Excursions from Manaus in Brazil

This filigree of more than 350 brilliant-green islands in the jet-black Rio Negro - some fringed with white-sand beaches, others anchored only by their roots - is one of the area's must-see sights. The scene is particularly beautiful at the end of the day when the sky looks vast and warm and the light on the trunks of the partially submerged trees is a thick orange-yellow. Birds fly into the Anavilhanas to roost and millions of bats leave for their night hunt. The air is silent but for bird calls, the lapping of the river and the bluster of river dolphins surfacing for air. The islands are 80 km upstream of Manaus. Several companies arrange visits to the archipelago as can most of the Rio Negro lodges. Rio Negro safari cruises almost all visit the Anavilhanas.