Tambopata Explorer 4 Days

Reception at Puerto Maldonado airport and a brief stop at the office to store your main luggage (only a duffel travels to the lodge). A ~1-hour road transfer to the port of the Infierno native community and boarding of a roofed motor canoe: 45 minutes up the Tambopata River with an Amazazonian lunch on board wrapped in bijao leaf. On the beaches: capybaras, white caimans, taricaya turtles and shorebirds. Arrival at the lodge — rooms with mosquito nets and one wall open to the forest. In the afternoon, climb the 30-meter canopy tower: the treetops at your feet, with toucans, macaws in flight and mixed flocks over the Tambopata National Reserve. Dinner and an introductory talk on the reserve's biodiversity.

Distance: 1 h by land + 45 min by boat · Meals: L, D

Departure 5:30 am by boat and a short walk to Tres Chimbadas Lake, an oxbow mirror of water we explore by paddled catamaran: this is home to a family of nine giant river otters that fish at dawn (spotted on ~60% of visits). Sharing the lake: black caimans, prehistoric-looking hoatzins, horned screamers, kingfishers and squirrel monkeys along the banks. Mid-morning, observation from a blind at the parrot clay lick: dozens of blue-headed parrots and parakeets descend to eat the riverbank clay. Lunch and a siesta at the lodge through the hot hours. In the afternoon, the ethnobotanical trail of the Ñape Center: cat's claw, sacha garlic, ayahuasca, walking palms and giant lupunas, with the medicinal uses preserved by the Ese Eja community. At night, a caiman search by boat: their eyes shine red under the flashlight.

Meals: B, L, D

A spectacular early start: departure 4:30 am by boat upriver, inside the Tambopata National Reserve, to the Chuncho clay lick — Peru's largest macaw clay lick. Breakfast in the blind as the birds arrive: between 6:30 and 9:00 am, dozens of scarlet, red-and-green and blue-and-yellow macaws, along with hundreds of parrots, carpet the clay cliff in a chaos of color and squawking. On the way back: capybaras, tapir tracks and, with luck, a jaguar on the beach. Lunch and hammock time, with optional catch-and-release piranha fishing. In the afternoon, the Brazil nut trail: an active harvest camp of Amazonian chestnut (harvest season December to March), the region's sustainable economic engine. After dark, a night walk: tarantulas, tree frogs and tree vipers — the jungle is another world at night. Dinner at the lodge.

Distance: 1 h by boat upriver · Meals: B, L, D

One last early morning: birdwatching at dawn from the lodge or the river, when activity peaks and macaws cross the sky in pairs. Breakfast and the downstream run on the Tambopata (~45 minutes, faster with the current) to the Infierno port, with final chances to see capybaras and caimans on the beaches. Road transfer to Puerto Maldonado, luggage pickup at the office and airport transfer, timed 2 hours before your flight. Included throughout the program: bilingual naturalist guide, rubber boots, purified water and all listed meals.

Meals: B