On our rainforest tour to the Wasai eco-lodge located deep in the Amazon rainforest, you will find pristine Amazon rainforest and excellent wildlife watching opportunities.
This tour takes you right into the heart of the Tambopata Reserve and Bahuaja-Sonene national park and among several highlights during your stay, you will visit the Chuncho macaw lick in the neighbouring Bahuaja-Sonene National Park.
Wildlife reserve
The Tambopata Candamo Reserved Zone, located south and east of Puerto Maldonado, comprises 1.5 million hectares and protects a huge diversity of forest habitats and wildlife.
Here you’ll encounter rivers with white, sandy beaches and oxbow lakes harbouring kingfishers, caiman and giant otters, spectacular waterfalls and clay licks (collpas) visited by macaws, monkeys and tapirs.
Leaving the Wasai Tambopata Lodge & Research Centre on day 3, you head back into Puerto Maldonado where we spend our last night. From here you will have the opportunity to explore the nearby Sandoval Lake, considered one of the most beautiful lakes in the southern Amazon of Peru.
Arriving at the lake in the cool golden light of the late afternoon, you enter a flooded palm forest and drift beneath dozens (and often hundreds) of Red-bellied Macaws as they return to the palm forest for the night. At 500-800 birds, this flock of macaws at Sandoval Lake is currently the largest reported in the world for this highly-specialized macaw. You return to the Puerto Maldonado Lodge around nightfall for dinner.
Itinerary - Day 1
Fly from Cusco or Lima to Puerto Maldonado airport where you will be met and accompanied to the WASAI Maldonado Lodge. Here you embark for a 3 to 4 1/2 hour motorboat trip up the Tambopata river to WASAI Tambopata Lodge & Research Centre (lunch en route). During the trip you can search the banks of the river for families of Capybaras, the largest rodents in the world, while groups of birds pass over the boat and you search the banks of the river.
Once we have reached the lodge, there is time to rest a little before you’re off on a brief introductory walk in the forest nearby to learn basic principles of ecology and hear some wildlife natural history. Return to the lodge for dinner.
After dinner we make our first visit to the forest to observe the nocturnal life of insects, frogs of various colors and an occasional encounter with nocturnal mammals and to enjoy the diverse sounds of the jungle which accompany our first night in Amazonia.
Day 2
Today we wake early (4 am) and travel up the Tambopata River for an hour and half to the Bahuaja- Sonene National Park. You see a magical sunrise and it is a great opportunity to see animals such as capybaras, tapir, jaguar, and deer in the surrounding virgin forest. We can observe (from a safe distance) one of the greatest spectacles of the rainforest: Hundreds of parrots, parakeets and macaws of various species, enjoying their diet of mineral salts on a river bank.
We have a hot drink and a snack whilst watching birds and go for a short walk to look for animals such as monkeys and then return to the lodge to have a late breakfast and rest. After lunch we enter the verdant jungle on a special trail to observe wild life. We then enter the territory of peccaries, deer and other mammals, with the possibility to hear or see the tracks of them. We might even discover a troop of monkeys traveling through the canopy in search of food. Time permitting, we will be able to enjoy a relaxing swim in the waterfall.
Those that feel energetic can leave on another trip through the jungle in search of caimans. Or of course you can simply relax in the lodge surrounded by exotic nocturnal sounds.
Day 3
After breakfast we travel by boat to the WASAI Maldonado Lodge, in Puerto Maldonado where we relax in our bungalows and enjoy a tasty lunch. After lunch we leave and travel for twenty minutes on the Madre de Dios River until we reach the access trail to Lake Sandoval, a beautiful typical rainforest lake. 5 km hike to the banks of the lake.
Once we have reached the lake we board a canoe explore the lake further, enjoying its beauty and observing the wildlife, such as kingfishers, herons, the unique pre-historic looking hoatzins, monkeys, etc. If we are lucky we could see the family of giant otters which live at the lake. We can fish for piranhas and swim in the lake.
It is time to begin our return hike to the Madre de Dios River to return to Puerto Maldonado and the modern and comfortable bungalows of WASAI Maldonado Lodge. After dinner we rest or go around the town on foot or on bicycle. We can enjoy the pool and its waterfall surrounded by verdant vegetation. Rest of the night free to enjoy the night life of this welcoming city.
Day 4
After breakfast it is time to say farewell and return to the airport for flight back to Cusco/Lima.
You could extend your trip by trekking the Inca Trail or visiting other parts of the Amazon.
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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