Arrival & Transfer to Refugio Amazonas. Cayman Research.
Upon arrival to the airport in Puerto Maldonado, welcome at the airport and transfer to the Puerto Maldonado headquarters (10 min drive). Here you can leave your extra luggage at our safe deposit in order to keep the boats light.
Once the group is gathered and all last items are bought, the tour starts with a 20 kilometers drive to the Tambopata River Port. From here begins a beautiful boat ride of 2,5 h to Refugio Amazonas. During this ride we will pass the Community “Infierno” and enter the Tambopata National Reserve.
Upon arrival there will be a briefing about the lodge and area.

CAYMAN RESEARCH:
The light glares against the sheet, highlighting its white color against the dark jungle night. As the bright light flickers, moths begin to flutter towards it. You study them carefully, noting their shapes and patterns. By the end of the night, you might have discovered a new species unknown to science. Now, you get to name it yourself!
Included meals:  Box Lunch, Dinner

Oxbow Lake visit, Brazil Nut Trail, Canopy Tower & Jungle nightwalk
OXBOW LAKE VISIT: We will paddle around the lake on a canoe or a catamaran, looking for lakeside wildlife such as 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.

BRAZIL NUT TRAIL: 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.

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.

NIGHTWALK: 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.
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Parrot clay lick and mammal clay Lick:
PARROT CLAY LICK: A fifteen minute boat ride and sixty minute walk from Refugio Amazonas is a clay lick used both by parrots and parakeets. From a blind you will see parrots and parakeets descend on most clear days to ingest the clay on a bank. Species such as Dusky headed and Cobalt winged Parakeet descend at this clay lick. With luck we will also see some or all of the following species in the early morning rush: Mealy and Yellow-crowned Amazons, Blue-headed Pionus, Severe macaw and Orange-cheeled (Barraband`s) Parrot. We visit the lick at dawn, when parrots are most active or in midmorning or early afternoon, when they are active.

MAMMEL 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.

KAYAKING: We will paddle up a portion of the Tambopata River that presents no difficulty. At the shores we will observe fragmented parts of the forest accompanied by nature sounds and some wildlife we may observe, like birds, caimans and turtles. To finish our experience, we´ll stop on a sandy beach and take a well deserved bath. No experience required, only swimming knowledge.

TAMBOPATA LECTURES: Nightly lectures prepared by the staff of Refugio Amazonas cover conservation threats, opportunities and projects in the Tambopata National Reserve.
Included meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Transfer to Puerto Maldonado
After breakfast we retrace the river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado, the main office and the airport. The time of departure depends on airline schedules.
Included meals: Breakfast