Travelling through the challenging road from Iquitos to Nauta
Located in the northern Amazon region of Peru, the road between Iquitos and Nauta is an anomalous 75 kilometer stretch of road. Iquitos, encircled by rivers and rainforest, is the largest city with no roads connecting to the outside world.
The road is paved and links Iquitos, a Peruvian port city and gateway to the jungle and the world’s largest city that cannot be reached by road, and Nauta, a town in the northeastern part of LoretoProvince. The road was asphalted in 2004. The construction of the Iquitos-Nauta road began in the 1970s, connecting the two largest urban centers in the region. The road enabled high rates of deforestation, and paralleled the massive migration of the rural poor to Iquitos. The landscape surrounding the road started to change from rural to peri-urban, with the construction of weekend houses by urban migrants, and permanent homes by rural settlers. Do not expect to see an area with all the trappings of the western world. This zone is very basic as it has no road connection with the rest of the world. The main danger in the jungle surrounding Iquitos is the same as any tropical zone: Malaria.