Day 1 - Arrive Puerto Maldonaldo from Cusco or Lima, transfer to lodge, Canopy Tower
Upon arrival from Lima or Cusco (we can look for these), we welcome you at the airport and drive ten minutes to the Puerto Maldonado headquarters. While enjoying your first taste of the forest in our gardens we ask you to pack only the necessary gear for your next few days, and leave the rest in our safe deposit in Maldonaldo. This helps us keep the boats and cargo light.
Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometres to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno. Boxed Lunch.
The forty five minute boat ride from the Tambopata Port to Posada Amazonas takes us into the Community’s Primary Forest Private Reserve, and you can enjoy a boxed lunch en route.
Upon arrival, the lodge manager welcomes you and briefs you with important navigation and security tips for the lodge and rainforest. We then head to the canopy tower.
Canopy tower:
A twenty minute walk from the lodge leads to the 30 metre scaffolding canopy tower. A staircase, with banisters, provides safe access to the platforms above. From atop you obtain spectacular views of the vast expanses of standing forest cut by the Tambopata River winding through the middle. Now and then toucans, parrots or macaws are seen flying against the horizon, or mixed species canopy flocks land in the treetop next to you.
We return to the lodge for dinner after which there is a presentation on the Infierno ecotourism project, available every night from a staff member. (L,D)
Day 2 – Oxbow Lake and botanical tour
After breakfast, we head to the Tres Chimbadas Oxbow Lake. It takes thirty minutes by boat and forty five minutes to hike there from the lodge. Once there, you paddle around the lake in a catamaran, searching for the resident family of nine giant river otters (seen by 60% of our lake visitors) and other lakeside wildlife such as caiman, hoatzin and horned screamers.
Following a boxed lunch, we take a botanical tour, to learn all about the uses for the rainforest’s plants. A twenty minute boat drive downriver leads you to a trail designed by the staff of the Centro Ñape. The Centro Ñape is a communal organization that produces medicines out of forest plants and administers them to patients who visit their small clinic. They have produced a trail, which you can follow, which explains the different medicinal (and other) uses of selected plants.
We return to the lodge for a sumptuous dinner. Afterwards, there is an option for a hike in the rainforest at night, a great experience. It’s when most of the mammals are active but rarely seen. It’s much easier to find the frogs with shapes and sounds as bizarre as their natural histories. (B,L,D)
Day 3 – Parrot clay lick – Ceiba Trail Hike
We are up early, before breakfast, to visit the clay lick. The clay lick is only a twenty minute walk from the lodge. From a blind located about twenty metres away, you can see dozens of parrots and parakeets descend on most clear mornings to eat the clay from the river bank. Species such as Mealy and Yellow- headed Amazon, Blue-headed Parrot and Dusky headed Parakeet descend at this clay lick. The clay lick is active at dawn, during the late mornings and mid-afternoons.
We head back to the lodge for breakfast.
Mid-morning we head off on a new trail, the Ceiba Trail Hike. It’s two hours, and as well as keeping an eye out for wildlife, the highlight is the largest tree in the vicinity: a giant ceiba tree. Your guide will also tell about the natural history of the rain forest en route, and then we return to the lodge for lunch.
In the afternoon, we hop back into the boats for half an hour to visit the most complete farm in the community of Infierno. The owner grows a diverse variety of popular and little known Amazon crops. In his garden, just about every plant and tree serves a purpose.
We return for our last night at the lodge (you can stay for 3, 4, 5 or more days) for our final dinner, with options night hikes and talks available. (B,L,D)
Day 4 - Transfer back to Maldonaldo airport, fly to Cusco or Lima
After breakfast, 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)
General information
Guide and groups.
The guides are biologists, tourism professionals, or community members, and speak English. Groups are assigned to guides at 10:1 ratio - this means groups of fewer than 10 people will be merged with other groups, to make a max group size of 10. Private guides or those fluent in another language can be arranged.
Boats
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 depart with a maximum two hour wait.
Accommodation
The lodge is built using a combination of traditional native materials (wood, palm fronds, wild cane and clay) and architecture with modern day eco-lodge technology. The lodge itself consists of a complex of four sections: rooms, dining area and kitchen, relaxation area and internal support facilities. The entire roof of the lodge is constructed using high quality crisneja palm fronds, whereas the floors are of tropical mahogany.
The bedroom complex is built of four 9 X 24 metre structures with six rooms per facility, making a total of 30 double bedrooms. The rooms are 7 x 4 metres so they can comfortably hold three beds, although most are set up with two beds. The walls dividing each room are built using cane, and extend from the floor to about 2.5 metres height, making each room private.
