes his Caruso records on an old gramophone player, he persuades them he is a white god who must be obeyed. In the original case, an entrepreneur (called Carlos Fermin Fitzcarrald) reportedly transported a 300-ton ship across land by disassembling it into a couple of dozen pieces; Herzog insisted on shifting the ship whole, and moreover insisted on filming these scenes in the remote interior, not near Iquito itself – which would have been far easier and probably would have looked the same. In the jungle, the cast and crew suffered the agonies of early settlers and colonial adventurers: illness, discomfort, poison-arrow attacks and, above all, mind-bending boredom as the weather meant that nothing could be done for months at a time. Perhaps no other period movie in history has so closely duplicated the subject matter in its gruelling shoot. Herzog's original lead casting, Jason Robards, dropped out with amoebic dysentery and Mick Jagger, who was to play the innocent sidekick, evidently saw what an ordeal he was in for and dropped out as well, citing the need to record the album Tattoo You. Herzog surrendered to the inevitable and cast his old frenemy-slash-muse Kinski; but the mercurial hothead-genius was naturally hurt at not being first choice and made everyone's life hell with arguments and complaints. And it is difficult to get your head around the thought of what it must have been like for the cast and crew just waiting, waiting, waiting for Herzog to decree that, yes, we can shoot. This is a strangely subdued documentary, recorded as it was more or less contemporaneously with the film itself but which doesn't fully show the nightmarish things which were soon to become legendary. (Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper's 1991 film Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, about the horror of making Coppola's Apocalypse Now in the late 70s, had the advantage of time and gave us far more juicy and scary material.) Herzog himself is shown talking mournfully about his disasters: the light-plane crashes that are supposed to have critically injured some people and paralysed another. (But these people are not named. What actually happened?) We do however see the darkness and intensity of Herzog himself as he descants on how much he loves but also hates the jungle in that unmistakable voice of his. 'The birds don't sing … they just screech in pain. Theirs is the harmony of overwhelming collective murder … I love it against my better judgment.' Amazingly, Herzog always looks in pretty good shape, considering what he's gone through, and put others through. His burden of dreams is borne with some style. It's a good curtain-raiser to the film itself. Burden of Dreams is in UK cinemas from 23 May.
The Guardian
21-05-2025
- The Guardian
Spanish tourists robbed by armed ‘river pirates' in Peruvian Amazon
A Spanish tourist has recounted how an armed gang calling themselves 'river pirates' robbed her and her family aboard a boat travelling down the Amazon River in Peru. In a video on TikTok, one of the tourists, Elisabet de la Almudena, said she experienced the 'worst day of her life' on 14 May, when four armed assailants holding pistols and one machine gun boarded the boat she was travelling on with her parents and six-year-old daughter. She said the gunmen forced them to open banking apps on their phones and empty their accounts. 'We contracted a family tour, a sightseeing tour,' she said, adding that they were taken further into the jungle after being robbed and were left stranded there for an hour. 'The hardest part was when these people boarded the boat. Through mobile phone applications, they asked us to take the money out of our accounts and transfer it to one of their accounts, otherwise they would not leave,' she added. De la Almudena said there were about 14 Spanish tourists on the boat, including children and elderly people, who were all released shaken but unharmed after the ordeal. She said that a local family found them stranded and helped them get back to Iquitos, where they arrived in the early hours of the morning. She also alleged that the tour company, Canopy Tours Iquitos, did not have an emergency protocol or a GPS unit on the boat. In a statement on Tuesday, the tour operator Canopy Tours Iquitos said the incident was beyond its control and 'was reported immediately to authorities'. 'From the beginning, we activated our emergency protocols, offered our assistance to the affected group and have been actively cooperating with the investigation,' the statement said. The company also said it was improving its security measures in response to the incident, including GPS monitoring, and was working more closely with the River Police. The company and Spanish embassy in Peru could not be immediately contacted by the Guardian. The risk of armed robbery is low in Peru, however, the US state department has warned its citizens to 'exercise increased caution due to crime, civil unrest, and the risk of kidnapping' in certain parts of the country.
