Amazon Highlights: Peru · Ecuador · Colombia · Brazil (Bradt Highlights)

One-stop-shopping travel guide

The Amazon -- a region of mythic proportions, and of a mythic number of travel choices. Plenty of travel guides compare and contrast this or that hotel, lodge or restaurant in the various countries encompassed by the Amazon rainforest, and traversed by the world's biggest river. But when it comes to researching a trip that is right for you, an online search spills forth thousands of results. Online reviews only go so far. It is sometimes hard to tell if a review has been posted by the tour operator or lodge owner. That's where Amazon Highlights comes in. This book caters to the first-time Amazon traveler by narrowing down the choices.

Based on more than 20 years of travel to the region, leading natural history and photography tours, author Roger Harris shares his experience to explain to the reader exactly what to look for in a tour operator. A step-by-step checklist allows the reader to easily see "red flags" to steer them away from the "cowboys" and toward reputable, reliable tour operators. The book highlights the most reputable and eco-conscious "tried and trusted" tour operators and lodges, as well as the best travel opportunities the Amazon has to offer. The book includes several sponsored sections featuring carefully selected tour operators renowned for their reputation and expertise, thus providing the reader an "insider" perspective of the region's travel opportunities.

The book is lavishly illustrated with gorgeous photos, maps and even diagrams such as one that shows the variation in annual river level, and thus the best time to travel there. The author is a qualified biologist so the detailed natural history information is scientifically accurate. Comprising almost a third of the book, this section focuses on the animals and plants a first-time visitor is likely to see, rather than just the glamorous animals that are the sole interest of most travel guides or magazines. Other invaluable information includes health and safety, shopping tips, viewing wildlife and photography, and so much more. The book really does provide one-stop-shopping for a first-time traveller to the region.