Amazon - Tree Top Lodge - Brazil

www.AriauAmazonTowers.com

Ariau Amazon Towers Hotel is a lodge that is completely built at the level of
the rainforest canopy with over 6 miles of catwalks affording visitors an
intimate communion with the flora and fauna of the Amazon region.  Ariau is
located 35 miles from Manaus at the confluence of the Rio Negro and Ariau Creek
at the foot of the Anavilhanas Archipelago, the largest fresh water grouping of
islands in the world.  The region is considered the most biologically diverse
regions on earth.

The Aviary of Hope is part of a project under the auspices of Ariau Amazon
Towers President  - Dr. Ritta Bernardino. This project includes an herbarium
housing medicinal plants traditionally used in the Amazon region, an
orchidarium, including a collection of bromeliads common to the Rio Negro and
an Amphitheater where traditional Amazonian music and dance are performed, as
well as seminars regarding the ecology of the rainforest are presented. A
museum is currently being built sponsored by the National Institute of Amazon
Research (INPA), which will house a collection of indigenous crafts as well as
samples of the many plants and trees used medicinally by the indigenous people
of the Amazon Region.  All construction is done in the regional manner with
minimal disturbance to the environment.

The Aviary of Hope is a wildlife rehabilitation program designed to reintroduce
endangered species back into their natural habitat - the rainforest.  Over the
past few years Ariau has been receiving animals and birds that have been
confiscated by the police from black market trade.  The black market trade of
Amazonian wildlife is and has been a major threat to the survival of many
species such as the Hyacinth Macaw and many types of parakeets, and primates. 
A toucan can earn a trader as much as $10,000 dollars in the United States
alone.  Once captured by a trader, birds spend a long time in confinement,
densely packed with others, vulnerable to the spread of disease and to physical
injury.  Inadequate food, water or ventilation imposes fatalities.  The bird
trade alone involves great cruelty.

The Aviary of Hope provides an alternative route for these animals, a way back
to their biological destiny so to speak.  Upon arrival at Ariau they are
examined by a veterinarian and then held in quarantine for approximately 90 to
100 days depending on the condition of the individual animal.  Steps are taken
to teach the animals how to again feed and fend for themselves in the wild. 
Currently under the care of the Ariau staff are spider monkeys, squirrel
monkeys, woolly monkeys, marmosets, a baby ocelot, macaws, parrots, parakeets,
and toucans.  A thrilling moment for visitors to Ariau, as well as the
permanent staff is the day when one of the animals may be released back into
the wild.  A special ceremony is announced so that all may participate in the
delight of watching one of nature's own return.

www.AriauAmazonTowers.com