Duration 4 Days & 3 Night
Departures Daily departures
Airfares Not included, available upon request
Customizable YES, feel free to ask for extra services
DAY 1 - PUERTO MALDONADO TO HEATH RIVER
WILDLIFE CENTER
Staff welcome you at Puerto Maldonado airport and we drive through this
bustling Upper Amazon Basin city to the Tambopata River boat dock. Here we
board a powerful motorized dugout canoe and set off to the nearby confluence
of the mighty Madre de Dios River, where we head downstream for
approximately three hours to the Peru-Bolivia border at the mouth of the
remote Heath River. Even beneath the vast sky of this major Amazon tributary
we glimpse the diversity of the riverine environment, with its forest-capped
red-earth cliffs, alternating with low banks thick with Cecropia trees and
giant grasses. Now, after brief frontier-crossing formalities, we motor for
about two more hours up narrower and wilder waters, suddenly enjoying the
intimacy of mysterious forest looming close on either side. Occasional views
of native villages and children splashing by the banks, are interspersed
with long, quiet stretches where we may spot herons, hawks, cormorants,
Orinoco Geese, and perhaps a family of Capybaras -- the world’s largest
rodent, weighing up to 55kg./120lb, and looking like an enormous Guinea Pig.
We reach our simple, charming and comfortable quarters at the Heath River
Wildlife Center in time for dinner. (Box lunch, D)
(Please note that the lodge is located on the Bolivian shore of the Heath
River, so passports are required to clear Bolivian passport control.)
DAY 2: HEATH RIVER WILDLIFE CENTER
Today we make an early start to visit the lodge’s most spectacular feature:
the Heath River parrot and macaw lick. Here these colorful birds gather to
eat a type of clay from the cliff-like river banks that neutralizes certain
toxins in their diet. They congregate early each morning, sometimes by the
hundreds, jostling and squabbling over the best eating spots on the clay
lick. This noisy and unforgettable show can go on for two or three hours,
and may begin with up to five species of parrot and two varieties of
parakeet, followed by Chestnut-fronted Macaws and their larger, more
boisterous cousins, the Red-and-green Macaws. This extraordinary wildlife
display occurs at only a handful of sites in the Upper Amazon Basin, and
nowhere else on the planet.
Our floating hide platform provides comfort and complete concealment, so
that we can eat a full breakfast here during pauses in the bankside
spectacle. For ultra-close-up viewing, our guides carry a tripod-mounted
spotting scope, which can also be used to get telephoto pictures with even
the simplest camera.
On our return we can land partway downriver and walk back along a section of
the lodge’s extensive network of forest trails. We encounter numerous
gigantic Brazil-nut, kapok and fig trees, along with the scary strangler fig,
whose life strategy is as sinister as its name suggests. Our guide will
point out and explain the medicinal and commercial uses of dozens of plants
and trees, while we keep our eyes and ears open for birds, or one of the
eight species of monkeys found in this region. We might come upon a small
herd of White-lipped or Collared peccary – two kinds of wild pig that are
quite common in this area. For purposes of territorial marking they deploy a
“stink gland” so potent that they are often smelled long before they are
seen.
After lunch we typically hike or bicycle along a major trail to a point
where the forest abruptly gives way to the spacious plains of the Pampas del
Heath, part of Bolivia’s Madidi National Park. This unique environment --
the result of very poor soils, plus an extreme seasonal cycle of dryness and
flooding -- is the largest remaining undisturbed tropical savannah in the
Amazon, and is home to rare endemic birds and mammals, such as the Swallow-tailed
Hummingbird and the highly endangered Maned Wolf. Shortly beyond the edge of
the forest we can climb a raised platform that allows us a grand view of
this vast expanse of grassland and shrub, studded with palm trees.
We can continue another hour or so to a swampy area thick with Mauritia
flexuosa palm trees, whose oil-rich palm nuts and hollowed-out dead palms
provide vitally important food and shelter for nesting pairs of Red-bellied
and increasingly rare Blue-and-yellow macaws. We aim to arrive toward dusk,
when the macaws are returning from their day’s foraging to congregate in
this very special breeding site.
We return to the lodge by night, using our flashlights, and perhaps pausing
here and there in total darkness, to listen to the ever-changing orchestra
of animals, frogs and insects, and to experience the magic of the night-time
rainforest. We may come upon such bizarre nocturnal creatures as camouflaged
frogs disguised as dead leaves, toads the size of rabbits, hairy tarantulas
peering out of their dirt holes, night monkeys lurking among the tree
branches, and a seemingly unpredictable array of other nightlife.
After dinner some guests may choose to visit one of our mammal lick hides,
in hopes of seeing a Lowland Tapir, the rainforest’s largest mammal. Hardy
adventurers can choose to camp here with their guide, in order to experience
a full night in the heart of the rainforest and increase their chances of a
major wildlife sighting. (B, L, D)
DAY 3: HEATH RIVER WILDLIFE CENTER
Our second full day at the lodge allows us to choose from a wide range of
activities available in this exceptionally diverse tropical environment.
Many people choose to make a second visit to the macaw clay lick. Later we
can take a canoe tour around Cocha Moa, an oxbow lake that lies a short way
downstream from the lodge.
The reeds, fallen trees and forested shoreline of this lake teem with birds
and other wildlife. Red Howler Monkeys may peer at us through the branches
of the giant trees above us, while herons lie in wait among the fallen trees,
cormorant-like Anhingas watch from the forest branches, and an Osprey may
circle overhead. Flocks of brilliant Red-capped Cardinals gather on dead
branches, and a colorful, primitive bird, the Hoatzin, hops its ungainly way
along the swampy water’s edge.
In the afternoon we may travel an hour or so downriver to visit the Ese’Eja
native community of Sonene, where we can meet these descendants of nomadic
forest tribes, and catch a glimpse of those traditional ways of life that
they manage to maintain in the modern world. We can also purchase their
handcrafts, made from a wide range of seeds collected from the forest.
After dinner we can board our canoe once more, for an evening of spotting
for caiman, the Amazonian cousin of the alligator. This region is home to
the endangered black caiman, and we nearly always pick out a few with our
powerful spotlight as we patrol the river. (B, L, D)
DAY 4: TRANSFER OUT
We leave at dawn for the return trip downstream. This is peak hour for
wildlife so we keep a sharp eye on the riverbanks, often spotting families
of Capybara, and perhaps being rewarded with a rare jaguar sighting, or a
tapir swimming across the current. We reach the Madre de Dios River, re-enter
Peru, and set off upstream for Puerto Maldonado, where we are transferred to
the airport for our flight to Cusco or Lima.(B)
Please note that the program may vary slightly so as to maximize your
wildlife sightings, depending on the reports of our researchers and
experienced naturalist guides based at the lodge.
END OF OUR SEVICES
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Accommodation
Sandoval Lodge
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