Amazone Challenge 2018

We set out from Paramaribo and shaped a three-week line across the Guianas and the Brazilian Amazon. The opening days eased us into the climate with a jungle stay at Berg en Dal before turning west toward Nieuw Nickerie and the border with Guyana. In Georgetown we paused for a flight to the Kaieteur Falls, then pointed south on the Linden–Lethem road, where weather turns laterite into challenge and every river crossing becomes part of the day.

Brazil brought scale. From the savannas near Boa Vista we traced long unpaved sections toward Manaus, watched the dark Rio Negro meet the pale Amazon, and ferried across to pick up BR-319 and, later, the Transamazônica. Nights alternated between characterful jungle lodges and simple, practical hotels that kept us close to the route and the light. Santarém offered a pause and a swim at Alter do Chão before we rolled the cars onto the Amazon ferry for the slow, beautiful passage north.

After disembarking near Macapá, a long day carried us to Oiapoque and into French Guiana for Kourou, where the European spaceport set a surreal contrast to rainforest. The final arc ran back into Suriname and a quiet finish in Paramaribo. Throughout, navigation ran on our offline roadbook with waypoints, the group stayed small, and support remained active in the background with daily briefings, satellite contact, and clear contingency plans when weather or roads asked for them.

It was the Amazon as a complete experience: ferries and red dirt, jungle rivers and long, empty tracks, steady organisation and honest adventure.