Travelling through the Amazonas basin is a great adventure, no matter how short your trip may be. Adventure stories are THE inspiration for most of us to travel to remote locations and together with fascinating encouters with nature and peoples they are intellectually, emotionally and physically challenging and rewarding. So be inspired by true stories of great adventures and learn some relevant skills in order to make your trips both hardcore and enjoyable. For most of the books we provide an affiliate link for Amazon.de. The title is marked with an asterisk * placed before the author’s name. If you want to support us please order the book using that link so we get a small percentage. For you it is NOT more expensive. Many thanks.

Know-How:

Baumbach N 2000: Regenwald-Expeditionen. OutdoorHandbuch aus der Reihe Basiswissen für Draußen, Band 86, Conrad Stein Verlag, Germany, 126 pp. ISBN 3-89392-186-9 In German. The small book covers all relevant aspects of conducting expeditions into tropical rainforest: planing and preparation, equipment, nutrition, health, routines and behavior, travelling by the river.

*Coningham J 2003: Walking the jungle. An adventurer’s guide to the Amazon. Burford Books, USA, 250 pp. ISBN 1-58080-108-0 The author lives in Campinas, Brazil since childhood for over 30 years and knows the various habitats and landscapes very well. Several aspects relevant to the jungle in general, health and safety, equipment and finally survival are covered both by telling anecdotes and giving explicit advice. The most stunning is using a pruning shears instead of a machete while advancing through vegetation – but read for yourself…

Kuster R 2000: Dschungelwandern. Reise Know-How Verlag Peter Rump, Germany, 176 pp. ISBN 3-89416-759-9 In German. The book deals with the tropical rainforest as a habitat, planing, equipment, navigation and transport, dangers and risks, observation and photography of animals and ends with the description of the different rainforests around the world.

*Vogel J 2015: Tierische Notnahrung: Survivalwissen für Extremsituationen. 2te Ausgabe. Verlag pietsch, Germany, 192 pp. ISBN 978-3613508156 In German. In that book animals of all sorts are covered that may be suitable as food when on expedition or in emergency case. It begins with some basics of nutrition science and the covers the different taxa of animals with respect to their suitability as food, where and how to catch, kill and cook them. The author also deals with associated dangers like parasites, diseases and the target animals themselves.

*Vogel J 2011: Outdoor Survival mit dem Messer. Verlag pietsch, Germany, 183 pp. ISBN 978-3-613-50655-8  In German. The book deals with techniques when only a knife is available in an emergency case. It covers the basics regarding suitable knives. And then different survival techniques are explained incl. primitive medicine, fire, water, food, and shelter.

*Vogel J 2014: Pflanzliche Notnahrung. Survivalwissen für Extremsituationen. Verlag pietsch, Germany, 240 pp. ISBN 978-3-613-50763-0  In German. Plants as food are the topic of this book. It deals with basic plant morphology and anatomy in order to be able to learn how to identify some plant taxa which are and are not suited for food. Edible and not edible plants are illustrated and their worldwide distributions are mapped, edible and not edible parts of the plants are indicated. A good book to begin with, but local plant species should be identified and learnt before eating, especially in the tropics.

*Vogel J 2018: Der Expeditionsguide. Individualreisen planen und durchführen. Verlag pietsch, Germany, 384 pp. ISBN 978-3-613-50860-6 In German. The book covers important aspects regarding techniques useful for trips for individualists and expeditions alike. It deals with transportation, psychology and social dynamics, hygiene, weather, navigation, communication, food and water, driving offroad, and medicine.

Adventure:

*Brümmer A, Glöckner P, Buhl J 1999: Unterwegs zum Amazonas. Mit Faltbooten zu Goldsuchern und Indianern. Weltsichten, Wiener Verlag, Austria, 299 pp. ISBN 3-00-004921-5 The three adventurers paddled with folding boats from the Titicaca Lake in Bolivia to the Amazon basin, one of the authors, Jörg, continued solo to Parintins, Brazil. A very interesting and inspiring book with some valuable tips for such endeavors. In German.

*Frederiksen H 2015. We drifted into the Amazon: a homemade bamboo raft down the mighty Amazon River unsupported. Kindle Edition, 187 pp. Two travellers decide to trade their bike for a selfmade bamboo raft and travel from Coca, Ecuador down the Napo and Amazonas rivers to Manaus, Brazil.

*Ghinsberg J 2006: Lost in the jungle. A harrowing true story of adventure and survival. Summersdale Publishers, UK, 314 pp. ISBN 978-1-84024-672-8 The author tells his story in Bolivia where he and two other travellers deside to accompany a guide into the deep Amazon rainforest. Beside of the guide the three do not have any rainforest experience and Joshi gets lost. He stumbles through the rainforest and almost dies. What can we learn from his story?

*Messner R 2017: Über Leben. Piper Verlag, Malik, National Geographic, Germany, 336 pp. ISBN 978-3-492-40594-2 In German. „Über Leben“ means „About Life“, but also Überleben = survival. The famous Reinhold Messner describes some of his expeditions from early childhood to his latest and philosophizes about the attitudes necessary to do such trips and about life and mankind in general.

*Rohrbach D 2016: Yukon. Neue Abenteuer am großen Fluss. National Geographic Buchverlag, Germany, 191 pp. ISBN 978-3-86690-474-3 The author travels for more than 30 years through North America and in this book with stunning photographs he tells exciting stories from three journeys on the Yukon river, Alaska with a self-make canoe from wood and birch bark.

*Rosolie P 2014: Mother of God. One man’s journey to the uncharted depths of the Amazon rainforest. Bantam Press, UK, 309 pp. ISBN9780593075470 This fascinating book is about the author’s adventures and experiences in the Madre de Diós (= Mother of God) region, about his development into a naturalist and conservationist. Beautifully written.

*Stafford E 2012: Walking the Amazon. 860 days. The impossible task. The incredible journey. Virgin Books, UK, 320 pp. ISBN 978-0-75-351564-8 The author tells his thrilling story of walking the entire length of the Amazon: from its origins in the Peruvian Andes to its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean near Belém, Brazil. Ed walked where there were no trails at all and had to withstand both physical and psychological challenges but Ed carried on and accomplished what no one had accomplished before. This is hardcore at its best.

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