Walking on the treetops in the middle of the amazon forest

From Jules verne's prodigious imagination emerged the novel the aerial village, in which an entire community lived in the treetops of the African savannah. If there was a real place to try to retake that idea, it could not be other than the Peruvian amazon. Not to live in the trees, but at least to walk among them and appreciate them from the heights.

To reach this destination, it is essential to pass through iquitos, the largest amazonian city in Peru, and also one of the most disparate in the world. This is no exaggeration. Despite having a population that borders on half a million inhabitants, it is the only Peruvian city without a road connection. The jungle and the huge rivers explain it. Well, at this point near the borders with Brazil and Colombia was transported with effort in 1890 the house of fierro, a prefabricated building in the workshop of gustave Eiffel, which still shines today next to the plaza DE armas, in a tropical atmosphere and surrounded by hundreds of motorcars that are the usual mode of transport in the city. An Odyssey similar to that of the film fitzcarraldo, by wermer herzog, in which the Homeric journey of a steamer to the amazon, up and down a mountain, to build an opera in the jungle is narrated. The tribute to this film is now a restaurant with art nouveau decoration and posters from the film, in which the famed Peruvian cuisine has a twist with its amazonian version, much more attached to the river fish (such as the paiche, a giant fish that can measure three meters and reach 250 kilos) and vegetables.

After visiting this extravagant city and tasting its gastronomy, it is time to head for the rudimentary pier. There the company explorama lodges offers transportation along the ocher river where, with a pinch of luck, the pink dolphins can be seen jumping. In many stretches the view is lost and the water continues, and it is impossible to know if we are in a river or a lake, so great is the amazon. Its course is crossed by flatbed cargo ships and also by small wooden fishing boats. The destination is ceiba tops lodge, a hotel that goes into the jungle 40 kilometers from iquitos, ona peninsula on the river where to sit on the porch at sunset to watch the sun set over the waters of the amazon. Or go fishing for piranhas accompanied by one of the local guides in a small wooden boat and, if you dare, taste them afterwards at dinner (tasty).

At night, it is essential the night walk to spot the local fauna. Without the sun's rays that betray them, the animals enter a period of maximum activity. Accompanied by a guide, it is easy to spot owls, stick insects, tarantulas, yellow frogs, electric eels that make fish jump in the ponds and alligators with wide eyes that shine when illuminated by the light beam of the guide's discreet lantern. And all in a jungle tour of a few hundred meters for an hour. In the light of day, you can walk to one of the specimens of ceiba inside the lodge property, a grandiose tree that was considered the source of life by the mayas and reminiscent of the movie avatar. Some of its branches are thicker than any of the old trees we know.

The ceiba tops is only the first stop on an excursion that leads upstream, first to the explorama lodge, a less comfortable lodge, and 80 kilometers into the jungle, and then to the explornapo lodge, the latter at the gateway to the sucusari reserve, in a virgin jungle, 160 kilometers from civilization.

This remote corner of Peru was visited in the 1960s by the American Peter jenson, who soon fell in love with the rain forests and their extraordinary biodiversity. What began as a basic facility for scientists from around the world who fended to this part of the Peruvian jungle became a conservation and educational project of the first order. In addition to the lodgings, the company founded by jenson began building a network of hanging Bridges in 1991 to study the jungle from where it had never been done: from the air, above the treetops. As if the visitors were imitating those inhabitants of the aerial village of verne. The project can be said to be finished, and includes one of the longest suspension Bridges in the world, with 500 meters, and 14 wooden platforms supported on tree trunks. And up to 78 meters high at its highest point.

Walking through the hanging Bridges over the amazon forest is a strange sensation at the points where you can't see the ground, as if you were floating over vegetable clouds, and impressive where you can. But safety is ensured with steel mesh that is regularly checked to avoid mishaps. Not only do biologists, ornithologists, entomologists come here... Who want to know on the ground the biodiversity of this rain forest, but it is also available for small groups of visitors. Access is included in the price for explorama guests, including the hike and explanatory talk by guides such as Sebastian rios, of the maijuna ethnic group, a 70-year-old man who moves through the jungle like a fish in the water and explains how to walk along its trails. Sebastian collaborated with jenson in the beginning, and today he feels a part of the future of his project. Jenson died in 2010, and a sign of his love for the Peruvian jungle was his last will: his ashes were scattered in it.