Amazon Rainforest Conservation Centre
Day 1: From Cuzco/ Lima to Maldonado and on to Tipishca Lodge
Morning airport transfer for flight to Puerto Maldonado. Meet our rainforest naturalist guide and drive to a local port to ride a motorized dugout canoe across the Madre de Dios River to the small jungle town of Alegrai (50 min). We transfer to a comfortable, a/c van to drive on the new paved Amazon highway connecting to a short turnoff to the Las Piedras River 1 hr. He we board another comfortable motorized canoe for the 2 hour journey to the Amazon Resources Conservation Center.
Enroute watch for wildlife along the riverbank like capybara, caiman, turtles, brown capuchin and howler monkeys and shore birds including horned screamers, kingfishers, black skimmers, or red and green macaw flying overhead. Arrive mid-afternoon at ARCC, a well-constructed lodge just steps from Lake Soledad. Walk the trails around the lodge at dusk, relax and refresh at the bar, or lounge in hammocks before dinner.
If you feel energetic after dinner, you can go on a night walk through the forest to look for night monkeys, armadillos, tree frogs and other nocturnal wildlife and to listen to the sounds of the jungle at night.
Day 2: Activities at ARCC
A popular first activity is a boat tour of Lake Soledad where we keep an eye out for giant otters. Most visitors to ARCC witness the lake’s resident giant otters, fishing, playing, grooming or resting. Bird life on the lake is plentiful; the lake attracts many species, including blue and yellow macaws and hoatzins. And maybe you’ll spot a black caiman, too.
Alternatively you can go on a guided forest walk; with 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. Black spider monkeys can be spotted, 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, and anteaters.
Animal tracks give an indication of the existence of harder-to-see species such as tapirs and jaguars – and you might be among the lucky ones to spot them! If you like to bird-watch, you have come to the right place – the forest in a perfect spot for a huge variety of exotic species. And in the evening there is the opportunity for a night walk once again, or a nightly boat journey on the lake.
Day 3, 4 & 5 at the ARCC
Three full days at the Amazon Rainforest Conservation Center to continue the activities; in addition to the above activities you can select from the various options below – or of course opt for some unprogrammed time to relax, 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. 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 have the chance to see the tree top wildlife at eye-level. In addition to a colourful variety of birds, monkeys can be seen high in the canopy in search for fruit; Looking down from the platform you are undetected by the lake wildlife- the otters are regularly seen from the platform, and sometimes you spot the rare and elusive black caiman, an impressive sight if it surfaces and reveals its full size of 5m 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, blue and yellow macaws and several parrots species, sometimes in flocks of up to 200!
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 the pirahna, the guides can try and catch one- returning the live fish after the demonstration.
Day 6: Return to Cusco/ Lima
Rise before dawn for an early breakfast and depart ARCC to journey downriver connecting by car and boat again in order to catch the flight from Puerto Maldonado to Lima.
NOTE: The described itinerary many vary according to the weather, season, flight times or personal choice.
You could extend your trip by trekking the Inca Trail. Check out our Peru group trips, or our many tailor made Peru options. You can always contact the office for more information on tailor made and group options.
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