Six miles outside Manaus, the largest city of Amazonia, in the north-west corner of Brazil formed by the vast country’s borders with Colombia and Venezuela, only there you’ll find The Meeting Of The Waters; one of the natural wonders of Brazil. Admittedly, Brazil is not a country lacking in things both natural and wonderful, but the Meeting Of The Waters is one of the most unmissable.
This is the point where two tributaries of the River Amazon, each of distinctly different hue. One, the Rio Solimoes, is a light sandy color. Its rival the Rio Negro may not be as black as its name suggests, it’s the darker of the pair, because of the leaves and dead foliage it picks up on its route down from Andes.
The two rivers visibly refusing to mix, the Rio Negro holding its ground as a dusky tide. The common stubbornness of the two rivers not only force them to bounce off each other when initially introduced, they keep up their mutual cold-shoulder routine for six whole miles. There is, of course, a perfectly good scientific reason for this. The Negro is colder, heavier and slower-moving than its neighbour –and it takes this surprising distance for the swirling currents to merge the flows fully.
The meeting of the waters is part of this ecological treasure; it is evidence of the great force at work in this lush jungle habitat. From top to bottom, from beginning to end, the Amazong, from its humber beginnings high in the Andes, to where it widens to its greatest extent in the basin of the rain forest, dense with foliage.
If your mental image of Amazonia is a breathtaking wilderness of greens and browns. Then consider that the experience of flying into Manaus is mildly dispiriting; the appearance of this colossal city under the plan’s wing will come as something of a shock. so developed is Manaus that it even has its own opera house. It is a clear sign that here is a modern metropolis in the heart of what is meant to be an area of virgin beauty.
That said, if you want to spend three or four days in the Amazon, but don’t want to spend twice that time getting there by boat, Manaus is an inevitable part of the process. And like most Brazilian cities, it has an undeniable rump-shaking, rhythmic appeal, despite its incongruous relation to its surroundings.
Source: Brazil Tourism
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