Delfin Amazon Cruises, a river cruise company operating in the Upper Peruvian Amazon, has become the first cruise company to join Relais & Châteaux’s portfolio, joining a collection that includes over 550 hotels and restaurants around the world. Relais & Châteaux members must meet the association’s criteria and encompass the core values of “local focus, humanity, sharing and commitment.”
Founded in early 2006 by husband-and-wife team, Aldo Macchiavello and Lissy Urteaga, Delfin Amazon Cruises fulfilled their goal to run a boutique travel business in Peru. With the introduction of the four-suite Delfin I and the launches that followed of the Delfin II and, most recently, the Delfin III, the company offers luxury river cruising to the remote tributaries of the Upper Peruvian Amazon.
Each luxury Delfin vessel takes guests on three and four-night itineraries into one of the world’s largest protected flooded forests, the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve. Naturalist guides and experts showcase the biodiversity of the area with excursions and activities that include visits to local villages, kayaking, swimming with pink river dolphins, fishing, daytime hiking and night safaris.
Keeping with Relais & Châteaux’s mission to protect the local environment, Delfin says it has a strong commitment to preserving the biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest and works closely with its non-profit partner, The Kuyapa Foundation, which supports local communities and strives to protect Amazonia’s ecosystem for generations to come. Relais & Châteaux members are expected to preserve local heritage and the environment, as encompassed in the Charter presented to UNESCO in November 2014.
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