Welcome to Manaus, Brazil, the capital of the state of Amazonas, located in the middle of the world’s largest rainforest, rendered below in a gorgeous timelapse video.
Timelapse travel videos are a dime a dozen these days. It would be easy to become jaded and dismissive if they weren’t so predictably wonderful. Well, the ones that get shared widely, that is. I’m sure it’s possible to do a terrible timelapse video, like it’s possible to do terrible chocolate – possible but unfathomable.
Anyhoo, back to Manaus, sitting in the wild, exotic, unknowable and more than a little dangerous Amazon. To be clear, when I say “dangerous,” I mean due to the elements, wildlife and diseases us northerners don’t encounter often (Hepatitis A and B, Typhoid and Yellow Fever are prevalent), not violence, though it struggles with the same crime problems of every large city.
Manaus sits near the confluence of the Negro and Solimões rivers, meaning there’s lots of water, natch, it’s hot and it’s a major center for trade. Likewise, it’s the de facto travel hub for the region. And just look at this place. A thousand shades of green, lakes, and tributaries. Then there are the large and small critters, including alligators, jungle cats, and pink dolphins! And of course there is Manaus itself, bustling, vibrant and lots of boats puttering around.
Though this video seems to concentrate on a small – I assume prettiest – portion of the city, it’s no jungle backwater. There are actually 2.5 million people living here. And these people inhabit a region that has gained new and unblinking global scrutiny, as a kind of canary in the coal mine of the worsening climate crisis.
But let’s put all that aside for two and a half minutes. The video appears to have been commissioned by the local tourism body. Well, that was undeniably money well spent. Let’s watch.
Recent Comments