Amazon Rainforest Conservation Centre
Day 1: Cuzco/Maldonado/Lodge
After the arrival in Puerto Maldonado of your morning flight from Cusco or Lima, we drive 20 minutes to the Madre de Dios river, where our especially equipped motor-canoe awaits us.
Initially we pass the lush farmland bordering the Madre de Dios river, soon reaching the Las Piedras confluence where we begin our adventure up the Las Piedras river. As we go further from town, we begin to leave the farmland behind us until soon there is only the occasional sign of human colonisation with small scale subsistence farms bordering the river in places.
The 80 km river journey to the Tipishca Lodge will take 3 ½ -5 hours, depending on river conditions, so just sit back and relax in your reclining seats and enjoy the beautiful Las Piedras scenery; huge river-cliffs, tight meanders with river beaches, tumbling waterfalls and green canyons. Keep your binoculars to hand, because during the journey there are excellent opportunities for seeing wildlife on the river and forest edge. On the river, frequently seen species include side-necked turtles, caiman, capybara (the world’s largest rodent!), sun bittern, wattled jacana, egrets, white-necked heron, horned screamer, black skimmer, Amazon kingfisher and other riverside birds. In the trees at the forest edge we pass red howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys and dusky titi monkeys; beautiful red and green macaws and noisy toucans are often seen, and hawks and vultures pass overhead.
Your guide will serve you lunch, snacks and chilled drinks, as well as spotting wildlife and entertaining you with jungle stories.
When we arrive at the Tipishca Lodge port, our indiginous Yines Piros hosts welcome us and then invite us to enjoy a small presentation of dances and music. You then have time to relax on the lakeside veranda whilst dinner is prepared, and perhaps get your first sighting of the wildlife stars of lake Tipishca- the resident family of giant otters.
After dinner, we can take a night walk through the forest to look for night monkeys, armadillos, tree frogs, brocket deer, giant crickets and other nocturnal wildlife. At night one becomes more aware of the sounds of the rainforest. The calls of the crickets and frogs are usually the loudest, but owls and potoos are also heard and even jaguar occasionally! Headlamps are recommended for night hikes and cameras with flash a must.
Tipishca Lodge
Tipishca is a purpose built eco-lodge situated on the banks of Lake Tipishca, and fifteen minutes walk from the Las Piedras river. On arrival your luggage is taken by the staff on a handcart, allowing you to enjoy your first short walk through the forest.
The Lodge was built with the participation of the native Piro indians and incorporates many of their traditional building techniques like the palm thatching, with some modern additions such as insect screening for the windows, for extra safety and comfort.
Tipishca lodge has 8 accommodation bungalows; a total capacity for just 16 guests. Each raised bungalow has a high roof and is constructed of beautiful hardwoods. Each accommodation bungalow contains a comfortable double room, with large, screened windows and forest views, and an electric fan for a cooling breeze. The beds have mosquito nets provided for extra security; soft electric lighting and battery recharging points are provided in all rooms, for recharging cameras or videos- but don’t expect your mobile phone to work at Tipishca Lodge! It is a very remote location. Electricity is unlimited throughout the day and evening, but is turned off later in the night, typically around 10pm. Candles are provided for late night lighting. The bathrooms are lined with ceramic tiles and polished hardwoods and boast hot showers; hot water is available 24 hours a day. The private balcony is perfect for relaxing and enjoying the tranquility of the bungalow’s own garden, close to Lake Tipishca.
Tipishca Lodge includes a spacious building accomodating the dining room, bar, kitchen and a long veranda overlooking Lake Tipishca.
Meals are served in the spacious dining room, with large screened windows overlooking the lake. Tea, coffee, fresh drinking water and snacks are available, self-service, throughout the day on a side table in the dining room. There is also an area with hammocks for relaxation, and a small shop area selling locally produced handicrafts and other items. The bar has some comfortable seating and a well stocked bar, serving chilled beer, soft drinks, wine and spirits.
The main dinning hall, bungalows and lake jetty are all connected by well maintained, sandy pathways, which are illuminated at night by lamps, beautifully illuminating the surrounding vegetation and allowing you to walk between the buildings with safety and confidence! The lake jetty, just outside the dining hall, is ideal for observing the lakes’ wildlife, at any hour of the day.
