With travel packages focusing on eco-tourism and adventure tours on the rise, "edu-tourism" has evolved as a kind of sub-set for travelers. Within the context of soft adventure, some tour operators offer programs that emphasize learning.
Concluding a nine-day edu-tour from the headwaters of the Amazon in Iquitos, Peru, through Colombia and finishing in Manaus, Brazil, in March, I felt more like a student reaching graduation than a tourist reaching my destination. My on-board professors were authorities on the topics of birds, fish, wildlife, flora and fauna, and ecosystems. My fellow students, a k a passengers, spanned a scope of ages and interests. My classroom was the Amazon Rain Forest.
Billed as an Amazon Navigation tour, this trip was offered through the National Aquarium in Baltimore. The ship that would navigate the mighty Amazon River cruised into the urban waters of Baltimore's harbor on a familiarization tour last September, and while it was there, would-be travelers were offered the opportunity to roam the comfortable decks of the Columbus Caravelle, a luxurious 280-passenger vessel, for a dockside preview. Expansive public areas were bordered by sweeping window views. Passenger cabins brought comfort and efficiency space to a science. And, a large meeting room with audiovisual equipment and chairs arranged theater-style hinted at the seminars that set the edu-tour apart from other trips.
While the tour operator for this trip is based in Laguna Beach, Calif., it is not uncommon for such outfits to market their products through zoos and aquariums across the country. In addition to scientists and members of the National Aquarium, representatives of the Dallas Zoo and the Palm Springs Desert Museum also signed on for this "live and learn" travel experience.
In fact, there was enough academic expertise on this edu-tour that one could almost qualify for "Amazon 101" just by participating in polite conversation at dinner. According to Christopher Andrews, senior director of animal husbandry and operations at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Marquest Tours of California approached him as a resource. "They told me they needed a fish person, a bird person and a reptile person for this tour," he said. "Chuck Siegel, curator of birds for the Dallas Zoo, and Jim Cornett, the curator of natural science for the Palm Springs Desert Museum, filled the latter two slots. I guess I was the fish person."
According to Dr. Andrews -- who has a Ph.D. in fish, parasites and diseases -- edu-tourism parallels the role of the National Aquarium. "People expect us to teach them. More than species on display in mini-habitats, organizations such as ourselves, zoos and natural museums need to play an active role in teaching preservation and conservation."
If their members and visitors benefit, so do their staff. "Animal husbandry people need to get out into the field to apply their knowledge, to be pro-active in helping to conserve our environment. Talk isn't enough," he said.
Formerly the curator of the Aquarium, Insect House and Reptile House at the London Zoo, Dr. Andrews promotes the conservation of freshwater habitats on a global basis via his work for the the World Conservation Union. Jim Cornett of the Desert Museum is developing a series of exhibitions and publications on ecosystems of the world. He and the Desert Museum have presented exhibitions on Australia, South America, Mexico and Africa. This journey marked Mr. Cornet's fourth trip to the Amazon Basin.
Chuck Siegel of the Dallas Zoo has traveled to Peru several times since 1984 to study birds. Most of his experience with Amazonian birds comes from netting and leg banding approximately 1,800 individual birds. He is closely associated with the Amazon Conservation Fund (ACF) -- a non-profit organization that supports the 900,000-acre Reserva Communal Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo, southeast of Iquitos, Peru, with community development and wildlife conservation programs.
Not all the experts on board this trip were graduates of a college classroom. Jorge Sanches came to his knowledge and skill by way of the rain forest -- a complex model of diversity ranging from the varzeas (the muddy flatlands of the Amazon), to the terra firma, the highlands, and its inhabitants, the River People.
And Moacir "Mo" Fortes, a native of Manuas, routinely conducts multi-day tours of the Amazon and Rio Negro on his small boat.
On a grander, more luxurious scale, tours such as Marquest's Amazon Navigation cruise offer land-sea packages from domestic jumping-off points such as Miami. A five-hour flight to Iquitos, Peru, puts travelers at the headwaters of the Amazon and the beginning of their journey by ship to Colombia and Brazil. Cruises on vessels of this size are limited to the rainy season, roughly December through June, when the river is at its highest.
Amazon camp
Before the cruise, local tours in Iquitos include a jungle visit by bus to an Amazon camp on the Momon River, a peaceful tributary of the great Amazon. A jungle walk leads visitors to the Bora Indians, who wear distinctive bark clothing. Local handicraft is for sale, and U.S. dollars are welcome. The tour costs $40.
Other activities in Iquitos include a group tour of the city by bus for $26. However, with skillful negotiation by Lisa Yost, our tour escort, a personal tour of the city by the driver of a small, motorized tri-shaw was arranged for $10.
