Hi!
I will spend 5 days in Manaus. I thought about going one day to Adolpho Ducke by taxi, other day rent a car a go to President Figuerido area and sleep there one night, and the two last nights in a (cheap) jungle lodge.
Any suggestions or ideas? Note I don't have money enough to go to the expensive lodges ..
PD: I couldnt continue the manaus thread, sorry
many thanks,
To walk the trails at the Reserva Adolpho Ducke you need to obtain authorization and be accompanied by someone from INPA. If you mean the excellent canopy tower at the Manaus Botanical Gardens (the forest here is adjacent to the Ducke reserve), then authorization is not required, but you will need to contact an agency or guide who can arrange for you to enter prior the reserve's official opening hours (8 AM). There is a R$50 fee to visit the tower outside the normal opening hours.
At Presidente Figueiredo a good option is the Aldeia Marí Marí Lodge, which has an easily accessible Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock lek, White-winged Potoo near the lodge, in addition to a good selection of white sand specialties and Guianan Shield endemics on their somewhat limited trail system.
A cheaper option is the Iracema Falls Hotel, which is surrounded by productive secondary forest with an excellent range of Guianan Shield birds. Crimson Topaz can be reliably found near the reception building.
Given just 5 days, my suggestion would be to split your time between Manaus / Presidente Figueiredo and Novo Airão for the Anavilhanas archipelago. I wouldn't bother with most of the jungle lodges near Manaus, as they don't usually have much interest in offering flexible programs for birders. Typically you will watch the sunrise, maybe swim with river dolphins, visit an indigenous community, and possibly see a few monkeys or sloths. One exception might be Hotel Tupana (*not* to be confused with the Amazon Tupana Lodge -- a very common mistake; PM me if you'd like contact information for Tupana), which has several excellent trails in nice forest south of the Amazon river... very good for antbirds and a number of recently described species including Predicted Antwren, Inambari Gnatcatcher, Inambari Woodcreeper and others. Tupana is not cheap though, so perhaps this won't fit your budget.
