I'm planning my husband's "trip of a lifetime" to the "Amazon." But, the more I read, the more I think that 3/4 days at someplace like the Mamirua Reserve and 3/4 days in the Panatal would provide more authentic wildlife viewing.

And since we are planning to be in Brazil for at least 15 days I would like to add a lovely, low-key romantic seaside experience.

I would greatly appreciate your suggestions!

Slightly older, (53 and 56) but adventureous travelers.

We just got back from my husband's "trip of a lifetime to Rio and the Amazon. We did a three night/four day Amazon Clipper cruise (there actually ended up being 10 of us because everyone thought it sounded so great). I would NOT have given up those four days for ANYTHING. It was relaxing, exciting, and loads of fun. With 15 days you should have time to fit that in and I would highly recommend it. Also, the one thing that we didn't have time to do was to visit Iguassu Falls - I hope you are planning some time for that. Saw pictures that a cousin recently took and they were fabulous. BY the way, we are 49 and 58 and definitely adventurous. Next month we go cage diving with great white sharks in Africa! Another "trip of a lifetime"!

How did you arrange the Amazon Clipper cruise. We are going to Brazil for Christmas and would like to do the cruise.

We areeanged it through the travel agent in Miami who booked our whole trip. We dealt with Edson Alessi at Fredson Travel. He is from Rio and specializes in travel to Brazil. I have to say he was wonderful and got us a great deal on the whole package. If you want to contact him, you can e-mail him at [email protected]. Tell him Jenni Casale referred you ! He'll remember our group of 10! Apparently you can't book directly with them, but pretty much any on-line travel agent who books Brazil can book with them. I found packages for the cruises on several other sites that I explored, I just found Edson to be the most responsive and he had the best prices for the exact same package. Have a wonderful trip! Brazil is fabulous!

Both the Mamiraua Reserve and the Pantanal are world class destinations that are hard to beat. The Mamiraua is in the middle of "the Amazon" and is a model for sustainable ecotourism. If you'd enjoy a "real" jungle experience the Mamiraua is for you. Lots of monkeys, including the infamous Uakari (red-faced)which is difficult to find anywhere else. They'll disuade from swimming in the river though - lots of caiman, posinous snakes and piranha. The Pantanal is a wildlife photographers dream: tons of caiman, capybara, macaws (including the rare blue hycinith....sp.?), giant anteaters, jaguars (both difficult to spot), tons of exotic birds...I'd do both - can't lose. BTW jcasale: this past June/July I was in South Africa for two months - including six(!) cage dives with the Great Whites. Go out of Gaansbai (you can arrange trips from CapeTown with the seven operators)to Dyer Island area. Can be rough swells, and the water is cold - but worth it. Best time is from June-Sept. Good luck, enjoy.

Six cage dives! Wow. We are going out of Gaansbai with White Shark Ecoventures on June 19th (I am praying the weather will be good for us since we don't have any wiggle room). Really looking forward to it! Sounds like the Pantanal is a place to put on our return itinerary to Brazil. I want to get to Iguassu Falls next time.