It was the answer to a photographer's dream. Somewhere between gestures and limited language, we communicated beautifully with our driver as we navigated the narrow streets, photographed the people at work and the children at play.
But, the ultimate reward was the wonderful opportunity for intimacy with the people of Iquitos as they went about their daily trade. Local craftsmen produce jewelry and other adornments made from leather, wood and some semi-precious stones. Inexpensive by our standards, lovely bracelets and necklaces were available for well under $20. Santos, our tri-shaw driver, helped with price negotiation for our benefit.
Learning to barter
It helps to bring bartering materials of your own when visiting other Indian villages. Although $1 will buy just about any craft made by the local people, more practical items such as T-shirts, ballpoint pens or colored markers, fishing lures and hooks, and writing paper were considered a fair exchange. The pens are used to imprint designs on bark cloth, and writing paper is virtually non-existent.
Be careful not to invest in souvenirs made from endangered wildlife. Confiscation or a possible fine may be levied by U.S. Customs on feathers from wild birds and caiman and crocodile leather, or items from sea turtles and spotted cats, for example.
While in Iquitos, travelers should take a ride on seaplanes. They conduct four-hour tours and flights to the Napo River area for about $265 per person. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit the Peruvian Amazon and see from the air the canopy -- the dense coverage of forestation -- and the network of winding rivers that lead to the mother Amazon.
Leaving Iquitos by cruise ship, the journey continues with stops in Pevas, a Peruvian Indian village near the riverbank. Shore excursions by Zodiacs -- the motorized rubber rafts designed by Jacques Cousteau -- launch 12 passengers at a time to the shores of river villages where docks are non-existent and the firm grip of a crew member supports safe, although somewhat adventurous, landings.
In Colombian waters, the small village of Alegria is the first to appear on the shoreline. In the port town of Leticia, shore excursions are available but unnecessary. Touring the town on foot is adequate, and a taxi takes you to the local animal zoo for about $2 per passenger. Collections of a wide variety of indigenous species here give ample opportunity to get a close-up preview of wildlife that may appear in jungle walks and shoreline excursions.
With no pun intended, Dr. Andrews described the Amazon cruise as a wonderful way to get your feet wet on the subject of the rain forest and its inhabitants -- both people and wildlife. But, he maintains, trekking is the next step to experiencing this Rain Forest frontier. Several local companies, headed by native guides, offer river trips and overnight camping excursions along the Amazon and the beautiful Rio Negro.
Land costs for a typical camping trip of seven to 15 days range from $675 to $1400. They include kayak or riverboat trips through channels and flooded forests between the Rio Negro and the Unini River. Plenty of time is allowed to stop along the way for swimming, fishing, hiking, bird-watching and jungle trekking.
Overnight accommodations range from rustic hotels to roughing under the stars. Riverboat safaris, at $1,500 for 15 days, bring a touch of comfort to some tours, using a chartered vessel with private cabins as a base. Groups are welcome but are often limited to about 16 people. Domestic tour operators can offer recommendations on these excursion opportunities.
Nature at its best
The Rio Negro is a not-to-be missed opportunity to see a pristine natural universeat its best.
The black, acid waters look somewhat like tea. A combination of water washed from the river shores steeps the dense exfoliation of the trees -- brewing the blend into a liquid less supportive of aquatic life than the Amazon. Trees, glorious flowers, songbirds and iguanas make the above-water scenery and sounds one of the most beautiful spots on the journey. Our Zodiacs cast mirror images of ourselves on the surface of the water, along with perfect reflections of the dense vegetation.
To enhance trips such as the one sponsored by the National Aquarium, advance reading on the destination is a great way to get familiar with the place. Tucked into a thick manual from the tour operator on topics like what to pack and what to tip was an extensive bibliography of books on the Amazon. Titles such as "The Enchanted Canopy" by Andrew Mitchell (Macmillan Publishing Co.), "Before the Bulldozer" by David Price (Seven Locks Press) and "Yanomamo: The Last Days of Eden" by Napoleon Chagnon (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich), were recommended.
Don't miss the opportunity to do a little homework before you get to the "classroom."
IF YOU GO . . .
Domestic tour operators can offer recommendations on trips similar to the Amazon Navigation tour. Brazil's national tourism board, Embratur, will send information. Write: Embratur, Rua Mariz e Barros, 13, 9 andar, Praca de Bandeira, 20000 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
The National Aquarium in Baltimore participates in several trips with other tour operators. The only trip on the books at this time is "Orcas and Totems," a seven-day trip to Vancouver, B.C., Canada featuring whale and bird-watches aboard the "Island Roamer."
For more information on this trip or others being sponsored by the National Aquarium, call (410) 727-3474.