Explore America's Amazon with Ben Raines

America's Amazon Adventures

Destinations

The Delta is one of the largest wetland complexes on the continent, covering hundreds of thousands of acres with a network of rivers and creeks that braid together and twist apart. My trips into this vast wilderness are true adventures.

The Coltilda

Tour the watery grave of the Clotilda — the last ship to bring enslaved Africans to America — discovered by Ben himself just miles from Mobile.

Lower Delta

Six to seven hours exploring remote Delta backwaters by silent electric motor — alligators, eagles, wild hogs, and ancient Native American sites. Kids welcome.

Upper Delta

Fall and winter upper Delta trips feature blooming orchids, a 5,000-year-old Native American city, and a massive hollow cypress that survived the logging era.

Captain Ben Raines

For over 20 years, I've explored Alabama's wild places and shared them through award-winning journalism and film. As a licensed charter captain, I'll take you deep into the Mobile-Tensaw Delta — truly America's Amazon — to places few people ever see.

You may know my work from the New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, 60 Minutes, or PBS. I discovered the wreck of the Clotilda, the last slave ship to reach American shores, and wrote the book on it. My films have aired on PBS, National Geographic, and the Discovery Channel.

Alabama is one of the most biologically diverse places on Earth — yet almost no one knows it. My mission is to change that, one trip at a time. When we get back to the dock, I promise you'll feel like you've been somewhere incredible.