The Amazon Rainforest is not a place to visit but a place full of life, a miracle and a marvel of sculpture performed over millions of years. Covering a total area of more than 5.5 million square kilometers, this remarkable ecosystem is the largest of all the tropical rainforests on the planet, and with its secrets of life, healing and eternal beauty.
Being in the Amazon and discovering that there is nothing that could compare to its exceptional beauty is to venture into the core of the nature and its imagination where the impossible is the natural one and each leaf, animal and sound has already its own story to tell.
The Vastness Beyond Imagination
It is difficult to imagine the size of the Amazon Rainforest. This ranges across nine countries, the greatest proportion being in Brazil, at the base of the Andean slope to Atlantic Ocean.
It appears like a never-ending green carpet on top but on ground it shows:
• Fast grown coniferous woodland, so impenetrable that it is inaccessible to sunshine.
Wide rivers like oceans full of life
• Big floodplains with teeming amphibians and reptiles
• Magnificent trees, which are 50 meters tall
Its size forms part of its beauty- the wilderness, unscathed in time, where nature dominates.
A Symphony of Life
The Amazon is the most biodiverse place on earth where there are:
More than 16000 species of trees
Over 400 varieties of mammals
More than 1,300 species of birds
Millions of insects, amphibians and fish
Where do you get to:
• Listen to the cry of monkeys on the treetop?
See the sky painted color by macaws?
• Want to see a sloth that is hanging in a branch lazily?
See a glimpse of a seldom spotted jaguar stealthily moving through the bushes?
All sounds and actions contribute to a living symphony, it is a song of nature.
Rivers That Breathe
The Amazon River and all its thousands of tributaries are rain forest lifelines. It is the most voluminous river system in the world with more water spilled than that of the other six largest rivers wedded together.
It is not only a body of water it is actually a living thing:
Hosts pink river dolphins, piranhas and electric eels
Bordered by floating villages on which people live with tides
Home to giant water lilies and swimming trees in flood season
Once one had sailed or paddled its waters, he had sailed or paddled inside a world where time had not touched. a world where the land breathed through the river.
Colors That Defy Description
The Amazon is a paradise of an artist, and it is full of color in all directions:
electric blues and orange orangurang poison dart frogs
Birds-of-paradise writhing rainbow plumage
Butterflies as big as you hand Fluttering like confetti
• Beautiful sunsets and sunrises that make the skies a work of an artist
Even the leaves are not green– deep purples, reds to blaze, and golds in the sunshine. It is not just that the rainforest displays color, but rather that it celebrates color.
Hidden Worlds in the Canopy
The forest floor may be bursting with activity but most of the magic of the Amazon is way up in the canopy- a place that most people will never even visit.
In this vertical world there are:
Transparent tree frogs
orchids which flower only by night
Never touching the ground are monkeys and sloths
Ecosystems that survive in the tree tops as a whole
It is believed that 70 percent of life in rainforests lives in canopy- a whole new world placed above our heads but hidden and mysterious.
Nature’s Pharmacy and Green Gold
Not only is the Amazon beautiful, it is also medicinal. This forest holds thousands of plants that can be used in both traditional and modern medicine and even the ones that are undiscovered.
Highlights include:
The first treatment of malaria originated in the cinchona bark, quinine
Latent Natural Extracts such as curare a natural anesthetic obtained with vine sap
Such healing herbs as cat claw, dragon blood are applied by shamans
Such green pharmacy can help to treat diseases but only preserve it. The next life-saving remedy may be found in each root and each leaf.
Cultures in Harmony with the Land
The Amazon is inhabited by more than 30 million individuals, among them hundreds of Indigenous tribes some of which speak their own languages, have their own traditions and views of the world.
Tribes such as the Yanomami, Ashninka, Huaorani and Kayapo have:
Existed sustainably many thousands of years
Leashed and did not exterminate the forest
Traditional knowledge transmitted by word of mouth down through generations
They have a strong spiritual attachment to the land as demonstrated by their stories, music and rituals. Seeing how they live in this forest will show that this is not only a nature, but that it is a sacred home.
The Spiritual Power of the Amazon
The Amazon is an energy of great spiritual power besides physical beauty. A lot of visitors say they feel:
• Attachment to something bigger
Terror before ancient life awe
Mental/bodily healing
To indigenous local tribes, the forest is not only a resource but a living spirit and has many names. Shamans usually speak of Amazon as a living creature that can communicate and be wise.
The Amazon helps us remember that we are a part of the web of life in a world out of touch with the natural world.
Conclusion: A Living Masterpiece
Amazon Rainforest is not only one of the most beautiful destinations with its massiveness, colors, and wildlife- but also with its soul, secrets, and healing ability.
It is a classroom, a cathedral and a cradle of life all in one. Wandering under its trees, hearing its noises, sensing its heartbeat, it is hard not to comprehend that nature is ugly and raw and unmated.
But have a feast. We will save it. And we need to make sure our future generations be able to discover the unsurpassed beauty of the Amazon Rainforest as well.
