Tambopata River, Madre de Dios Region, Peru

4Alexandria2015 5:00 PM Aug 5, 2018

many animals to see, beautiful landscapes
we visited it as part of our JunglePro 4-night-tour. We saw MANY birds and mammals, as well as a jaguar (!!!!). Very, very cool. And the landscape itself is worth the visit. The kids ( 12, 17) and we loved it.

4rlalbers 5:00 PM Jul 31, 2015

2 weeks in Peru
We flew from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado(southeastern Peru), rode in a boat 3 hours up river into the Tambopata National Reserve. Pleasant ride with frequent animal stops to view. At dusk, stopped for the night at Refugio Amazonas. Very nice jungle hotel, open without window and but has mosquito nets. Great food. Up early the next morning to view the top of the forest canopy at sunrise from a 100ft tower. 15 minute walk to the tower, very dark, using headlamps to see the trail. Half way to the tower, a Red Howler monkey filled the darkness with a VERY LOUD and alarming howl; my first experience with such creatures. After breakfast, 4 hours further up river to the Tambopata Research Center. This is a combination research center and eco tourism hotel. Primary research about Macaws. This is in the jungle, but very nice compound. Everything is open; bedrooms, shower, dining area. Electricity is solar generated and use is limited to early in morning and late afternoon. Kerosene lanterns are used at night. Headlamps are a must for evening hikes, visits to the bathroom at night; so take extra batteries. Two resident Macaws are interesting, but pushy. They like salty food and will boldly fly into the dining area to snatch bread, salty butter containers and meats. They also, survey each room as new arrivals open up backpacks. They like colorful things. Spraying water at them is the best way to encourage their movement to another sucker! Hikes, 2-3 times a day, exploring up and down the river. The nights are dark, even with a partial moon. The monkeys and birds are quiet at night. The Milky Way was less brilliant in amazon with higher humidity compared to the viewing in the Sacred Valley at 9,000 ft. This was a nice contrast to the Sacred Valley with high mountains and glaciers. Return trip to Puerto Maldonado by boat is 4 hours, since it is down river. This is a small tributary into the Amazon river, but is fast flowing in June(dry season) and varied from 50 to 200 meters in width. A very good boat crew, since the river changes every day with water level changes, lots of downed trees and shifting sand bars. Excellent guides, boat crews and hotel staff arranged through KuodaTravel, based in Cusco.