National Reserve Park of Tambopata - Research Center 6 days/5 nights

Keep a lookout for exotic wildlife, interact with local communities, all while enjoying one of the most beautiful natural setting on earth, the Peruvian rainforest. Come with us on this 6 days/5 nights excursion to experience the National Reserve Park.

Day 1:

Arrival & Reception by Guide
Our guides are English speaking; biologists, tourism professionals, or community members. To provide the best quality service we assign no more than 10 people per guide and combine smaller groups. If you would like a private guide or a guide in a language other than English please let us know.

Transfer Airport to Puerto Maldonado Headquarters
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 in our secured storage area as this helps us keep the boats and cargo light.

Transfer Puerto Maldonado Headquarters to Tambopata River Port
Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometers to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno.

Transfer Boat - Tambopata River Port to Refugio Amazonas
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 area.

Boxed Lunch

Orientation
Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important safety and security tips.

Dinner

Caiman Search
After dinner, we will venture out to the river’s edge scanning the shores with headlamps and flashlights to catch the red gleams of reflection from the caiman’s eyes.

Overnight at Refugio Amazonas

Day 2:

Canopy Tower
A thirty minute walk from Refugio Amazonas leads to the 25 meter scaffolding canopy tower. A banister staircase running through the middle provides safe access to the platforms above. The tower has been built upon high ground, therefore increasing your views of the continuous primary forest extending out towards the Tambopata National Reserve. From here views of a variety of species including toucans, macaws and raptors are likely to be spotted.

Breakfast

Brazil Nut Trail and Camp
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.

Transfer Boat - Refugio Amazonas to TRC
Four and half hours by boat from Refugio Amazonas, in the pristine heart of the reserve, is the Tambopata Research Center. One and half hours into our boat journey, as we cross the 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

Orientation
Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important safety and security tips.

Overlook Trail
A three to five kilometer hike will lead us to overlooks with magnificent views of the Tambopata winding its way into the lowlands. The forest on this trail is good for spotting or at least hearing the 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

Day 3

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

Floodplain Trail
This five kilometer trail covers the prototypical rain forest with immense trees criss-crossed by creeks and ponds. Among the figs, ceibas and shihuahuacos we will look for Squirrel, Brown Capuchin, and Spider Monkeys as well as peccaries.

Lunch

Pond Platform
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

Day 4

Time - off
Time off to relax and enjoy the lodge surroundings, try out a new trail, or repeat your favorite activity.

Breakfast

Terra Firme Trail
An entirely different habitat characterized by smaller, thinner trees atop hills and slopes is the highlight of 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

Palm Swamp Tower
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

Day 5

Breakfast

Transfer Boat - TRC to Refugio Amazonas
A three and a half hour boat ride brings us back 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, as well as trying to catch a glimpse of the otters which is more difficult. Throughout the visit to the lake you will be surrounded with a variety of birdlife including the colorful 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

Day 6

Breakfast

Transfer Boat - Refugio Amazonas to Tambopata River Port
Transfer Tambopata River Port to Puerto Maldonado HeadquartersTransfer Puerto Maldonado Headquarters to Airport

We retrace our river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado, our office and the airport. Depending on airline schedules, this may require pre-dawn departures.

Prices are per person and in US Dollar. Prices are subject to change around holidays such as Easter, Christmas, New Year and other local festivities.

Price Includes:
• 2 overnights at Refugio Lodge and 3 nights at TRC (Tambopata Research Center)
• Lunch day 1-5
• Dinner day 1-5
• Pick-up and drop-off from/to the airport Puerto Maldonado
• All excursions in shared services with English speaking guide
• Permanent assistance from our local offices

Price Does Not Include:
• International and domestic airfares
• Meals not specifies
• Drinks
• Travel insurance
• Extras, tips and personal expenses

Note: We reserve the right to change the order of activities depending on weather, schedules, and other unforeseen events.