The fauna of the River Amazon

The River Amazon is a busy thoroughfare these days, its banks scattered with "low-slung, unlovely towns". But a little way up many of its myriad tributaries, and out among the "seasonal lakes and floating meadows" of its floodplains, a world resembling "the lost Amazonia of legend" survives unspoiled, says Chris Moss in Condé Nast Traveller. You can explore these "enchanted labyrinths" of "creepers, vines and sunken branches" by foot or by canoe. Seething with life yet utterly unsuited to human habitation, they contain a host of "classic Amazonian fauna". There you will succumb to the spell of the forest, among landscapes "that seem to belong in childhood dreams".

Just north of the "sprawling" city of Manaus, up the Rio Negro – one of the Amazon's major tributaries – is the "Edenic" Anavilhanas Jungle Lodge. The Anavilhanas is the largest freshwater island archipelago in the world and, together with parts of the surrounding forest, they form a World Heritage Site. The lodge "offers all the comfort of a hotel" and is an ideal base from which to investigate the network of narrow channels – known as igarapes – between the islands. By day, you'll see sloths, parrots and macaws; by night – with the aid of a searchlight – caimans and, perhaps, snakes.

Hundreds of kilometres to the west lies the "pristine" Mamirauá reserve, the largest flood plain on the planet. Many species not found further down river live here, and it is the exclusive home of the Uakari monkey (below), in whose honour the reserve's sole lodge – the Pousada Uakari – is named. The landscape – "or waterscape" – of the reserve is "captivating", with "millions of trees disappearing into deep, shadowy water", and there is "always something new to see" – monkeys, tree rats, lizards and dozens of colourful birds.

Last Frontiers (01296 653 000) can arrange a two-week itinerary similar to the author's, from £1,706 per person, excl. international flights. ·