About 2 hours by bus north of Manaus there is Presidente Figuereido, a paradise for all who love magic water, waterfalls and jungle.
In the village you will find small hotels and hostels. In the the tourist information you will find guides most of the time. You can hire them and make your price fixed with them directly. You also can use the public bus to reach the waterfalls, but not all.
Lately the guides pushed through to be hired when tourists want to see waterfalls and cannot go there by their own, what a pity!
Each waterfall is individual and is totally different from the other, more than 30 diffenrent ones!! The waterfalls are situated on private location and the owners ask a small entrance fee. Some of them noticed the need of tourists, there are restaurants, toilets and picnic areas. Most of them are untouched and the owners only keep the way in order.
The water itself is crystal clear, warm and in many places coloured because of the ground.
Fish and the waterworld is poor, but on the trails to the waterfalls you can observe animals like monkeys.
There are not only waterfalls to see, also caves that are hidden behind water, depending to the season.
The trails to the waterfalls are very lonesome during the week, there are few tourist, except the weekend. There you find tourists especially in the commercialized places. Some of the paths are well documented and point out special trees.
The most beautiful and well known waterfall is "Cachoeira do Santuário". It has the best tourist accomodations and fascinates with its richness of water, falling into a natural basin. At all waterfalls, here too, you can swim and you really should do it.
On the map you can see a big artificial lake - Balbina. Originally it should be made for the power supply of an aluminium factory, but luckily it was not built. Today it gives the power to Manaus, but not to the villages around. People think different about the lake ( have a look at Wikipedia): a big area was floated with little profit.
The lake is very flat, therefore the water heats up and you feel like in a bathtube. The water is dark, nearly black, in the contrary to the waterfalls, you barely can see your own hand in the water. Perfect for giant otters, pink dolphines and other animals, but also perfect for diseases. There is always danger that the water could skip because of the high temperature.
The giant otters and dolphines come very close, but not close enough to touch them. At the only restaurant after the entrance you can eat special fish dishes and the owner tells you stories about dolphines coming very near to the beach when they saw a mother with her baby.
The area is not public, but you can go to the lake when you are registered for free at the entrance.
In the lake there are a lot of islands you can buy, but without infrastructure.
