Phenomal day in Amazons - I had a whole day with Fabio (and with Milton) and it was such an incredible experience. We had a beautiful hike in the rainforests, a delicious lunch, then swimmed... read more with pink dolphins, went piraña fishing, had a poetic sunset on an island in the middle of Amazons, saw some allegators, in the dark and finished the day with a boat ride under the moon. Can’t believe we did all in one day. Fabio, our local guide, was fantastic! He gave us so many interesting information about the habitat — he was so kind and thoughtful. He even gave me his phone when my battery died. Milton also managed everything so well although I had to change my schedule last week. Beautiful people and such a unique experience — I cannot recommend them enough!

  We had an amazing time in the Amazon jungle, seeing alligators, fishing piranhas, swimming with pink dolphins and enjoying exceptional views of Amazon river. Totally impressed by the exotics and... read more indigenous tribe dance and customs.

  Exceptional  - The best experience I had from a month in Brazil. Authentic, real, and amazing. I’d recommend to anyone who wants to see a lot in a little time.

  This day was INCREDIBLE!!!! I highly highly highly recommend it. We started with hotel pickup by Milton who is a great guy. He picked us up in a small car... read more that had two other travelers from the group in it. We were squeezed in, but it was comfortable. The ride to where we start the journey was about a one hour ride. Make sure to use the bathroom before you leave. On the way there, Milton stopped to buy the water that we would use on the trip. Everyone got one tall bottle of water the big one, I believe it was a 1.5L bottle. Make sure to bring a backpack with you that is large enough to hold the big bottle, because everyone fends for themself on the hike. You will have to hold your own bottle if it doesn't fit in your bag. The ride was so great because we went over the beautiful Rio Negro bridge and drove through some neighborhoods which allowed for another perspective of Brazil.

We got to a little 'town' where the small motorized boats are and met Fabio our GREAT guide. I cannot speak highly enough about Fabio, he is so great! The call him the 'mini guide' because he is a short man. He is very knowledgeable and speaks English and Portuguese. Fabio took us by boat to the start of our two hour hike. We got lucky because it did not rain. Bring a poncho!!!!

During the hike we saw many things that you can expect of the Amazon including a HUGE and I mean HUUUUUUUUGE tarantula!!!!!! Don't worry you will be fine. I have a huge fear of spiders that I made Fabio aware of, he actually saw the tarantula on the trail and before he mentioned it, he made sure to get it to walk away from the path and close to his hole, once the tarantula was at a good distance, he told us to look. I thought the way he handled that was so great!!!!! We then got to take all types of pics of it. Fabio did whatever he does to get it to crawl around a bit for us (at a distance).

During the hike we also passed the place where we would have lunch, and at that time we were given the option to drop off any bags that we don't want to carry, because we would be returning to that area in about an hour.

Lunch - Fabio carried with him all the items that he needed to make the lunch himself. He had us all gather wood to make a fire to cook the food. We actually watched him make the fire with his bare hands. So cool to watch. Very safe!!!! We had chicken and rice, and THE BEST pineapple I've ever had, for dessert. The coolest thing about lunch is that during the hike Fabio actually got wood from the trees and carved out a spoon for each of us. This is what we used to eat with. He also grabbed some huge leaves and gave us each one. This was for us to eat out of. Fabio actually made bowls out of the large leaf. It was incredible to watch him make these things and to actually use them to eat. I kept my spoon!

If you are a germaphobe, make sure to bring your own sanitizer, spoon and bowl, because nothing was professionally cleaned. This is a very grassroots experience. Any washing of hands or utensils will be done in the nearby stream. Prepare yourself! I absolutely loved the experience!!!!

After lunch, we walked back to the boat and made our way to the pink dolphins. Another great experience. You walk into the water and onto a platform that you cannot see, but it is under the water for sure. You stand on that and the dolphins pretty much swim to you and around you. The platform is not visible AT ALL. It extends out a decent amount for multiple people to be out at the same time, but at a certain point it ends and you will not have anything under you, so you will have to swim. They make you wear a life vest type thing that is not a vest, but more of a safe floatie thing that wraps around your waist.

Nothing under that water is visible AT ALL. Be warned that you might freak out at first because most times you cannot see the dolphins until they are actually on you, and by on you I mean, you will feel their slippery tail or body slide against yours, and it does catch you off guard. Everything is safe, but I only give this as a warning for you to prepare yourself for. You can touch the dolphins, but make sure not to touch them on the top of their head where the blow hole is. The guides will tell you this. The dolphins also have a very strong body so when they do any jumping up (to grab the fish) there body will sometimes push you as they land back in the water and swim away. Be prepared! I hope I'm not making this sound scary. It is such a safe and amazing experience. My other recommendation for germaphobes is to put on water shoes because the platform that you stand on is very slimy feeling, again, you cannot see under the water so I can only imagine what we were standing on. It truly is a Black River (Rio Negro).

