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Tambopata Research Center - Nature Expedition - 7D/6N

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Trip Code : tambopata-rainforest-wildlife-tour-trc7d6n

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Our Nature Enthusiasts programs focus on providing access to specific rainforest wildlife. A guide with skills to increase observation chances is a key. Observing wildlife in the Peruvian rainforest is a challenge but, there are ways to improve wildlife observation chances: by spending more time in the area, by going further away from the civilization and by being accompanied by a guide that is experienced in tracking rainforest wildlife.

NOTE: There is an additional $60 per person charge for entrance into the national park.

TAMBOPATA RESEARCH CENTER NATURE EXPEDITION 7D6N 2013

DAY 1

Arrival & Reception by Nature Guide One of our regular naturalist with long experience in the field and special tracking habilities. Unless noted otherwise, our guides speak English. If you would like 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 at our safe deposit. This helps us keep the boats and cargo light.

Transfer Pto Maldonado Headquarters to Tambopata River Port Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometers 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 you 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

DAY 2

Breakfast

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, hoping to see the otters which are infrequently seen here. You will also be rewarded with overhead sightings of macaws.

Canopy Tower A thirty minute walk from Refugio Amazonas leads to the 25 meter scaffolding canopy tower. A bannistered 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 views of mixed species canopy flocks as well as toucans, macaws and raptors are likely.

Lunch

Mammal Clay Lick Twenty minutes walking from Refugio Amazonas is a peccary clay lick. These wild rain forest pigs show up in herds of five to twenty individuals to eat clay in the late morning. Chances of spotting them are around 15%, but well worth the short hike. Other wildlife also shows up including deer, guan and parakeets.

Dinner

Overnight at Refugio Amazonas

DAY 3

Breakfast

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. 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 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 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, regenerating on old bamboo forest, is good for 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 4

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. 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 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 5

Breakfast

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

CanopyTower A thirty minute hike from TRC in the Terra Firme forest leads a 17 meter scaffolding canopy tower. From the top you will obtain spectacular views of the vast expanses of standing forest. Toucans, parrots and macaws can be seen flying against the horizon. Flocks of mixed species of birds can also be seen flying and landing in the treetops next to you.

Dinner

Overnight at Tambopata Research Center

DAY 6

Breakfast

Transfer Boat - TRC to Refugio Amazonas A three and a half hour boat ride brings us to Refugio Amazonas.

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.

Lunch

Farm Visit Five minutes downriver from the lodge lies a farm owned and managed by charismatic Don Manuel from the neighbouring community of Condenado. He grows a variety of popular and unknown Amazon crops - just about every plant and tree you see serves a purpose.

Ethnobotanical Tour Along this trail we will find a variety of plants and trees that are used by the local population with at least the same variety of purposes. We will learn about the medicinal (and other) uses of Ajo-Sacha, Yuca de Venado, U�a de Gato, Charcot-Sacha, Para-Para, among several others.

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 7

Breakfast

Transfer Boat - Refugio Amazonas to Tambopata River Port

Transfer Tambopata River Port to Pto Maldonado Headquarters

Transfer 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 dawn departures.

NOTES

Included Programmes based on double occupancy. Includes all meal, accommodations, and services, all river transportation, and transfer from and to the airport of Puerto Maldonado.

Not Included International or domestic airfares, airport departure taxes or visa fees, excess baggage charges, additional nights during the trip due to flight cancellations, alcoholic beverages or bottled water, snacks, insurance of any kind, laundry, phone calls or messages, reconfirmation of flights and items of personal nature.

Boat Transportation Rainforest Expeditions boats are 20-foot long, roofed canoes. Outboard boat engine are 60hp 4 cycle, eco-friendly, low emission motors.

Transfer-in (From Puerto Maldonado to Lodge): we have two departures daily at 13:00 and 14:30
Transfer-out (Lodge to Puerto Maldonado): Two daily departures at 07:00 and 08:00

For other schedule possibilities please consult us

We reserve the right to change the order of activities.

Although not valid for the rainforest part of Peru, we recommend that all foreign travelers bring their original passports in order to avoid the payment of national taxes (IGV 18%) at Hotels.

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.

Ox Bow Lake Visit

We will paddle around the lake on a canoe or a catamaran, looking for lakeside wildlife such a hoatzin, caiman and hornerd screamers, hoping to see the otters which are infrequently seen here. You will also be rewarded with overhead sightings of macaws and parrots.

Canopy Tower

A thirty minute walk from Refugio Amazonas leads to the 25 meter scaffolding canopy tower. A bannistered 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 views of mixed species canopy flocks as well as toucans, macaws and raptors are likely.

Mammal Clay Lick

Twenty minutes walking from Refugio Amazonas is a peccary clay lick. These wild rain forest pigs show up in herds of five to twenty individuals to eat clay in the late morning. Chances of spotting them are around 15%, but well worth the short hike. Other wildlife also shows up including deer, guan and parakeets.

