Travel to Brazil / Amazon – The Amazon
Rainforest is one of
Brazil's most popular
travel & tour destinations.
For those travellers who have a lot of time (and money), allowing them to spend weeks on some of the boots on the Amazon river,
this
biome certainly will provide a unique travel experience.
For all the others, a tour in the
Atlantic Rainforest / (
Mata Atlântica) might be an interesting alternative.
The different aspects of this fascinating ecoregion can be dividet into:
area / location,
geology / geomorphology,
climate and soils,
ecosystems / vegetation and
biological diversity.
Area / Location
The Amazon rainforest occupies 5% of the worlds surface and 40% of
South America.
4,2 million square kilometers (61%) cover about half of Brazil in its north
region.
In the south it connects to the
Cerrado and
Pantanal biome.
Geology / Geomorphology
The
geology of the Amazon region is pretty diversified, involving both
phanerozoic sedimentary rocks
of the
Amazon Basin and igneous
precambrian rocks of the Amazon Craton.
Its relief is composed of ondulated plateaus with elevations up to 300 m (40% of the area) such as plains and depressions (60%).
Climate / Soils
The Amazon rainforest falls into the
tropical climate zone.
Its climate is hot and humid, with medium temperatures around 25°C and torrential rainfall during the whole year. The mayority of its soils (75%)
are characterized by high levels of acidity and low fertility. Less than 10% of the biome has fertile soils and a good drainage system.
Ecosystems / Vegetation
The
ecosystems of the Amazon Rainforest can be divided into aquatic ecosystems such as
várzeas and
igapós and terrestrial ecosystems such as
terra firme.
Its
flora and vegetation is composed of
pioneer formations, dense and open tropical rainforest, savannah, steppe - savannah and secondary vegetation.
Biodiversity / Fauna
The Amazon rainforest is considered the largest biodiversity reserve on Earth, sheltering more than half of all life species.
So far, in its fauna have been registeres about 1.400 fishes, 520 amphibians, 550 reptiles, 1.000 birds and over 300 mammals.
Travel & Tours / Ecotourism
The
national parks, like
Amazônia,
Araguaia,
Cabo Orange,
Jaú (
World Heritage Site),
Monte Roraima,
Pico da Neblina,
Serra da Cutia etc. are the most indicated places for your Amazon rainforest eco adventure tour.
