Jackie Springgay

Taking a trip to the Amazon can be quite simple when help comes from Big Amazon Fish owners Naldo Esteves, a Brazilian native, and Ben Nolte of Lindon.

They take clients on fishing trips and eco tours on the Amazon River in Esteves's home country.

"Our guests experience the rainforest jungle, catch big peacock bass, and give humanitarian services and resources to developing communities," said Nolte, who is the company's managing director.

Nolte had met Esteves on his Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints San Paulo mission and remained friends. Nolte graduated from BYU and worked as a civil engineer for five years.

He visited Naldo in fall 2005 and the idea for Big Amazon Fish LLC began after Esteves shared with Nolte a trip up the Amazon River.

"I was awestruck and moved by the experiences of not only catching nine different species of fish, including the mighty peacock bass, but also visiting native villages, trekking through the rain forest jungle, observing birds and wildlife, including the pink dolphins, and catching and holding a Brazilian alligator," Nolte said. "Moreover, I was moved by integrating with the culture of the Amazon."

Nolte said Naldo and he wanted others to experience what they did, so they wrote up a business plan and won business start up money as runners up in the BYU Global Business Plan Competition.

"We were also semifinalists in the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge and also in a national competition in New York City, we were one of the top 24 for that," Nolte said.

Their success of their plan on paper later was later reflected by the plan in action. During the late summer, they take guests along the Brazilian-Bolivian border, the Rio Madeira-Rio Uatuma in the fall and the Rio Negro in the winter months.

"We've had an NBA basketball coach, engineers, developers, insurance agents, bankers, students, families," Nolte said of his guests. "There is a lot of variety."

Operating out of a 100-foot houseboat, they take clients in smaller tributary "john" boats for day-to-day adventures.

"They are very nice accommodations," Nolte said of the houseboat home base for guests while on the trip. "And they get some Brazilian cuisine."

Usually two cooks supply the daily exotic fare. Every two guests are accompanied by one guide and each travel group averages 10-20 people.

The houseboat provides guests with private rooms, bathrooms and air conditioning.

"Nice luxuries in Amazon," Nolte said and chuckles.

Big Amazon Fish offers three packages: "Jaw Droppin' Sportfishing," "Ben 'n Naldo's Fishin' and Adventure" and "Fishin' with a Mission."

Guests catch up to 15 different species of fish including the world famous peacock bass, saber-toothed salmon, piranha and red-tailed catfish with their Jaw Dropin' Sportfishing package.

Ben 'n Naldo's Fishin' and Adventure gives clients a combination of fishing and eco-tours, where they visit native villages, trek through the rainforest jungle, hold their first baby alligator, and observe birds and wildlife.

Fishin' with a Mission provides guests with the opportunity to complete a half-day humanitarian service project for the natives as part of their five-day fishing and adventure trip.

"To see our guests catch a 20-pound peacock bass and then go into a village and give a life changing micro-loan to a young family to initiate small commerce is extremely gratifying," Nolte said. "In some cases we do micro-loans and in other cases we will provide humanitarian services and donations. We assess the needs of the village and the talents of our guests and cater a service that is beneficial for all."

Big Amazon Fish LLC plans three to four trips per year and is listed in the Sportmen's News Journal as the platinum approved outfitter.

"In all our trips, we help our guests feel the 'Lewis and Clark' mentality in finding their own little 'secret spot on the Amazon,'" Nolte said.