Trip to Americas : Piranha Fishing and Amazon River Tour

*This entry is written by Azman – Trip to Americas – Part III

That weekend, one of our HQ members booked an Amazon river trip. As a Malaysian, I didn’t expect much because Brazil has almost the same tropical weather as Malaysia. The only thing that I want to see is the meeting of 2 rivers. I guess it must be very unique because most websites only highlight the meeting of 2 rivers every time they mention Manaus.

For this Amazon river trip, we rented a boat for 1 day trip. It costs us R$600 per boat and an extra R$25 per person for lunch. There are 6 of us, so, total cost is about R$125 per person (about RM170 per person). It is quite expensive. But considering everything is expensive in Manaus, the price is acceptable.

We need to board at Ceasa port from 9am. So, we gathered at hotel lobby from 8.30am, then take a taxi to the port that situated just about 10km from our hotel. The taxi cost us R$50 for that short trip. Crazy!!

( Ceasa Port from Amazon river )

Once we arrived at the port, I am quite amazed with how big Amazon river really are. Yes, it is huge! You can see a lot of cargo ships along the river. And at the port, there are fish market and you cannot find any small fish in here. Even ikan bandaraya were huge!! I never knew that someone actually eat this ikan bandaraya and they said that their eggs were very tasty! At the market, they will cut the fish half way through its body so that we eggs were visible. But I still think that ikan bandaraya is gross…

( Ikan Bandaraya?? )

( I have eaten this fish and it has the best taste – Tambaqui / Pacu  Fish )

( Peacock Bass )

From the port, the boat moves to the middle of Amazon river and we can see floating gas station that is also unique in this area. Later…we started to see the miracles of nature – Meeting of two rivers!

( Floating Gas Station )

Meeting of two rivers is actually a confluence between the Rio Negro, a river with dark (almost black like coffee) water, and the brown sandy-colored Rio Solimões in the middle of Amazon river. For 6 km (3.7 mi) the river’s waters run side by side without mixing. This phenomenon is due to the differences in temperature, speed and water density of the two rivers. The Rio Negro flows at near 2 km per hour at a temperature of 28°C, while the Rio Solimões flows between 4 to 6 km per hour a temperature of 22°C.

( Meeting of Two Rivers – Rio Negro and Rio Solimoes )

( Me at the  Meeting of Two Rivers )

Then, we moved again to our next destination that is the floating market. At this floating market, we need to pay R$5 to enter Arapaima pond for fishing. Fishing Arapaima or Pirarucu is a great experience although it is not really “fishing”, we just bundle a small fish to a rope as bait and throw it  into the pond to feel the strength of biggest freshwater fish. We didn’t pull the arapaima out of the water.

( Fishing Arapaima or Pirarucu )

( Biggest Freshwater Fish – Arapaima or Pirarucu )

While having fun fishing, suddenly, it raining heavily. Immediately, all electric power shutdown. The guide told us that during raining season, it is normal done for safety purpose.

( Rio Solimoes wonderful view )

( Floating Market in Amazon River )

( Souvenir at Floating Market )

After the rain stopped, it was already time for lunch. We took our lunch at floating restaurant – Restaurante Valdecy – situated about 10 minutes by boat. They served buffet-style lunch in this restaurant and almost all of them were delicious.

( Buffet Lunch at Retaurant Valdecy )

( My lunch – Pirarucu fish, Surubim and vegetables )

After lunch, we continued our journey along the bank of Rio Negro and Rio Solimones to see the beauty of nature. Since we came during raining season, we were lucky enough to see flooding forest from the rise of Amazon river. The river could rise by more than 20m and really amazed us when we started to think that the river is actually part of Amazon jungle during dry season.

( Flooding Amazon forest )

( Go inside flooding Amazon forest )

( Me and Sloth )

While we were enjoying our boat ride, suddenly the guide stopped the boat and move in front with bamboo fishing rod. He said that he would like to check the water for piranhas for fishing. What??? Piranha fishing?? We gonna catch a piranha?? I never expected or dreamed about fishing piranha in my lifetime especially in their wild nature. Even before this trip, nobody told us about piranha fishing. This was totally awesome!

This is how to catch a piranha;

Piranha eats almost everything especially bloody meat. So, normally, meat is used as bait. First, you must shake fishing rod in the water to alert the piranha, then throw the bait. When you feel the piranha is picking at the bait so rapidly, pull up as quick as possible. It sounds easy but actually it is not that easy. You need combination of good timing to pull up the bait and also a bit of luck.

( Fishing Piranha at Amazon river )

( Bait to catch Piranha )

( Local kids playing in the river, they don’t seemed bothered with the piranhas )

While fishing, I noticed that the natives was just playing in the river not so far from our fishing spot without worry. It doesn’t seem that the ferocious piranha scares them at all.

We spend about 1 and half hour fishing piranha. I managed to catch 4 small piranhas – The highest catch! oh yeah!! While my boss, Mr Tomonaga catches the biggest fish. Sadly, we have 2 members going back empty handed.

( My first Piranha – very small )

( Today’s catch )

After fishing piranha, we got another surprise from our guide. We were going back to the restaurant and asked them to cook the piranha for our tea break! Woohoo… I was extremely surprised when told about pirahna fishing and now double surprised to hear that we were going to eat the piranhas! I wanna say something to Diyana that I know she would say to me – KO MAMPU? haha

While waiting for our first piranha meal, the guide brought us to see the unique and beautiful Vitoria Regina plant. It is a very exquisite  plant that are available only in Amazonia area

( Vitoria Regia and crocodile )

( Vitoria Regia flower )

( Vitoria Regia young leaf )

 When we went back to the restaurant, our Piranha McValue Meal was already waiting for us.

You know how it taste?? A small one taste good, just like tilapia. However, the big piranha is tasteless and chewy. It must have eaten to many crocodiles in its lifetime.

( Pirahna can be eaten? Yes.. Piranha Special Meal )

( Ferocious Piranha on plate )

After we got a taste of piranha, it is time to go back. We arrived back to the port at around 4pm.  Overall, this was a very amazing trip. I never expected the Amazon river tour could be this good. Maybe because I didn’t set any expectation. I wished I will experience all of this again with my family one day.

( Going back…. )

Next… I will share my experience at Manaus Sunday market and the black waterfall!