The 5-day / 4-night Deep Rainforest Experience

Arrival & Reception by your Guide. Our guides are biologists, tourism professionals, or community members. Unless noted otherwise, our guides speak English. We assign guides at a 6:1 ratio at the Tambopata Research Center. This means groups smaller than 6 people will be merged with other groups under one guide. If you would like a private guide or a guide in a language other than English please let us know. Transfer from the Airport to our 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 at our safe deposit. This helps us keep the boats and cargo light. Puerto Maldonado Headquarters to Tambopata River Port. Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometres to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno. The port is a local communal venture. 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 reserve. Refugio Amazonas is a charming 32 bedroom lodge well placed adjacent to the Tambopata National Reserve. Each room has a private bathroom with a hot water shower. Prices given are for our Superior rooms with room upgrades available at extra cost. Boxed Lunch Orientation. Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips. Dinner Caiman Search: We will be out on the river’s edge at night, scanning the shores with headlamps and flashlights to catch the red gleams of reflection from caiman eyes. Overnight at Refugio Amazonas. Please read these important guidelines

Breakfast Canopy Tower: A thirty minute walk from Refugio Amazonas leads to the 25-metre high scaffolding canopy tower. A staircase with banister running through the middle provides safe access to the platforms above. The tower has been built upon high ground, therefore maximizing your view of the continuous primary forest extending out towards the Tambopata National Reserve. From here, sightings of mixed species canopy flocks as well as toucans, macaws and raptors are likely. Refugio Amazonas to Tambopata Research Center. Four and half hours by boat from Refugio Amazonas, in the pristine heart of the reserve, lies the Tambopata Research Center. One and half hours into our boat journey, as we cross the confluence with 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 capybaras, caiman, geese, macaws and other large species will become more frequent. Chuncho Clay Lick. Three hours from Refugio Amazonas, deep in the Tambopata National Reserve we will stop at the Chuncho clay lick. After a brief walk (about 5 minutes) we will have the chance to see dozens of large macaws feeding on the special sodium rich clays of the riverbank. The Chuncho clay lick probably attracts more large macaws than any other clay lick in the world and the sight of dozens of macaws taking flight is truly unforgettable. The details of our stopover will depend on the weather and the amount of macaw activity, as the birds don’t visit the clay lick when it is raining, while the number of birds at the lick varies depending on the season. The Tambopata Research Center is a small, comfortable 24-room lodge situated near a large macaw clay lick (locally called a colpa) on the uninhabited frontier of the Tambopata National Reserve and the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park. It has recently undergone a complete renovation & rebuild. All rooms offer private bathrooms with hot water showers. Prices given are for our Superior rooms with a number of more luxurious room upgrades available including Deluxe Suites. Lunch Orientation. Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips. Overlook Trail: A three to five kilometre hike will lead us to overlooks commanding magnificent views of the Tambopata River winding its way into the lowlands. The forest on this trail, regenerating on old bamboo forest, is good for howler monkey and dusky titi monkey viewing. Dinner Macaw Project Lecture: 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 Please read these important guidelines

Macaw Clay Lick: On most clear mornings of the year dozens of large macaws and hundreds of parrots of up to 15 species congregate on this large river bank in a raucous and colourful 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 as well as several species of smaller parrots descend to ingest clay. Outings are at dawn when the lick is most active. Breakfast Floodplain Trail: This five kilometre trail covers the prototypical rain forest with immense trees criss-crossed by creeks and ponds. Amongst the figs, ceibas and shihuahuacos we will look for squirrel, brown capuchin, and spider monkeys as well as peccaries. The Tambopata Research Center itself is located within this habitat. Lunch Island Exploration & Pond: Ten minutes upriver from the lodge is a small pond with a platform in the middle. It is a great place to spot waterfowl such as muscovy duck, sun bittern and hoatzin along with the woodpeckers, oropendolas, flycatchers and parakeets that call this pond home. You will also have an opportunity to learn about the varieties of fish that live in the Amazon & may even get to see a caiman or two. Dinner Rainforest by Night: Walking through the rainforest at night challenges all your senses. In deep darkness, surrounded by an array of jungle sounds and with the aid of your guide’s powerful spotlight, you enter a world inhabited by the most unique, diverse and shy night creatures. If fortunate, you will be able to find poison dart & other frogs, night monkeys, tarantulas and insects with the most unique adaptations to life under the cover of darkness. Overnight at Tambopata Research Center. Please read these important guidelines

Jaguar Search at Dawn: The jaguar (Panthera onca), is the largest cat species in the Americas and the third-largest in the world after the tiger and the lion. The jaguar closely resembles the leopard, but is larger and stronger. A keystone species in the rainforest, jaguars are extremely elusive and well camouflaged when under the forest canopy. Our best chance to spot this majestic cat is when it comes out to the river banks in order to drink water and hunt along the shores of the Tambopata River. Breakfast Monkey Walk: An entirely different habitat featuring smaller, thinner trees atop hills and slopes is covered by this five-kilometer trail. A favourite ecosystem for the many monkey species who inhabit Tambopata region & a great opportunity to learn about these curious and lively habitants of this captivating forest. Lunch Palm Swamp Trail: Growing on the remains of an oxbow lake and providing both arboreal as well as terrestrial mammals with fruits throughout the year, the aguaje palms are one of the most important food sources in the rainforest. Demand for these fruits and good conditions for planting rice, make the palm swamp also one of the most threatened habitats. Sunset Cruise: Sunsets in the Tambopata River have no equal. There is something magical about floating the Tambopata, listening to the river gently flow downstream. Add to this the concerto featuring the local fauna, accompanied by the mesmerizing views of the rainforest and having, as its main protagonist a rain forest sunset with bold sunset colours that you may find in a J.M.W. Turner painting. An unforgettable experience provided by the best artist of all…..nature. Dinner Overnight at the Tambopata Research Center. Please read these important guidelines

Breakfast Early transfer by boat from the Tambopata Research Center to the Tambopata River Port. Transfer from the Tambopata River Port to our Puerto Maldonado Headquarters. Transfer from our Puerto Maldonado Headquarters to the Airport. We retrace our river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado, our office and the airport. * IMPORTANT: Transfer times. Due to our set program start and end times, we will send you suggested flights for your rainforest experience. Other flights incur extra fees for private boat transfers which would need to be added at your cost. Transfer-in (From Puerto Maldonado to Lodge): we have two departures daily at 13:00 and 14:30 and your flights need to link up with these. Transfer-out (Lodge to Puerto Maldonado): Early transfer out at about 5:00 AM in order to be on time for your flight out that should depart after 13:00 hrs please be sure not to purchase an early flight out of Puerto Maldonado to Cusco or Lima. Private transport by bus and boat can be arranged at extra cost for families or groups. Please read these important guidelines