Tambopata reserve

Program: 3 days / 2 nights

Day 1º

Arrival and Reception: Upon arrival from Lima or Cusco, we will welcome you at the airport and drive you ten minutes to our Puerto Maldonado headquarters. While enjoying your first taste of the forest in our gardens we will ask you to pack only the necessary gear for your next few days, and leave the rest at our safe deposit. This helps us keep the boats and cargo light.
Puerto Maldonado to Tambopata River Port: Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometers to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno. The port is a communal business.
Boxed Lunch.
Tambopata River Port to Posada Amazonas: The forty five minute boat ride from the Tambopata Port to Posada Amazonas will take us into the Community’s Primary Forest Private Reserve.
Orientation. Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips.
Canopy tower: A twenty minute walk from Posada Amazonas leads to the 30 meter scaffolding canopy tower. A bannistered staircase running through the middle provides safe access to the platforms above. From atop you obtain spectacular views of the vast expanses of standing forest cut by the Tambopata River winding through the middle. Now and then toucans, parrots or macaws are seen flying against the horizon, or mixed species canopy flocks land in the treetop next to you.
Dinner.
Ecotourism Lecture: A daily presentation on the Infierno ecotourism project is available every night from a staff member.
Overnight in Posada Amazonas.

Day 2º

Breakfast.
Tres Chimbadas Oxbow Lake: Tres Chimbadas is thirty minutes by boat and forty five minutes hiking from Posada Amazonas. Once there you will paddle around the lake in a catamaran, searching for the resident family of nine giant river otters (seen by 60% of our lake visitors) and other lakeside wildlife such as caiman, hoatzin and horned screamers. Otters are most active from dawn to eight or nine AM.
Parrot clay lick: This clay lick is only a twenty minute walk from Posada Amazonas. From a blind located about twenty meters away you will see dozens of parrots and parakeets descend on most clear mornings to ingest the clay on a river bank. Species such as Mealy and Yellow- headed Amazon, Blue-headed Parrot and Dusky headed Parakeet descend at this clay lick. The clay lick is most active at dawn and during the late mornings and mid-afternoons.
Lunch.
Ethnobotanical Tour: A twenty minutes boat drive downriver leads you to a trail designed by the staff of the Centro Ñape. The Centro Ñape is a communal organization that produces medicines out of forest plants and administers them to patients who choose their little clinic. They have produced a trail which explains the different medicinal (and other) uses of selected plants.
Dinner.
Night walk: You will have the option of hiking out at night, when most of the mammals are active but rarely seen. Much easier to find are frogs with shapes and sounds as bizarre as their natural histories.
Overnight in Posada Amazonas

Day 3º

Breakfast.
Return to Puerto Maldonado and Departure: We retrace our river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado, our office and the airport. Depending on airline schedules, this may require dawn departures.

Guides at Posada Amazonas: Our guides are biologists, tourism professionals, or community members. Unless noted otherwise, our guides speak English. We assign guides at 10:1 ratio in Posada Amazonas. This means groups smaller than 10 people will be merged with other groups under one guide. If you would like a private guide or a guide in a language other than English please let us know.

Boat Transportation: All our boats are 20 foot long, roofed canoes with 55 hp outboard motors. Daily arrivals and departures from every port are scheduled to meet every airline´s arrival and departure with a maximum two hour wait.

Included:

Not Included:

• Flight tickets to Puerto Maldonado.
• Tips

You need to bring:

• We recommend that each visitor limit gear to good binoculars; camera gear; tight-weave, light weight, light colored, long cotton pants; long sleeved, tight-weave, light colored cotton shirts; undergarments; absorbent socks; ankle-high hiking boots; sneakers; a powerful flashlight with batteries; a small toilet kit; a water bottle; sunblock lotion; sunglasses; a secure, broad-brimmed hat; 100% waterproof, head-to-ankle rain suit; insect repellent; yellow fever inoculation certificate; small denomination bills and a small daypack.
• LUGGAGE IS HAND-CARRIED FROM THE BOATS TO YOUR ROOMS. WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU LIMIT THE WEIGHT OF YOUR LUGGAGE TO 15 KILOGRAMS (32 POUNDS) A PIECE.
• If you are visiting other destinations in Peru that require different kinds of clothing, you can always pack separate bags and safely leave them at our offices in Puerto Maldonado on the first day of the itinerary, so we won’t be carrying them around with no use. Your bag will be waiting for you at the airport the day you leave.