After the dolphins, we boated to the area where we did the piranha fishing. This personally was the most boring part of the trip, but only because I find fishing boring. It was however very cool to see the guys actually catching some piranha. One of our guys was able to catch about six. All of the fish were pretty small and all returned safely to the water. Fabio would have kept any large ones for dinner, but we only caught small ones. I fished for a few minutes and then took the rest of the time to just enjoy watching everyone else fish and relax. You should know that you stay in the boat, floating on the water the entire time. Don't expect to be able to walk around and explore. The fishing lasted about 30-45 minutes. Make sure to pee before you leave the dolphin area!!!!!!!! Once you leave that area you will be on the water for over two hours. You might not believe this, but I had to go so bad, that I asked the guys not to look, and I stuck my butt off the boat and peed in the water! Listen!..... I had to go bad!!!!! And that was also an experience I'll never forget either. LOL

We watched the sunset from the boat while fishing, then we continued our journey by boat and started the night alligator search. This was very cool. It is so dark out there and Fabio has a headlight that he turns on so that we can see all of the glowing eyes on the water! The amber/orange eyes are the gators and the green eyes are SPIDERS!!!! This part of the tour was very very cool. We got to a point where Fabio actually pulled a small gator out of the water and we all took turns safely holding it and getting pictures with it. This was the last activity of this tour.

We then boated back to our starting point, where there was a big van with someone ready to drive us all back to our hotels. The journey back to the hotel is at least an hour depending on when you get dropped off. Fabio gets dropped off first because he lives very close to where we were, We luckily were the first to get dropped off at a hotel,

The entire trip with drive to and from was roughly over 12 hours. Milton picked us up at the hotel at 830am and we got back to the hotel at about 930pm.

I highly highly highly recommend you do this tour. Bring snacks and extra water. You can purchase snacks at the dolphin facility. Be prepared to pee in the jungle if needed, because the only bathroom you'll find is at the dolphin facility. Bring a poncho, hat, and some Reais to give Fabio a tip, he deserves it!!!!

Hope this review helps! 🙂

THANK YOU FABIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU MILTON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xoxo~ Mariela

  My friend and I had priceless moments on tours with
Milton and his team. Going to see Tatuyos tribe, the
floating village, the meeting of the waters + spending a... read more /> day in the jungle and visiting waterfalls and caves was an
incredible experience, Milton definitely made our trip. He's
friendly, communicative, his history knowledge and great
English made everything even better. It's hard to find
words to define it and also the food.oh my goodness
me. If visiting the rain forest is on your bucket list, l'd
highly suggest adding Milton's contact on it (Amazon
private tour), he's the best. For you to have no doubts,
I've added some photos of our unforgettable experience.
Over a thousand photos were taken!!!

  After 2 weeks on a Viking Ocean cruise up the Amazon where almost nothing went well or as scheduled what a pleasure this full day tour was on our final... read more day in Manaus with Amazon Private Tours by Milton.
All details arranging the tour via email were always promptly handled and our pickup could not have been better. We had arranged to be picked up at the port and then dropped off at the end of our tour at the hotel. Like most things on the Viking Cruise, all the disembarkation info we were provided was incorrect but one quick call via WhatsApp and we were immediately contacted by our tour driver who made schedule adjustments to accommodate us.
A quick tour thru the town and our driver, Thales, dropped us off at the marina where we boarded our boat with our guide for the day, Luce. The tour progressed exactly as advertised heading first to swim with the pink river dolphins where our guide literally took a hundred pictures of us in the water. Next stop was the indigenous Desana village followed by a return trip back down the Rio Negro for a delicious lunch at a floating restaurant by January Park featuring local specialties. We walked the boardwalk from the restaurant into the park to view the Amazon's giant lilly pads and even spotted a caiman.
Next stop was the floating village and a visit to a piracu fish farm to "fish" for these monsters - lots of fun. We headed out to view the Meeting of the Waters before quick riverfront tour of Manaus' harbor and return to the marina. Our tour guide was pleasant, informative and provided an amazing experience!
Our driver, Thales, was once again waiting to pick us up and transport us to the hotel while providing local information and restaurant recommendations. With all the confusion over our departure from the cruise ship earlier in the day he even offered to return us back & forth to the port if there was any issue with our luggage - fortunately it had been delivered by the cruise line as promised.
With only a very short time in Manaus this full day tour hit all the highlights and was a perfect ending to our Amazon excursion.

  This tour was absolutely MAGIC, worth TEN STARS!!!!! Fabinho is the best guide you could wish for, so kind, friendly, and super knowledgeable. It's clear he loves what he does... read more and excels at it. Swimming with the pink dolphins, piranha fishing, and the amazing hike through the rainforest created a truly unforgettable experience.
Similarly, the next day, we visited an indigenous tribe along the banks of the Rio Negro and had lunch at a floating home on the river. It was precious and our guide for that day, Thales. was absolutely wonderful as well.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS TOUR!

  No words to express our happiness!! The best tours in Amazon. They have everything to tour in Manaus. From Jungle tours to water falls tours. Every activity is given highest... read more prority. If they say something in the description of activities, you will see that in live. No compromises at all. I would like to thank Milton the coordinator and our Amazing guides Daniel, Rambo, Fabio and Daniel M.

  The boat trip to the flooded forest was absolutely amazing! Milton drove us to meet the guide providing a great conversation and a lot of interesting facts about Amazon &... read more Brazil.
Our guide Fabio was amazing in navigating the forest & spotting wildlife. We spotted 2 sloths, plenty of monkeys, a cayman, and a tarantula. The night in the forest was just magical and impossible to describe! One just needs to feel it themselves.
We were very happy to discover that "swimming with dolphins" experience was involving only dolphins living freely in the river as we try to avoid places holding encaptivated animals for tourists' amusement.
The group was small (3-5ppl) and the whole experience was very authentic. The opposite of "a tourist trap".