The side that looks out to the forest does not have a wall or screening of any kind, acting as a large window facing the forest. The reason we have been able to incorporate this "luxurious" design into our lodge is because mosquitos are not really a problem around the lodge clearing and the open section allows for intimate contact with the rain forest. A second small window, high on the opposite side, keeps the rooms well ventilated. Doors are replaced with drapes. Rooms are not soundproof.
Each room has a private bathroom with cold water only. Rooms and bathrooms are separated by drapes. Each room has beds, mosquito nets, bedside tables and hammocks or lounge chairs. Rooms are decorated with wood-carvings representing stories and characters from Ese-eja traditions.
Common areas are open and spacey and offer ample area for resting and socializing. They include a dining room and bar, a reception lounge with souvenir shop and an interpretation centre.
Environmental policy
All waste is separated and recycled and all biodegradable material is composted onsite. All non-biodegradable material is taken by boat to the refuse area in town. All glass material is taken to the recycler in town. Staff use only biodegradable soaps, shampoos, and laundry materials. Power is supplied by a generator, switched on five hours a day for essential kitchen equipment and battery recharging. The lodge is lighted by wind lamps and refrigerators are gas powered.
The community has incorporated regulations which forbid members to hunt in the communal reserve, to fish with nets in the lake, and to cut forest around harpy eagle nests. In 2003, a logger came to the community to buy a standing hardwood near the lake. The community assembly said no because it is close to the otters. Then the logger offered to bribe the president, and he said no. Then the logger went and cut it anyway. The community went to the police and had the timber and equipment removed. The lodge also pays for two wildlife monitors, who follow Conservation International’s protocol to evaluate wildlife population sizes. The community pays for the monitors as a way to keep an eye on what impact hunting is having as a resource that is shared by tourists and community families alike.
What to bring
Good binoculars, Camera gear, Tight - weave, long cotton trousers, long sleeved cotton shirts, ankle-high hiking boots and trainers, torch with batteries, sun block, sun glasses, broad-brimmed hat, rain jacket or poncho, deet-based insect repellent, USD or Soles for drinks and tips, small daypack, book, after bite
Luggage is hand-carried at various stages of the trip for a fairly long distance. We strongly recommend you limit your weight to 15 kilos (32 pounds a piece).
If you are visiting other destinations in Peru that require different kinds of clothing, you can always pack separate bags and safely leave them at our offices in Puerto Maldonado on the first day so we won't be carrying them around uselessly. Your bag will be waiting for you at the airport the day you leave.
Weather
The lowland rain forests of Tambopata lie far enough south of the Equator to provide a cooler, drier winter season between May and October. The general weather conditions are warm and humid. In Tambopata the average daytime high temperature is between 78° and 93° F (24° and 31°C) and the average night time low is between 66° and 78° F (20° and 24°C).
However, between May and September, cold fronts from Argentina can sweep into south western Amazonia and push daytime highs down to 50° F (9° C) and the night time lows to 43° F (5° C).
During the rainy months of November through April, always be prepared for heavy rain that can continue for hours or days. Around 80% of the annual average 3000 mm rainfall occurs during this season.
Yellow Fever inoculation is required for travel to Tambopata.
Leishmaniasis
Leishmaniasis is present throughout the rain forests of southeastern Peru. It is a skin lesion caused by a protozoan transmitted by a certain kind of small biting fly. There is no vaccination against it but it is curable in every case. The selected cure, injections of pentavalent antimony (Glucantime), is uncomfortable. Leishmaniasis is also very easy to prevent by wearing long-sleeved shirts, pants, and repellent on exposed skin at all times, and sleeping under mosquito nets. If you are interested in receiving complete information on leishmaniasis contact us before your trip.
Malaria
Malaria is present but extremely rare. Consult your doctor or a specialist in tropical medicine before travelling for up-to-date-advice.
Emergencies
In case of emergencies we have a first aid kit that is equipped to deal with most cases that may reasonably arise in the area. Our guides are all certified by the Red Cross, which means they are prepared to deal with foreseeable emergencies (broken bones or snake bites, for example) but not complex emergencies (such as an appendicitis). For snake bites, unheard of at Tambopata so far, we have a stun gun, extractors and an anti-venom at the lodges. In case of evacuation, we need to travel by boat by to Puerto Maldonado. In Puerto Maldonado there is access to a state clinic.
Tips
You will find tip boxes at each of the lodges, these are for staff tips. We suggest US$3 per person, per day. To tip your guide, wait until the end of the trip, and do so personally. We suggest US $10 per person, per day.
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