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The real geographic point near Iquitos where the Amazon, Nanay, and Itaya Rivers meet, visibly marked by the different colors of their waters mixing together — and a favored spot for watching pink river dolphins.
Private Tours
A private sunset boat ride navigating the Itaya River to its meeting point with the Amazon River, with panoramic views of the Tarapacá Boardwalk and the city of Iquitos from the water as the sun sets over the Loreto region.
Private Tours
A private excursion led by an expert English-speaking local guide, beginning at the Pilpintuwasi Butterfly House and Animal Rescue Center, continuing by boat to the real confluence of the Amazon, Nanay, and Itaya Rivers, and ending at a 250-year-old Lupuna tree considered the spiritual heart of the jungle.
Visitor guide
The confluence of the Amazon, Nanay and Itaya rivers is the meeting of three waterways at Iquitos, the capital of Peru's Loreto Region. Wikipedia describes Iquitos as the largest city in the Peruvian Amazon, lying on the left bank of the Amazon and shaped by the three rivers.
According to Wikipedia, the Itaya and Nanay limit Iquitos' expansion in their direction, so the city grows south, and lakes and lagoons surround it, giving it the feel of a large river island. The Nanay flows to the north and west of the city and joins the Amazon at Iquitos, while the Itaya flows alongside it to the south and east. The Nanay is about 315 kilometres long and the Itaya about 213 kilometres, according to their Wikipedia entries. Iquitos can only be reached by river or air.
The Nanay is a lowland, winding, slow-moving blackwater river with high fish diversity, and part of it flows through the Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve. Blackwater rivers get their dark color from dissolved leaf and plant matter, whereas Amazon whitewater carries sediment from the Andes. Wikipedia lists Iquitos among the places with a smaller-scale meeting of waters, the best-known being the Rio Negro and Solimoes near Manaus where the two run side by side for about six kilometres. Sources found do not measure how far the contrast lasts at Iquitos.
Tours usually start from the Bellavista-Nanay port and travel to where the waters meet. The Amazon river dolphin, or boto, is the pink dolphin people hope to see; Wikipedia says adults turn pink, males typically pinker, and that the species was listed as Endangered by the IUCN in 2018. Tour operators note sightings cannot be guaranteed. In Amazonian folklore the dolphin is an encantado, a shapeshifter that becomes a handsome young man at night.
Wikipedia says the Amazon peaks around May and is lowest in October, with rains year-round and a wetter season from November to May. Flooding is the main natural hazard; floods in 2012 left about 80,000 people homeless. The area was home to Napeano and Iquito peoples, and a Jesuit mission was founded in 1757 on the Nanay. In 1864 Peruvian Navy steamships arrived, marking Iquitos' founding as a river port. During the rubber boom the Peruvian Amazon Company was headquartered there. The Belen district has a waterfront neighborhood and the largest street market in the Peruvian Amazon, according to Wikipedia.
Boat trips depart from the Nanay port, and river levels change with the season, so routes vary. A private tour handles transfers and the boat. Nearby, Padre Cocha on the Nanay is home to the Pilpintuwasi rescue center.
See every tour and attraction we cover in Iquitos.