Day 2:
After breakfast we go back to the boat for our journey to ARCC, a journey time of usually 4-5 hours, but up to 6 hours in the dry season (June – September) when the river is more shallow. This includes a stop on the way to see a macaw clay lick. The clay-lick is a large area of bare clay at the edge of the river, which attracts parrots and red and green macaws who come to eat the clay. The spectacle may include up to 200 parrots and a dozen or more red and green macaws. The clay-lick affords excellent opportunities for photography, especially in the months of September and October. Macaws and parrots are attracted to eat the clay for a number of reasons, but principally it is the kaolin in the clay that combats the toxins found in their seed diet. But it’s easy to see that the parrots and macaws enjoy the social aspect too! Sat in the trees waiting for their numbers to grow sufficient for them to go down to the clay-lick, we can watch them in the trees playing, fighting, squawking and being affectionate with each other.
On arrival at ARCC’s river dock, we follow a 200 metre trail through tall rainforest to the lodge itself. ARCC is set amongst natural tropical gardens hidden in clearings amongst giant rainforest trees and just steps from Lake Soledad, separated from the lodge by a narrow band of woodland essential for the transit of lakeside birds and mammals. The ARCC is an exclusive lodge with just 8 bungalows. Each hexagonal bungalow has its own private garden, balcony and bathroom; finished with polished hardwoods, palm thatch and bathroom tiles. Our bungalows boast soft electric lighting, hot-water showers, insect screening, mosquito nets, battery recharging points and a beautiful rainforest view! Meals will be served in the spacious dining hall, which focuses on one grand table for 18. The dining hall also contains a small shop area selling locally produced handicrafts and other items. The lounge bar has some comfortable seating, hammocks and a well stock bar, serving chilled beer, soft drinks, wine and spirits.
We arrive at ARCC in time for lunch, then after a brief rest, begin the ARCC activities.
ARCC Lodge
ARCC is a purpose built eco-lodge situated on the banks of Lake Soledad and five minutes walk from the Las Piedras river. On arrival your luggage is taken by the staff on a handcart, allowing you to enjoy your first short walk through the forest.
ARCC is an exclusive lodge with 8 accommodation bungalows; a total capacity for just 16 guests. Each raised, hexagonal bungalow is palm thatched and constructed of beautiful hardwoods. Each accommodation bungalow contains a comfortable double room, with large, curtained, screened windows and forest views, and an electric fan for a cooling breeze. The beds have mosquito nets provided for extra security; soft electric lighting and battery recharging points are provided in all rooms, for recharging cameras or videos- but don’t expect your mobile phone to work at ARCC! It is a very remote location. Electricity is unlimited throughout the day and evening, but is turned off later in the night, typically around 10pm. Candles are provided for late night lighting. The stylish bathrooms are lined with ceramic tiles and polished hardwoods and boast hot showers; hot water is available 24 hours a day. The private balcony is perfect for relaxing and enjoying the tranquility of the bungalow’s own garden.
Meals are served in the spacious and elegant dining hall, with a cavernous roof and large screened windows. The dining hall has one grand table, seating 18, and side tables where tea, coffee, fresh drinking water and snacks are available, self-service, throughout the day. There is also an area with hammocks for relaxation, and a small shop area selling locally produced handicrafts and other items. The lounge bar has some comfortable seating and a well stock bar, serving chilled beer, soft drinks, wine and spirits.
The main dinning hall, bungalows and lake jetty are all connected by well maintained, sandy pathways, which are illuminated at night by lamps, beautifully illuminating the surrounding vegetation and allowing you to walk between the buildings with safety and confidence! The palm thatched lake jetty, 50m from the dining hall, is ideal for observing the lakes’ wildlife, at any hour of the day.
ARCC Food
ARCC prides itself on its outstanding, varied, local and national cuisine, using the best, fresh, local ingredients. The house speciality is catfish, which can either be steamed with vegetables in bamboo sections or banana leaves, or marinated in lime juice and eaten as Ceviche, Peru’s national dish. Other dishes include lomo saltado, a beef based Peruvian speciality, and pollo en salsa de cocona- chicken prepared with a special sauce. Special diets such as vegetarian, gluten-free, diabetic etc. can be catered for if specified at the time of booking. All meals are served with freshly prepared tropical fruit juices such as passion fruit, pineapple, star fruit, papaya, banana and local fruits such as arazar and cocona; fresh drinking water is also always available.
