Tambopata Research Center Tour is ideal if you are looking for a more in depth amazon jungle experience. Tambopata Research Center lies in the heart of Tambopata National Reserve.
After staying the first night at Refugio Amazonas, reach on of the largest known macaw clay lick on the second day of your trip and explore the trails of the Tambopata Research Center in the heart of the Tambopata National Reserve, Puerto Maldonado.
Arrival & Reception by Guide Our guides are tourism professionals, or community members. Unless noted otherwise, our guides speak English. We assign guides at 6:1 ratio in Tambopata Reserve 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 Airport to Our Local Office Upon arrival from Lima or Cusco, we will welcome you at the airport and drive ten minutes to our local office. While enjoying your first taste of the forest, 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. Transfer Puerto Maldonado local office to Tambopata River Port Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 40 minutes to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno. The port is a communal business. 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 unit. Boxed Lunch Orientation Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome and brief you with important navigation and security tips. Dinner Caiman Search We will be out at 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
Breakfast Canopy Tower A thirty minute walk from Refugio Amazonas, leads to the 25 meter scaffolding canopy tower. A bannister staircase running through the middle, provides safe access to the platforms above. The tower has been built upon high ground. Therefore, increasing your horizon of the continuous primary forest extending out towards the Tambopata National Reserve. From here, mixed species of flocks including toucans, parrots and raptors fill the canopy. Transfer Boat - Refugio Amazonas to TRC Four and half hours by boat from Refugio Amazonas, in the pristine heart of the reserve, lies the Tambopata Research Center. An hour and a half into our boat journey, we cross the confluence with the Malinowski River, as we leave the final traces of human habitation behind. Within the 700,000 hectare uninhabited nucleus of the reserve, sightings of capybaras, caimans, 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 (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. The sight of dozens of macaws taking flight is truly unforgettable! The details of our stop will depend on the weather and the amount of macaw activity, as the birds, don't visit the clay lick when it is raining. Lunch Orientation Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome and brief you with important navigation and security tips. Overlook Trail A three to five kilometer hike, will lead us to overlooks commanding magnificent views of the Tambopata winding its way into the lowlands. The forest on this trail, is a regenerating old bamboo forest, which is good for Howler and the Dusky Titi monkeys. 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 habits, population fluctuations and the threats to their conservation. Overnight at Tambopata Research Center
Macaw Clay Lick On most clear mornings of the year, dozens of large macaws and hundreds of other parrots congregate on this large river bank in a 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, among several smaller species of parrots descending to ingest clay. Breakfast Floodplain Trail This five kilometer 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. TRC is located within this habitat. 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 the Muscovy duck, sunbitterns and hoatzins along with 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
Macaw Clay Lick On most clear mornings of the year, dozens of large macaws and hundreds of other parrots congregate on this large river bank in a 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 among several smaller species of parrots descending to ingest clay. Breakfast Terra Firme Trail An entirely different habitat characterized by smaller and thinner trees atop hills and slopes cover 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 Trail This type of palm tree grows along the remains of an oxbow lake, which provides fruit year around, as a food source for terrestrial mammals. The aguaje palms, are one of the most important food sources in the rainforest. Demand for these fruits and planting rice, make the palm swamp, one of the most threatened habitats within the Amazon. Dinner Overnight at Tambopata Research Center
Breakfast Transfer Boat - Tambopata Research Center to Tambopata boat pier. Onward to our office in Puerto Maldonado and to Airport. We retrace our river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado to our office and the airport. Depending on airline schedules, this may require dawn departures.
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