There are many families who debate whether they should go to a traditional destination with lots of facilities and services for children or go to a natural destination with limited resources. Many travelers decide on a traditional destination — but they’re making a mistake. The Amazon Rainforest is one of those natural places where the entire family will be blown away. Here are 10 reasons why the Amazon is the best place for families with kids.
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Families can experience the Amazon in their own way.
The Amazon is well-known for its biodiversity. In fact, it represents 10% of world’s biodiversity in 2.5 million square miles shared by eight countries (Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname), and there are still unvisited and unknown areas. Travelers have many ways to experience this deep rainforest, either aboard a riverboat or staying in a lodge, most of them in the Amazon Basin. Both options are ideal for kids. One of the best family river cruises in the Peruvian Amazon Basin is the M/V Cattleya Journey, which accommodates a maximum of 10 passengers.
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The Amazon is a magical world.
Children are easy to dazzle with simple things, and the magic of the Amazon definitely delivers. A lot of unknown sounds, colors, scents and textures of the Amazon take travelers by surprise. In fact, according to the WWF Global, the Amazon Biome “is a region of superlatives.”
Kids will be impressed by the types of animals in the rainforest.
An amazing 30% of the world’s species live in the Amazon Rainforest. There are more than 400 mammal species, 1,300 birds, 400 reptiles and 1000 amphibians, just to mention a few. In fact, in just a hectare, you can find more than 500 species of trees.
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The Amazon is a massive biology lab.
Here, kids not only can understand mother nature, but also interact with many rare or uncommon species: toucans, hoatzin, boas, butterflies, jaguars, poisoned frogs, caimans and rare piranhas and pink dolphins. Every blink of the eye is an opportunity for children to discover something new and probably previously studied but never seen.
Every day is an adventure.
Being surrounded by a deep forest or navigating the longest river in the world is an adventure by itself. But the sounds and the colors are completely new for visitors. Every experience in the Amazon is a mixture of calm and adrenaline that captures kids’ attention and keeps them interested. Just imagine taking relaxed boat rides and then watching a pink dolphin swimming next to you, or walking into a forest and spotting an emerald boa constrictor resting in a tree.
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But the real adventure is at night.
At night, many species are awake and ready to hunt, while travelers are trying to adapt their sight and senses to the dark and their ear to the different sounds of the forest. In a night excursion, kids normally experience a mixture of adrenaline, astonishment and a bit of fear — it keeps them awake and alert.
It will widen children’s perspective.
Traveling is the best way to widen your horizon and your mind, and why not let the your kids experience this during childhood?An Amazon trip is also an excellent way for a family to get to know each other in the deepest way, face their fears and find their passions. The rainforest is ideal for awakening the imagination of children, as well as their interest in the natural world.
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Kids will have the opportunity to meet and play with indigenous kids.
One of the highlights of an Amazon family trip is being in contact with local indigenous tribes. These communities still live in a traditional way. According to www.survivalinternational.org, the Amazon Rainforest is the “the ancestral home of 1 million indigenous” divided into at least 400 tribes, “each one with its own language, culture and territory.” So there are plenty of opportunities for traveler’s kids to interact with other children and see both the differences and similarities between them.
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It’s the best way to learn.
The Amazon is a big biology and social lab where kids have the opportunity to learn while they’re enjoying and living an adventure. The Amazon not only makes possible to see, hear and even touch some animals, trees or people that normally are studied at school, it also creates a deeper understanding of the world. Local guides in the Amazon, either aboard a river cruise or in a lodge, are more than happy to share their knowledge, experiences and adventures, as well as the peculiarities and biodiversity of the rainforest. These specialist guides also help children feel involved and make them a significant part of the trip, by giving advice on what to do and what not to do, where to go and how to behave in a specific context in the rainforest.
Stories of an Amazon trip will be told for months or even years.
Children definitely experience the Amazon in their own way, with tons of innocence, amazement and curiosity.
For more on Latin Trails, visit Latintrails.com, email travel@latintrails.com or call 800-747-0567.