Motor Canoes
These are made from large one-piece dugout hulls with raised sides, which make them not only fast, but also very strong and stable. All boats carry spare outboard motors and communications radio as well as plenty of food and chilled drinks. The canoes have been fitted with reclining car seats with headrests for optimum comfort and have a roof with lowerable side panels to protect you in the event of rain.
A popular first activity is a Daytime Catamaran tour of Lake Soledad: On lake Soledad we use a catamaran canoe with comfortable chairs and powered by two local paddlers who keep a lookout for the giant otters and other wildlife on the lake. Tours depart from the boat jetty close to the centre, and last 1-3 hours. The catamaran provides an excellent mobile viewing platform, suitable for photography and telescopes. Lake excursions will normally leave early in the morning or late afternoon. Guests to ARCC often opt to have several lake trips during their stay at ARCC, as it is a relaxing way to get good observations of wildlife on the lake and the surrounding forest. Lake Soledad harbours good fish stocks, including piranha and catfish. A canoe tour of the lake gives good opportunities for seeing the giant otters, the wildlife highlight of the lake trips. Most visitors to ARCC have good observations of the lake’s resident giant otters, fishing, playing, grooming or resting. Bird life on the lake is plentiful; the lake attracts many species which include; blue and yellow macaws, grey-necked wood-rails, rufrescent tiger-herons, wattle jacanas, Amazon and pygmy kingfishers, green ibis, black-collared hawk, black capped mocking thrush and yellow-rumped casiques. You might also spot hoatzins, green ibis, red capped cardinals, and ringed kingfishers. Other lake wildlife includes black caiman, side necked turtles, and dragonflies.
An alternative activity for the first afternoon is a guided forest walk: Led by your naturalist guide and often accompanied by a native Piro indian, you explore the trails around Lake Soledad and the forest surrounding ARCC, learning about medicinal plants, ecology, conservation, and spotting birds, mammals, butterflies and other wildlife. Trails cover a variety of habitats from rich floodplain to stands of bamboo, giving you a broad introduction to the diversity of wildlife in the rainforest. Tours to ARCC regularly afford good observations of black spider monkeys, a species sensitive to human disturbance and absent from destinations closer to more populated areas. At ARCC, they are often seen in the forest immediately surrounding the eco-lodge clearing or on a short walk from the lodge. Other monkey species at ARCC are howler monkeys, brown capuchins, white fronted capuchins, squirrel monkeys, night monkeys, dusky titi monkeys and saddle-backed tamarinds. The rich fruit-laden floodplain forests surrounding Lake Soledad support high mammal densities. Other mammals in the forest include white-lipped peccaries, sometimes in huge groups passing through the forest; tayra, agoutis, and anteaters may also be encountered. Animal tracks give an indication of the existence of harder-to-see species such as Brazilian tapir, jaguar, red or grey brocket deer, armadillo and paca. The ARCC clearing is ideal for leisurely bird watching - sightings might include long-billed wood creeper, yellow-tufted woodpecker, crimson-crested woodpecker, cream-coloured woodpecker, cuviers toucans, curl-crested aracaris, white-bellied parrots, blue and yellow macaws, paradise tanagers, white-vented euphonia, swallow tanager, blue dacnis, gilded barbet, fork-tailed wood nymph, rufous-breasted hermit (hummingbirds), bluish-fronted jacamar, striated puffbird, blue-crowned motmot, pale-winged trumpeter, and blue-throated piping guan. There are stands of Guadua bamboo easily accessible on the ARCC trail system, close to the centre. The hollow bamboo segments are full of water, and are the perfect breeding ground for insect larvae which in turn support a number of rare endemic bird species, only found in these special bamboo stands. Such secretive species include Peruvian recurvebill, rufous-headed Woodpecker, white-lined Antbird and Goeldi’s antbird.
In the evening there is a first opportunity for a night walk. A short excursion into the forest at night is quite a different experience to a daytime walk. Accompanied by your guide, you experience the sounds and sights of the rainforest at night, with the chance to see elusive nocturnal creatures, particularly if you visit a mammal clay lick in the forest. A good flashlight is essential for night excursions. At night there is the chance to see night monkeys, armadillos, porcupines, brocket deer or tree frogs. There are an incredible array of nocturnal noises -from large crickets, the lake resonating with croaking frogs, the hooting of owls, the ‘coughing’ of the roosting hoatzins, the loud ‘belching’ of large caimans and even the occasional roaring of a jaguar can all be heard from your bungalow!