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, regenerating on old bamboo forest, is good for Howler Monkey and Dusky Titi Monkey.

Macaw Project Lecture

As a guest of TRC, you will get the chance to experience the incredible, unique display of macaws as they visit the clay lick and will learn all about the macaw project later on during after dinner lectures. These presentations are given by macaw project volunteers and researchers who study them at the clay lick, climb trees to monitor their nests, and take notes on their behavior in the rainforest.

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 hundred 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.

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.

Palm Forest Tower

The palm swamps provide key habitat for a variety of creatures including beautiful treefrogs and spectacular Red-bellied and Blue and Gold Macaws. These big, beautiful, long-tailed parrots are dependent upon palm swamps because they won't nest anywhere else. Parrot lovers will be happy to know that the Tambopata Research Center is fortunate to have an old growth palm swamp deep in the rainforests behind the lodge.

Jungle Night Walk

You will have the option of hiking out at night, when most of the mammals are active but difficult to see. Easier to find are frogs with shapes and sounds as bizarre as their natural histories.

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

Farm Visit

Five minutes downriver from the lodge lies a farm owned and managed by charismatic Don Manuel from the neighbouring community of Condenado. He grows a variety of popular and unknown Amazon crops - just about every plant and tree you see serves a purpose. He has also identified and cultivated many of the medicinal plants used in the region in a little backyard garden.

Ethnobotanical Walk

Along this trail we will find a variety of plants and trees that are used by the local population with at least the same variety of purposes. We will learn about the medicinal (and other) uses of Ajo-Sacha, Yuca de Venado, U�a de Gato, Charcot-Sacha, Para-Para, among several others.

Included

Programs based on double occupancy. Includes all meal, accommodations, and services, all river transportation, and transfer from and to the airport of Puerto Maldonado.

Not Included

International or domestic airfares, airport departure taxes or visa fees, excess baggage charges, additional nights during the trip due to flight cancellations, alcoholic beverages or bottled water, snacks, insurance of any kind, laundry, phone calls or messages, reconfirmation of flights and items of personal nature.

Notes: Programs to Refugio Amazonas : There is an additional $13 per person charge for entrance into the national park. This applies for tours to Refugio Amazonas Lodge

Programs to Tambopata Research Center : There is an additional $60 per person charge for entrance into the national park. This applies for tours to Tambopata Research Center Lodge

Lodge Transfers

Transfer-in (From Puerto Maldonado to Lodge): we have two departures daily at 13:00 and 14:30
Transfer-out (Lodge to Puerto Maldonado) : Two daily departures at 07:00 and 08:00 For other schedule possibilities please consult us

ESPA�OL

Incluido Programas en base acomodaci�n en habitaci�n doble. Todos los transportes terrestres y acu�ticos de acuerdo al itinerario. Traslados Aeropuerto � Albergue - Aeropuerto. Todas las excursiones con gu�a biling�e. Re-confirmaci�n de vuelos nacionales desde Puerto Maldonado. Comidas especificadas en el itinerario.

No Incluido Vuelos internacionales o nacionales, impuestos aeroportuarios, exceso de equipaje, noches adicionales por mal tiempo o cancelaci�n de vuelos, bebidas alcoh�licas, gaseosas o agua mineral embotellada, snacks, seguro de cualquier tipo, lavander�a, llamadas telef�nicas nacionales o internacionales, reconfirmaci�n de vuelos internacionales.

Notas:

Programas a Refugio Amazonas : Hay un pago adicional de $13 por persona por la entrada al parque Nacional que aplica a los visitantes a Refugio Amazonas Lodge

Programas a Tambopata Research Center : Hay un pago adicional de $60 por persona por la entrada al parque Nacional que aplica a los visitantes a Tambopata Research Center

Transfer a los Albergues:

Traslado de llegada (Puerto Maldonado � Albergue): Tenemos dos traslados diarios a las 13:00 hrs. y 14:00 hrs.
Traslado de salida (Albergue � Puerto Maldonado) : Dos salidas diarias a las 07:00 hrs. y 8:00 hrs. Para otras alternativas de traslados por favor cons�ltenos.

Rooms at Refugio Amazonas Lodge	Rooms at Posada Amazonas	The Loft Area at Refugio Amazonas
Refugio Amazonas Dining Room	Tambopata Research Center Room	Motorboats are used for transport on the river
Beautiful Butterfly	Macaw Clay Lick (click to enlarge)	A Baby Capybara
Side Necked Turtles	A Big Caiman	Parrots at Clay Lick
Learning About Wildlife in the Amazon	A Happy Guide with a Happy Visitor	Great Potoo Bird
Bat Falcon (Falco rufigularis)	A Jaguar near TRC	Squirrel Monkey