Amazon - one of the most famous yet undiscovered parts of the world - can make for a truly remarkable cruising experience The Amazon is a river, and a region, of superlatives. It's the world's largest river when measured by volume. With 209,000 cubic meters (55 million gallons) of water flowing into the Pacific each second, it's five times the size of the Congo, the next largest river. The Amazon Basin covers an area larger than Western Europe, but it's in Peru's Amazon where biodiversity is at its greatest and the rainforest is untamed. Imagine venturing deep into the Amazon jungle in search of elusive wildlife, taking a swim with pink dolphins, and visiting native communities Cruises in the Amazon at its Peruvian end often begin in Iquitos, a remote city unreachable by road. The legacy of its days as a rubber-tapping hub and gold mining town is still visible, though crumbling mansions are now surrounded by modest shacks