Day 3 & 4
Two full days at the Amazon Rainforest Conservation Center to continue the activities; in addition to the above activities you can select from the following, with activities programmed for early morning, late morning, afternoon and evening- and you can opt for some unprogrammed time for relaxation, too!
Night time excursion of Lake Soledad to spot caiman: A catamaran tour at night after dinner is a good opportunity to experience the lake and forest at night. Flashlights can pick out the eyeshine of the otherwise difficult to see black caiman, and other nocturnal species. Night tours typically last an hour.
Ascend to the tree platform:
The ARCC tree platform is a sturdily built wooden structure, 35m (120 ft) up an ironwood tree at the edge of Lake Soledad, giving impressive views of the forest canopy and the lake below. Ascent is by a comfortable cage chair raised by a pulley system by the attentive staff, or for the more atheletic, a cable ladder can be climbed. All ascents are carefully supervised and safety harnesses are used, allowing any guest with a head for heights to enjoy this rarely seen view of the rainforest canopy. Once up on the platform, you are secured with a safety rope and are free to enjoy the view and the chance to see the tree top wildlife at eye-level. Ascents at dawn and dusk are popular, but the platform can be enjoyed at any time of day. From our spectacular canopy platform at ARCC, the undisputed highlight is the colourful mixed flocks of tanagers and other birds which pass close to the platform. Species include blue dances, plum throated cotinga, paradise tanager, green and gold tanager, white shouldered tanager, turquoise tanager, opal crowned tanager and masked crimson tanager. Other species include aracaris, scarlet macaws, bare necked fruit crows and swallow-wing puff birds. Monkeys can be seen high in the canopy; the acrobatic spider monkey is often seen here swinging through the trees in search for fruit, or the passive howler monkey just laid out on a branch. Looking down from the 35m (120 ft) high platform you are undetected by the lake wildlife- the otters are regularly seen from the platform, and sometimes the rare and elusive black caiman, one resident individual of Lake Soledad is almost 5m long, an impressive sight if it surfaces and reveals its full size before subsiding into the water moments later.
Macaw clay lick excursion:
There are 4 clay licks accessible from ARCC, the most impressive is a macaw and parrot clay lick just 20 minutes by boat up river from the center. A hide (blind) on top of the cliff just 25m (80 ft) from the clay lick affords excellent opportunities for observations and photography. Macaw clay licks are best experienced early in the morning; hence tours usually leave the lodge pre-dawn to catch the best of the day with a few hours of high quality bird watching. The species regularly visiting this clay lick include red and green macaws, sometimes a flock of 20 or more at a time, and flocks of up to 200 others including dusky headed parakeet, cobalt winged parakeet and tui parakeet. Other species visiting the clay lick include chestnut-fronted and red-bellied macaws; mealy, blue headed and yellow-crowned parrots, white-eyed parakeets, orange-cheeked parrots, white-bellied parrots, scarlet macaws, blue and yellow macaws, piping guans, and chachalacas.
Conservation activities:
Las Piedras Amazon Tours encourages guests to actively participate in conservation. ARCC has a mahogany reforestation project in which young mahogany trees are grown, transplanted and maintained to augment the numbers of this species which has suffered from the attentions of illegal logging in the past. ARCC guests can help with planting and caring for these trees, hence you are directly contributing to the conservation of the forest.
Fishing demonstrations:
Fishing is not a major activity for visitors at ARCC- we prefer to leave the fish for the giant otters! But our native staff can give a demonstration of their traditional fishing technique with bow and arrow, and if you want to see that famous Amazon fish, the pirahna, the guides can try and catch one- returning the live fish after the demonstration.
Day 5
A last morning of activities at ARCC before taking our departure down river to Tipishca Lodge. On the way there is the opportunity to stop at a refreshing waterfall to bathe and relax.
Day 6
After a good breakfast we will leave Tipischa for our final boat journey, speeding down-river to Puerto Maldonado. En route we will see a clay-lick located just 20 minutes down river from the lodge.
We arrive in Puerto Maldonado in good time to catch onward flights to Cusco or Lima.
NOTE: The described itinerary many vary according to the weather, season, flight times or personal choice.
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