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DAY 1 PUERTO MALDONADO TO HEATH
RIVER WILDLIFE CENTER
 Our
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 TO SANDOVAL LAKE
LODGE
 We
set off early for the Madre de Dios River and Lake
Sandoval. 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.
Around mid-morning we reach the boat landing at the
trailhead to Lake Sandoval, a protected lake in the
Tambopata Reserve. We walk the 3km/2 mile trail and
travel by canoe down the narrow channel that leads us
onto the open waters of this beautiful lake. As our crew
paddle us across to the lodge (motors are prohibited
here) we may see the lake’s surface roil as a massive
Paiche – an Amazon fish that can reach 100kg/220lbs –
breaks the surface. Or perhaps we will hear the strange
and haunting calls, and see the heads bobbing above the
lake’s surface, that will signal our first acquaintance
with Pteronura brasiliensis, the Amazonian Giant Otter.
After lunch we can take a leisurely canoe tour along the
forested fringes of the eastern lake, spotting for
herons and other water-birds, flycatchers, raptors and
some of the six monkey species found in the area, with a
good chance of seeing one of the glorious sunsets for
which the lake is renowned. When permitted, we may climb
the park authority lookout tower that marks the border
of Sandoval’s restricted zone, for a superb view of the
entire lake. On still, clear nights the mirror surface
of the lake is nature’s planetarium, glittering with the
millions of stars of the brilliant southern sky. Before
dinner we can round off this full day with a short night
walk, spotting for nocturnal creatures along one of the
trails near the lodge. (Box lunch, L ,D)
DAY 4: SANDOVAL LAKE LODGE
 We
rise early to tour the lake shore by canoe once more, in
quest of new wildlife sightings. Our viewpoint from the
canoe often allows closer and more extended encounters
with birds and mammals than on a typical forest trail
hike, and we may witness intimate feeding and mating
behavior. On Lake Sandoval monkeys, in particular, have
almost lost their fear of humans.
We return to the lodge for breakfast and rest for a
while, perhaps enjoying the panoramic view from our high
point on the lake shore, before setting out to walk a
special circuit where we investigate and learn the uses
of dozens of Amazonian medicinal plants. We will see
palmicho, the plant that supplies the roof-thatch
material for our lodges, Candlestick Ginger for anti-inflammatory
medicine, the historically important Chinchona, or
Quinine tree, whose bark has saved countless thousands
from the throes of malaria, and numerous other vital
plants. This route includes both wild forest and a small
botanical garden dedicated to cultivation of some of
these species.
After the mid-day heat subsides we canoe our way around
the shore to the western end of the lake, and encounter
the flooded palm swamps where macaws make their home and
monkeys abound. As we make our way back to the lodge
later, it is getting dark and we can use our flashlights
to spot the brilliant red eyes of caimans and get close
to them as they lurk along the bushy shoreline with
their snouts just above water. (B, L, D)
DAY 5 TRANSFER OUT
After early breakfast we leave near dawn and we take a
final, shorter paddle around the west end of the lake to
try and glimpse the Giant Otters before returning by
motor canoe for the 35 minutes return trip to the Puerto
Maldonado Airport, taking advantage of valuable early
morning wildlife activity along the river. From here you
fly to Cusco or Lima, where your jungle adventure ends.
(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 |