Additional information:

• Confirmation of the excursion will be received at time of booking.
• All tours are operated in English unless otherwise stated.

Travel voucher:

• For every confirmed booking you will be required to print a voucher for presentation at our office in Puno.
• You will receive an electronic voucher via e-mail once your booking is confirmed.

Local Operator Information:

• We will send you a complete operator information, including phone numbers at your destination in Puerto Maldonado.
• Our Managers select only the most experienced and reliable operators in each destination, removing the guesswork for you, and ensuring your peace of mind.

Accommodation in Posada Amazonas:

Posada Amazonas is located on the banks of the Tambopata River in the grounds of the Community, adjacent to the Tambopata National Reserve. It is owned jointly by Rainforest Expeditions and the Ese’eja Native Community of Tambopata. Posada Amazonas is built using a combination of traditional native materials (wood, palm fronds, wild cane and clay) and architecture and modern day eco-lodge technology. The lodge itself consists of a complex of four sections: rooms, dining area and kitchen, relaxation area and internal support facilities. The entire roof of the lodge is constructed using high quality crisneja palm fronds, whereas the floors are of tropical mahogany. The rooms complex is built of four 9 X 24 meter structures with six rooms per facility, for a total of 30 double bedrooms. The rooms are 7 x 4 meters so they can comfortably hold three beds, although they are set up for two. The walls dividing each room are built using cane and clay, and extend from the floor to about 2.5 meters height making each room private. The combination of clay and cane achieves two important objectives: regulating heat and providing a charming final appeareance. However, sounds can be heard from room to room. The side that looks out to the forest does not have a wall or screening of any kind, acting as a large window facing the forest. The reason we have been able to incorporate this "luxurious" design into our lodge is because mosquitos are not really a problem around the lodge clearing and the open section allows for an intimate contact with the rain forest. A second small window on the opposite side, set up very high, keeps the rooms well ventilated. Beds are sized for Americans or Europeans (1.05m X 2.05m) with mosquito nets. Each room has a private bathroom with cold water only. Rooms and bathrooms are separated by drapes. The dining room and lounge is spacy and offers ample area for resting and socializing.

How to book this tour....

In order to book this excursion and do your payment, please click here

Program: 4 Days / 3 nights

Day 1º

Arrival and Reception: Upon arrival from Lima or Cusco, we will welcome you at the airport and drive you ten minutes to our Puerto Maldonado headquarters. While enjoying your first taste of the forest in our gardens we will ask you to pack only the necessary gear for your next few days, and leave the rest at our safe deposit. This helps us keep the boats and cargo light.
Puerto Maldonado to Tambopata River Port: Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometers to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno. The port is a communal business.
Tambopata River Port to Refugio Amazonas: The two and a half hour boat ride from the Tambopata Port to Refugio Amazonas will take us past the Community of Infierno and the Tambopata National Reserve´s checkpoint and into the buffer zone of this 1.3 million hectare conservation unit.
Boxed Lunch.
Orientation: Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips.
Dinner.
Caiman searches: We will be out at the river’s edge at night, scanning the shores with headlamps and flashlights to catch the red gleams of reflection from caiman eyes.
Overnight in Refguio Amazonas.

