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DAY 1 ARRIVAL & RECEPTION BY KIDS
GUIDE
 One
of our regular naturalists with a feel for kids will be
assigned to your groups. If solicited, a separate guide
will be assigned to the rest of the family for regular
activities.
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.
Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometers to the
Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of
Infierno. The port is a communal business.
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
Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and
brief you with important navigation and security tips.
Dinner
Caiman Search: 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 at Refugio Amazonas (Box Lunch, D)
DAY 2 THE CHILDREN'S RAINFOREST TRAIL: ANIA & THE
WORLD´S VOICE
 Breakfast.
Adults will have Oxbow Lake Visit
We will paddle around the lake on a canoe or a catamaran,
looking for lakeside wildlife such as hoatzin, caiman
and horned screamers, hoping to see the otters which are
infrequently seen here. You will also be rewarded with
overhead sightings of macaws.
Kids will take The Children's Rainforest Trail: Ania &
the World´s Voice
A short trail designed for children with the help of
ANIA, an environmental education NGO. Kids aged 6-12
hike with a guide through a challenging (but short)
trail where they follow maps, solve riddles and find
clues that will lead them to Ania’s “gifts”. The trail
teaches kids how people live in the rainforest and leave
a valuable message from Ania, “a girl born in the depths
of the rain forest to fill our hearts with hope”. The
concept, the story and the trail are trademarked by ANIA,
a nonprofit with the mission of creating 100,000
hectares of “Tierras de los Niños” (Children’s Lands) -
private protected areas in the management of children.
Lunch
Adults will have a Farm Visit
Five minutes downriver from the lodge lays a farm owned
and managed by charismatic Don Manuel from the
neighboring community of Condenado. He grows a variety
of popular and unknown Amazon crops - just about every
plant and tree you see serves a purpose.
Ethnobotanical Tour
Along this trail we will find a variety of plants and
trees that are used by the local population with at
least the same variety of purposes. We will learn about
the medicinal (and other) uses of Ajo-Sacha, Yuca de
Venado, Uña de Gato, Charcot-Sacha, Para-Para, among
several others.
Kids will take The Children's Rainforest Trail:Ania &
The Forest's Treasure
Another trail designed by ANIA, somewhat longer, which
requires a five minute boat ride. Features include Ant
City, the search for the lost Brazil Nut, a shihuahuaco
tree to climb and a visit to Anias home near lake
Condenado. Dinner
Video Presentations: Video presentations are available
every night at the interpretation center. Topics include
the Tambopata National Reserve and the macaw project.
Overnight at Refugio Amazonas (B, L, D)
DAY 3 CANOPY TOWER, BRAZIL NUT TRAIL AND CAMP
 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. Breakfast
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.
Four and half hours by boat from Refugio 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
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 at Tambopata Research Center (B, L, D)
DAY 4 MACAW CLAY LICK & FLOODPLAIN TRAIL
 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
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 to spot waterfowl such as Muscovy duck, sun
bittern 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 at Tambopata Research Center (B, L, D)
DAY 5 RAINFOREST TATOO
 Breakfast.
A three and a half hour boat ride brings us to Refugio
Amazonas.
Boxed Lunch
Rainforest Tattoo: Five minutes from the lodge lives Don
Manuel, who grows a variety of popular and unknown
Amazon crops - just about every plant and tree you see
serves a purpose. At Don Manuel’s farm, we will prepare
a paste from the fruit of huito and achiote to draw dark
blue and red tattoos on ourselves. They last several
days. Dinner
Tambopata National Reserve Lectures: Nightly lectures
prepared by the staff of Refugio Amazonas cover
conservation threats, opportunities and projects in the
Tambopata National Reserve.
Overnight at Refugio Amazonas (B, Box Lunch, D)
DAY 6 TRANSFER OUT
Breakfast. Transfer Boat from Refugio Amazonas to
Tambopata River Port to go to Puerto Maldonado
Headquarters
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. (B)
END OF SERVICES
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.
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. |
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INCLUDED
Programmes based on single and double occupancy.
Includes all meal, accommodations, and services, all
river transportation, and transfer from and to the
airport of Puerto Maldonado.
NOT INCLUDED
International or domestic airfares, airport departure
taxes or visa fees, excess baggage charges, additional
nights during the trip due to flight cancellations,
alcoholic beverages or bottled water, snacks, insurance
of any kind, laundry, phone calls or messages,
reconfirmation of flights and items of personal nature. |
