THE AMAZON: THE BRADT TRAVEL GUIDE

The Amazon: The Bradt Travel Guide is the leading travel guide to the Amazon rainforest of tropical South America. Published by Bradt Travel Publications, it has sold more than 15,000 copies worldwide and is available at bookstores and on-line. The third edition, published September, includes expanded sections on web resources, and updates (including all email and website info) on tours, hotels, lodges, restaurants and attractions.

Order The Amazon: The Bradt Travel Guide now.

Read below for information about The Amazon: The Bradt Travel Guide 3rd Edition (Sept 2007) by Roger Harris and Peter Hutchison.

Description of book:

Overview
Table of contents
What's in the book
In brief
About the authors

Overview

The Amazon... a world of trees and water. It's Earth's treasury of life yet disappearing fast. Now is the time to visit. The Amazon: The Bradt Travel Guide, full of essential travel information, helps you get there and back (safe and sound!). Use it before you go, while you're there and after you return, and you're sure to make the most of your 'adventure of a life-time'!

This book is essential reading for:
• Travelers: a comprehensive yet compact guide, packed with need-to-know travel advice and insights into culture, history and wildlife, including 30 detailed maps.
• Tour operators: an up-to-date reference on ecotourism in the Amazon. Countless facts at your fingertips (new tour opportunities, competitors, background). Nothing else so fully informs you on this popular adventure travel destination.
• Biodiversity students and conservationists: details of Amazon flora and fauna. Species descriptions (including scientific names), including conservation status. Insights into complexity of ecological interactions.
• Armchair travelers: anecdotes and commentary told from a personal viewpoint, illustrated with color photographs and beautiful drawings.

Part One GENERAL INFORMATION
1 History and Background
2 Practical Information
3 Mounting your own Expedition
4 Health and Safety

Part Two WILDLIFE AND PEOPLE
5 Natural History
6 Indigenous Tribes and Settlers

Part Three COUNTRIES OF THE AMAZON
7 Colombia
8 Ecuador
9 Peru
10 Bolivia
11 Brazil

What sets this book apart? As well as the data you'd expect in a top-notch travel guide, it devotes 60 pages to wildlife and natural history (plus dozens of color photos). It's "one-stop shopping" for a complete adventure. Environmentally and culturally sensitive travel is emphasized.

The book is organized into three parts:

Whether you're with a tour group or travelling independently, the book caters to you. With everything that's in this book, you can design the trip of your dreams. Part One has plenty directly relevant to personal travel needs and specific interests.


Chapter One puts you in the picture with a general background on the Amazon's geography, history of exploration and present conservation status.


Chapter Two is a step-by-step guide to booking and preparing for a trip. Choose a tour company from among a hundred or so local, USA- or UK-based tour operators specializing in the Amazon (with web sites, e-mail addresses and toll-free numbers). From the sample itineraries you get an idea of what is attainable with a limited budget and schedule. Helpful sections include what to pack, luggage tips, maps, photography, fishing and local customs.


Chapter Three provides guidelines on how to prepare for a full-scale expedition.


Chapter Four gives general advice on health and safety, including how to avoid specific diseases, advisable immunizations, crime situations, etc.

Sixty pages of natural history information offer a comprehensive account of Amazon geology, geography, plants and animals—the most wildlife and nature information of any travel guide.


Chapter Five covers lowland rainforest (including montane forest and coastal environments). Each major habitat is included, from forest canopy and ground level to rivers and lakes (e.g., soils, water chemistry, "meeting of waters" etc.). Rainforest ecology includes descriptions of how the physical geography shapes the living community (forest layers, gap ecology, soil structure). These are followed by details of native flora (giant water lily, palms, hardwoods, orchids, etc.) and fauna (birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, spiders), illustrated with high quality line drawings. An extensive section on water life (fishes, pink dolphin, manatee, giant otter, etc.) emphasizes the huge size of this aquatic ecosystem. Tips on wildlife and bird watching ensure you have the best possible nature experience.


Chapter Six offers insight into the region's indigenous people, covering their origins, beliefs and customs, lifestyles, and the legacy of recent settlement.

The remaining five chapters, one for each major Amazon country, contain travel details including:
• transport to and around each country
• places to stay (in cities and the jungle)
• safety (pitfalls to avoid)
• sights to see and experiences to savor
• guided walks, river cruises, excursions
• local tribes to meet
• language and customs
• natural areas (with descriptions of selected forest trails)
• food to eat
• best buys (and things not to buy)
• maps of capital cities and Amazon gateways, and good river routes to travel
• geography and history

• embassy addresses world-wide for each country
• two glossaries (Spanish and Portuguese)
• websites to help research travel opportunities, countries, etc.
• an extensive bibliography, including an internet guide
• comprehensive index

Practical travel tips, hints and inside information help you plan your trip and smooth the way as you go. Use the book before, during and after your journey. It's ideal pre-trip briefing and on-the-move travel reading. When you get back you'll want to learn more about what you experienced. There are resources to help you contribute to rainforest conservation and there's lots of handy reference material for once you get back home. Enjoy!

Roger Harris
Inflicted with an incurable travel bug Roger Harris now regularly travels throughout South America (camera in one hand, notebook in the other) on his quest for ever more arcane knowledge. Besides extensive independent travel, Roger has led over 30 Amazon tours since 1992. He has traveled the full length of the Amazon twice. He has written extensively about the Amazon and has been featured in newspaper articles and on television. He has a graduate degree in biology, enabling him to bring a scientist's view to the natural history chapter. He regularly gives presentations on the Amazon to schools, museums and civic groups and conceived and developed the Jungle Photos website. Roger now lives in North Carolina, USA and is the creator of this website. For information about upcoming tours led by Roger, please contact Jungle Photos.

Peter Hutchison
Peter arrived in South America after travelling through Central America. He continued his journey south to Bolivia where he was a journalist for the Bolivian Times. He regularly returns to South America, and works as a freelance writer and journalist, living in London, England.