Day 2º

Breakfast.
Sachavacayoc Oxbow Lake: A two hour hike takes you to Sachavacayoc Lake. You will then paddle around the lake in a catamaran, searching for the resident family of five giant river otters (seen by about 30% of lake visitors) and other lakeside wildlife such as caiman, hoatzin and horned screamers. We hike out at dawn - when otters are active. Don’t forget the two hour return hike! For those who do not want to take the long hike Condenado Lake, thirty minutes from the lodge, is an option.
Lunch.
Farm Visit and Ethnobotanical Garden: Five minutes downriver from the lodge lies a farm owned and managed by charismatic Don Manuel from the neighbouring community of Condenado. He grows a variety of popular and unknown Amazon crops - just about every plant and tree you see serves a purpose. He has also identified and cultivated many of the medicinal plants used in the region in a little backyard garden.
Brazil nut trail and camp: A few minutes hike from the lodge is a beautiful old growth patch of Brazil Nut forest that has been harvested for decades (if not centuries) where the precarious remains of a camp used two months a year by Brazil Nut gatherers can still be experienced. We will be demonstrating the whole process of the rain forest's only sustainably harvested product from collection through transportation to drying.
Dinner.
Night walk: You will have the option of hiking out at night, when most of the mammals are active but rarely seen. Much easier to find are frogs with shapes and sounds as bizarre as their natural histories.
Overnight in Refugio Amazonas

Day 3º

Breakfast.
Parakeet clay lick: A fifteen minute boat ride and thirty minute walk from Refugio Amazonas is a parakeet clay lick. From a blind you will see parakeets descend on most clear mornings to ingest the clay on a bank. Species such as Dusky headed and Cobalt Winged Parakeet descend at this clay lick. We visit the lick at dawn, when parrots are most active.
Mammal clay lick: Twenty minutes walking from Refugio Amazonas is a peccary clay lick. These wild rain forest pigs show up in herds of five to twenty individuals to eat clay in the late morning. Chances of spotting them are around 15%, but well worth the short hike. Other wildlife also shows up including deer, guan and parakeets.
Lunch.
Canopy tower: A thirty minute walk from Refugio Amazonas leads to the 25 meter scaffolding canopy tower. A bannistered staircase running through the middle provides safe access to the platforms above. The tower has been built upon high ground,therefore increasing your horizon of the continuous primary forest extending out towards the Tambopata National Reserve. From here views of mixed species canopy flocks as well as toucans, macaws and raptors are likely.
Dinner.
Tambopata National Reserve Lecture: Nightly lectures prepared by the staff of Refugio Amazonas cover conservation threats, opportunities and projects in the Tambopata National Reserve.
Overnight in Refugio Amazonas

Day 4º

Breakfast. Return to Puerto Maldonado and Departure: We retrace our river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado, our office and the airport. Depending on airline schedules, this may require dawn departures.

Guides at Refugio Amazonas: Our guides are biologists, tourism professionals, or community members. Unless noted otherwise, our guides speak English. We assign guides at 10:1 ratio in Refugio Amazonas. This means groups smaller than 10 people will be merged with other groups under one guide. If you would like a private guide or a guide in a language other than English please let us know.

Boat Transportation: All our boats are 20 foot long, roofed canoes with 55 hp outboard motors. Daily arrivals and departures from every port are scheduled to meet every airline´s arrival and departure with a maximum two hour wait.

Included:

Not Included:

• Flight tickets to Puerto Maldonado.
• Tips, and other not mentioned

You need to bring:

• We recommend that each visitor limit gear to good binoculars; camera gear; tight-weave, light weight, light colored, long cotton pants; long sleeved, tight-weave, light colored cotton shirts; undergarments; absorbent socks; ankle-high hiking boots; sneakers; a powerful flashlight with batteries; a small toilet kit; a water bottle; sunblock lotion; sunglasses; a secure, broad-brimmed hat; 100% waterproof, head-to-ankle rain suit; insect repellent; yellow fever inoculation certificate; small denomination bills and a small daypack.
• LUGGAGE IS HAND-CARRIED FROM THE BOATS TO YOUR ROOMS. WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU LIMIT THE WEIGHT OF YOUR LUGGAGE TO 15 KILOGRAMS (32 POUNDS) A PIECE.
• If you are visiting other destinations in Peru that require different kinds of clothing, you can always pack separate bags and safely leave them at our offices in Puerto Maldonado on the first day of the itinerary, so we won’t be carrying them around with no use. Your bag will be waiting for you at the airport the day you leave.

