This Amazon tour combines two jungle lodges in the remote Tambopata Reserve, the largest uninhabited tropical forest in the world. Learn about the local ecology from scientists and indigenous guides during your visit to the most pristine jungles in the Peru Amazon Basin. One of the highlights is a visit to the largest known macaw lick in the Amazon.
Tour Itinerary:
Day 1: Arrive Lima. Overnight.
Day 2: Fly Amazon - Refugio Amazonas (L,D)
Begin your morning with a flight to the frontier town of Puerto Maldonado. From here travel up the Tambopata River to Refugio Amazonas, located in a 120 hectare private reserve surrounded by the community of Condenado. Refugio Amazonas is a comfortable yet unobtrusive 24-room lodge built using a combination of traditional native materials and modern eco-lodge technology.
This afternoon you will visit the brand new Canopy Observation Tower recently completed in March 2006, and have an overview of the beautiful jungle canopy. You will also hike to a 115-foot canopy observation platform for a birds-eye view of the jungle. Marvel at the stunning river views and observe parrots, toucans, and macaws nesting in the surrounding treetops.
Days 3-5: Tambopata Research Center (2B,3L,3D)
You'll awake at dawn for an early morning visit to the Sachavacayoc oxbow lake. Hike 1.5 hours to the lakeshore and then take a tranquil canoe ride in search of resident turtles, giant river otters, hoatzin, and wading birds.
Tambopata-Candamo Reserve is nearly 1.7 hectares and is considered the largest uninhabited tropical forest on earth. By noon you will travel in a dugout canoe deep into the Tambopata. The jungle here provides habitat for many of the most exciting tropical animals, including 8 species of macaws, 13 species of monkeys, at least 530 species of birds, tapir, caiman, capybara, ocelot, jaguar and many more. You'll overnight at the Tambopata Research Center, located just 30 minutes from the largest known macaw clay lick in the world!
Before dawn breaks on Day 4, you're at the clay lick and as the sun breaches the treetops, a dazzling wildlife spectacle appears along the steep clay bank. More than a thousand parrots perch and flit around the salt lick, painting the area with bright blues, yellows, reds and greens.
You're likely to see 6 species of macaws: Scarlet, Red-and-green, Blue-and-gold, Red-bellied, Chestnut-fronted, and Blue-headed; plus several types of parrots and other tropical birds. You'll visit the macaw lick again on Day 5 to enjoy the explosion of colors and wildlife.
The rest of your time at the Tambopata Research Center is filled with tours into the jungle to learn more about rainforest ecology and observe the abundant wildlife. Tambopata may be the very best place in the world to encounter such rarely seen tropical animals in their native environment as the tapir, white lipped peccaries, and the seldom seen jaguar.
Day 6: Refugio Amazonas (B,L,D)
This morning say good-bye to the wild birdlife before returning down river to Refugio Amazonas. In the afternoon, you'll explore the jungle surrounding the lodge to learn how the native community uses Amazon rainforest plants, animals and trees for medicine, food and construction.
Day 7: Fly Lima and Return Home.
Accommodations: 1 night comfortable hotel, 2 nights rainforest lodge, 3 nights research center. Please note that neither Tambopata or Refugio Amazonas have electricity
Food Includes: All meals as indicated (B=Breakfast, L=Lunch, D=Dinner); most of our hotels offer free continental breakfast.
Transportation: Local flights, motorized and paddled canoes
Weekly Saturday departures.
Notes:
Airfare is not included in the tour price.
Single Supplement: US$340
6-day option: US$995
Note: Roundtrip flight from Lima to Puerto Maldonado is not included. Please add US$310 (flight cost subject to change).
Personal budgeting: Allow US$40 for meals not included, US$28 international departure tax.
Pre & post tour accommodations: Share US$45, Single US$90
Arrival/Departure Transfers: 1 person US $50 each, 2 or more people US $25/person.
Prices are based on a 3% cash discount
Also see tour packages in:
South America
Peru
Rainforest
Wildlife Viewing
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