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DAY 1 TRANSFER BOAT - TAMBOPATA
RIVER PORT TO REFUGIO AMAZONAS
 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 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, lays 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 3 TERRA FIRME TRAIL & PALM SWAMP TOWER
 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. An entirely different habitat characterized
by smaller, thinner trees atop hills and slopes is
covered by this five kilometer trail. Saddleback
tamarins are frequently found here. As we walk near the
limits of the swamp we will also keep our eyes open for
rare tapir tracks. Lunch
A thirty minute hike from TRC brings us to the palm
swamp. Dead aguaje palms serve as nests to Red-bellied
and Blue-and-gold macaws. An elevated boardwalk and
scaffolding tower allow for eye level observation of the
macaws as they fly in and out of their nests.
Dinner
Overnight at Tambopata Research Center (B, L, D)
DAY 4 FLOODPLAIN TRAIL & POND PLATFORM
 Time
off to relax and enjoy the lodge surroundings, try out a
new trail, or repeat your favorite activity. 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
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, 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 at Tambopata Research Center (B, L, D)
DAY 5 PALM SWAMP TRAIL & CREEKS TRAIL
 Time
off to relax and enjoy the lodge surroundings, try out a
new trail, or repeat your favorite activity. Breakfast
Growing on the remains of an oxbow lake and providing
both arboreal as well as terrestrial mammals with fruits
throughout the year, the aguaje palms are one of the
most important food sources in the rainforest. Demand
for these fruits and great conditions for planting rice,
makes the palm swamp also one of the most threatened
habitats. Lunch
This is a different kind of Terra Firme forest, crossed
by a number of creeks that will eventually reach the
Tambopata River. Walking in the opposite direction of
the river, we will focus on forest and creek ecology.
Dinner
Overnight at Tambopata Research Center (B, L, D)
DAY 6 OXBOW LAKE VISIT
Time off to relax and enjoy the lodge surroundings, try
out a new trail, or repeat your favorite activity.
Breakfast
Three and a half hour boat ride brings us to Refugio
Amazonas. Boxed Lunch
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.
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 7 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. |
