Tefé in the Amazon, Brazil

Tefé is a scruffy town roughly halfway between Manaus and the Colombian border. The local airport authorities confiscated all of the city's rubbish lorries in a dispute over the municipal dump, and now it is piled up willy-nilly. But few come here for the town itself, for this is the access point to one of the world's most important primate and waterfowl reserves, the

 www.mamiraua.org.br

. This is a

, www.ramsar.org, site set up with British support to protect huge areas of terra firme, gallery,

and

forest at the confluence of the Solimões and Japurá rivers, and to manage them sustainably with the local riverine people. There are abundant birds including numerous rare trogons, cotingas, currasows, hoatzin, harpy eagle and five species of macaw. There are black caiman (one of which lives under the floating lodge), both species of Amazon dolphin, and numerous rare primates - the most spectacular of which are the endemic black-headed squirrel monkey and the endangered white uakari, known locally as the 'macaco Ingles' because of its red complexion and its genitalia. A visit is unforgettable.

The reserve has a small floating lodge, the

on the Mamirauá river and visitors stay here in simple but elegant wooden rooms. Trips include walks in terra firme forest, boat and canoe trips to

creeks,

and

forest and the vast Mamirauá lake. Visits must be booked in advance.