TRAVEL

The wild side

Amazon jungle is made for adventure

A FEW years ago [I was
travelling in Scandanavia
with a group of othe: travel
writers.

One of the group was a very
quiet middle-aged guy from
California. The singular thing
about him was his utter delight in
travel.

Everything we saw or did prac.
tically made him jump for joy.
Truthfully, travel writers rarely
show that much enthusiasm!

Another odd thing was that he
carried with him quite a bit of his
published work. For most of us,
carrying any of our articles would
be purely excess baggage — imag-
ine me hiking across Europe with
the last four issues of the News in
hand.

Eventually he explained that he
was very new to the writing field
— he was an engineer and if I
remember correctly he had owned
a company that installed water
systems. Quite a change of career.

He asked me to read some of
his articles and 1 did. They were
great! His style was simple, fac-
tual and he had great attention to
detail.

He specializes in what he calls
“*Adventure Travel For the Mildly
Adventuresome’’ and with his
wife, Saima, regularly contributes
to a small California publication,
International Travel News.

His journeys are a fot different
than mine and he often sends me
copies of recent articles with the
encouragement, ‘‘Scalp anything
you like, Barb."’

I received a package from
Wayne this week and one of the
ariicles caught my attention for
several reasons. Wayne and Saima
had spent a couple of weeks in the
Amazon jungle, Peru end.

First, the U.S. government has
recently published warnings to
travellers to Peru, especially for
those heading for the areas Wayne
describes. My curiosity aroused, !
phoned Waynes and he gave me
three phone numbers to call for
information on current problems:

— U.S. State Department Advi-
sory Desk, 202-647-5225 (Wayne
says they are inclined to be over-
cautious);

— South American Explorers’
Club, (this is an 800 number that
can’t be dialed from Canada, but
if you're going as far as Peru, a
trip to Blaine shouldn’t bother
you) 800-247-0568. Their informa-
tion is inclined to be ‘tmiddle of
the road;’’

— Maggie Henry of Sobek
Tours — 800-777-7939 (a Peru-
vian, very enthusiastic). Also

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Anyway, the article details a
fascinating visit to the Amazon.
They based their stay at the Ex-
plorama facilities which have been
in operation for 25 years, catering
to university research groups as
well as tourists.

The cost of a seven-day Ama-
zon package including airfare
fron Lima to Iquitos was $895
U.S. and was an add-on to the
Andean Odyssey package from
Sobek Expeditions (P.O. Box 1089
Angels Camp, CA 95222, Tel:
209-736-4524)

Wayne warns that most of the
accommodation is very basic —
no electricity, latrines and cold
showers — as you go deeper into
the jungle and stay at the Ex-
plorama Lodge and Camp.

The newest facility, the Ex-
plorama Inn, is much more mod-
ern with individual cottages,
private baths, hot water, electrici-
ity and even a bar. That's your
first stop.

Judging from the article, you
will enjoy the primitive facilities
the most because of the setting.
The wildlife has become semi-
tame — a tapir (pig-like animal)
called Nellie who pinches bananas
and peeks in doorways, a two-foot
long capybara, orphaned and
hand-raised by the staff and hosts
of noisy parrots.

The furthest part of the tour, to
Explornapo Camp, is even more

‘Shangri-La,

primitive — open sided dormito-
ries. Travel between the three
camps is by riverboat.

Wayne rates the lodgings as
very clean, the food pretty good
and the guides and staff ‘top
notch.””

The worst of it was the cold
showers. They had expected plenty
of bugs and mosquitoes but found
Yew — “They had probably made
their annual migration to Min-
nesota.”’

Wayne has rounded up a lot of
information on the area — stuff
that is unavailable to the average
tourist — and he’s willing to share
for free.

All you need to do is send a
self-addressed, (U.S.A. 45¢)
stamped envelope to:

Wayne Wirtanen,
Placerville,

4341

CA,
95667.

If you haven't access to U.S.
stamps, include a dollar in the
envelope — Wayne can't absorb
the cost of postage.

He also told me that Interna-
tional Travel News sends com-
plimentary copies of the magazine
and he'll see that you get one if
you let him know.

In forthcoming issues there will
be a series of articles by Wayne
and Saima on their recent visit in-
to the wilds of New Guinea. They
found this trip to be ‘‘so exciting
that we hesitate to plan another
trip to anywhere else — nothing
could top this!’’

Before they left on that excur-
sion they called the State Depart-
ment (number previously men-
tioned) and were warned that the
destination was extremely danger-
ous.

They found that the only
danger was on one small island
and the tour companies avoided it
like the plague. Otherwide it was
completely safe.

Wayne warns anyone planning
“mildly adventurous’’ travel to
heed any medical warnings for the
area. Take any shots that are ad-
vised and never go without malar-
ia medication, taken exactly as
directed.

As for myself, VN let other
writers head for the jungles — my
idea of ‘‘roughing it’? is when
room service quits.

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