Accommodation in Refugio Amazonas:

Refugio Amazonas is located on the banks of the Tambopata River, some 3 hours up river. Refugio Amazonas is built using a combination of traditional native materials (wood, palm fronds, wild cane and clay) and architecture and modern day eco-lodge technology. The lodge itself consists of a complex of four sections: rooms, dining area and kitchen, relaxation area and internal support facilities. The entire roof of the lodge is constructed using high quality crisneja palm fronds, whereas the floors are of tropical mahogany. The rooms complex is built of four 9 X 24 meter structures with six rooms per facility, for a total of 30 double bedrooms. The rooms are 7 x 4 meters so they can comfortably hold three beds, although they are set up for two. The walls dividing each room are built using cane and clay, and extend from the floor to about 2.5 meters height making each room private. The combination of clay and cane achieves two important objectives: regulating heat and providing a charming final appeareance. However, sounds can be heard from room to room. The side that looks out to the forest does not have a wall or screening of any kind, acting as a large window facing the forest. The reason we have been able to incorporate this "luxurious" design into our lodge is because mosquitos are not really a problem around the lodge clearing and the open section allows for an intimate contact with the rain forest. A second small window on the opposite side, set up very high, keeps the rooms well ventilated. Beds are sized for Americans or Europeans (1.05m X 2.05m) with mosquito nets. Each room has a private bathroom with cold water only. Rooms and bathrooms are separated by drapes. The dining room and lounge is spacy and offers ample area for resting and socializing.

How to book this tour....

In order to book this excursion and do your payment, please click here

Program: 5 Days / 4 nights

Day 1º

Arrival and Reception: Upon arrival from Lima or Cusco, we will welcome you at the airport and drive you ten minutes to our Puerto Maldonado headquarters. While enjoying your first taste of the forest in our gardens we will ask you to pack only the necessary gear for your next few days, and leave the rest at our safe deposit. This helps us keep the boats and cargo light.
Puerto Maldonado to Tambopata River Port: Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometers to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno. The port is a communal business.
Tambopata River Port to Refugio Amazonas: The two and a half hour boat ride from the Tambopata Port to Refugio Amazonas will take us past the Community of Infierno and the Tambopata National Reserve´s checkpoint and into the buffer zone of this 1.3 million hectare conservation unit.
Boxed Lunch.
Orientation: Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips.
Dinner.
Caiman searches: We will be out at the river’s edge at night, scanning the shores with headlamps and flashlights to catch the red gleams of reflection from caiman eyes.
Overnight in Refugio Amazonas.

Day 2º

Breakfast.
Sachavacayoc Oxbow Lake: A two hour hike takes you to Sachavacayoc Lake. You will then paddle around the lake in a catamaran, searching for the resident family of five giant river otters (seen by about 30% of lake visitors) and other lakeside wildlife such as caiman, hoatzin and horned screamers. We hike out at dawn - when otters are active. Don’t forget the two hour return hike! For those who do not want to take the long hike Condenado Lake, thirty minutes from the lodge, is an option.
Refugio Amazonas to Tambopata Research Center. Four and half hours by boat from Posada Amazonas, in the pristine heart of the reserve, lies the Tambopata Research Center. One and half hours into our boat journey, as we cross the confluence with the Malinowski River, we will leave the final traces of human habitation behind. Within the 700,000 hectare uninhabited nucleus of the reserve, sightings of capybara, caiman, geese, macaws and other large species will become more frequent.
Boxed Lunch.
Orientation: Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips.
Overlook Trail: A three to five kilometer hike will lead us to overlooks commanding magnificent views of the Tambopata winding its way into the lowlands. The forest on this trail, regenerating on old bamboo forest, is good for Howler Monkey and Dusky Titi Monkey.
Dinner.
Macaw Project Lectures: After dinner scientists will provide an in depth look at the biology of macaws, their feeding habits, the theories for clay lick use, their breeding and feeding ecology, population fluctuations and the threats to their conservation.
Overnight in Tambopata Research Center.

Day 3º

Macaw Clay Lick: On most clear mornings of the year dozens of large macaws and hundreds of parrots congregate on this large river bank in a raucous and colorful spectacle which inspired a National Geographic cover story. Discretely located fifty meters from the cliff, we will observe Green-winged, Scarlet and Blue-and-gold Macaws and several species of smaller parrots descend to ingest clay. Outings are at dawn when the lick is most active.
Breakfast.
Floodplain Trail: This five kilometer trail covers the prototypical rain forest with immense trees criss-crossed by creeks and ponds. Amongst the figs, ceibas and shihuahuacos we will look for Squirrel, Brown Capuchin, and Spider Monkeys as well as peccaries. TRC is located within this habitat.
Lunch.
Pond Platform: Ten minutes upriver from the lodge is a tiny pond with a platform in the middle. It is a great place for the late afternoon where we whiddle away the remains of the day as we spot waterfowl such as Muscovy duck, sunbittern and hoatzin along with the woodpeckers, oropendolas, flycatchers and parakeets that call this pond their home.
Dinner.
Night walk: You will have the option of hiking out at night, when most of the mammals are active but rarely seen. Much easier to find are frogs with shapes and sounds as bizarre as their natural histories.
Overnight in Tambopata Research Center.

Day 4º

Breakfast.
Tambopata Research Center to Refugio Amazonas: A three and a half hour boat ride brings us to Refugio Amazonas.
Boxed Lunch.
Canopy tower: A thirty minute walk from Refugio Amazonas leads to the 25 meter scaffolding canopy tower. A bannistered staircase running through the middle provides safe access to the platforms above. The tower has been built upon high ground, therefore increasing your horizon of the continuous primary forest extending out towards the Tambopata National Reserve. From here views of mixed species canopy flocks as well as toucans, macaws and raptors are likely.
Dinner.
Tambopata National Reserve Lecture: Nightly lectures prepared by the staff of Refugio Amazonas cover conservation threats, opportunities and projects in the Tambopata National Reserve.
Overnight in Refugio Amazonas

Day 5º

Breakfast.
Return to Puerto Maldonado and Departure: We retrace our river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado, our office and the airport. Depending on airline schedules, this may require dawn departures.

Guides at Tambopata Research Center: Our guides are biologists, tourism professionals, or community members. Unless noted otherwise, our guides speak English. We assign guides at 6:1 ratio in Tambopata Research Center. This means groups smaller than 6 people will be merged with other groups under one guide. If you would like a private guide or a guide in a language other than English please let us know.

Boat Transportation: All our boats are 20 foot long, roofed canoes with 55 hp outboard motors. Daily arrivals and departures from every port are scheduled to meet every airline´s arrival and departure with a maximum two hour wait.

Included:

Not Included:

• Flight tickets to Puerto Maldonado.
• Entrance fee to the Tambopata National Park $30.00 per person.
• Tips

You need to bring:

• We recommend that each visitor limit gear to good binoculars; camera gear; tight-weave, light weight, light colored, long cotton pants; long sleeved, tight-weave, light colored cotton shirts; undergarments; absorbent socks; ankle-high hiking boots; sneakers; a powerful flashlight with batteries; a small toilet kit; a water bottle; sunblock lotion; sunglasses; a secure, broad-brimmed hat; 100% waterproof, head-to-ankle rain suit; insect repellent; yellow fever inoculation certificate; small denomination bills and a small daypack.
• LUGGAGE IS HAND-CARRIED FROM THE BOATS TO YOUR ROOMS. WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU LIMIT THE WEIGHT OF YOUR LUGGAGE TO 15 KILOGRAMS (32 POUNDS) A PIECE.
• If you are visiting other destinations in Peru that require different kinds of clothing, you can always pack separate bags and safely leave them at our offices in Puerto Maldonado on the first day of the itinerary, so we won’t be carrying them around with no use. Your bag will be waiting for you at the airport the day you leave.

Accommodation in Refugio Amazonas & Tambopata Reserach Center:

Please see above. Both constructions follow the a similar pattern.

How to book this tour....

In order to book this excursion and see payment details, please click here