AMAZON ESCAPE– 4D/ 3N (KAJ4)

Day 1 Arrive Amazon Jungle
Upon arrival from Lima or Cusco we will welcome you at the airport and transfer you to our base in Puerto Maldonado. Here enjoy your first taste of the tropics in our gardens and pack only the necessary gear for your next few days, leaving the rest safely stored at our safe deposit. After a short drive from Puerto Maldonado to the river Port it is time for your boat journey to the Amazon Lodge. Upon arrival you will be welcomed and given a briefing and time to settle in. In the afternoon just relax at the lodge or hike into the jungle returning to the lodge for dinner. After a sunset you will never forget participate in an environmental lecture, held nightly. Settle down in your bungalow and fall asleep listening to the sounds of the jungle.

Day 2 Amazon Jungle
After an early breakfast you will boat and hike to a nearby lake. Canoe or sail on the lake searching for wildlife such as a family of giant river otters, caiman, hoatzin, turtles and horned screamers. Visit a Parrot clay lick and see dozens of parrots and parakeets descend on most clear mornings to ingest the clay on a river bank. After lunch visit a local community and return to the lodge for dinner. On a night spotlighting walk search for the mammals that are active but rarely seen. Much easier to find are frogs with shapes and sounds as bizarre as their natural histories

Day 3 Amazon Jungle
At dawn head into the nearby jungle to the canopy tower to listen to the dawn chorus as the jungle awakes. After breakfast more boat and hiking activities into the jungle. Visit a local farm and enjoy lunch. Return to the Lodge for dinner and a night spotlighting boat trip searching for Caiman and other wildlife.

Boat Transportation – boats are 20 foot long, roofed canoes with 55 hp outboard motors. Daily arrivals and departures from every port are scheduled to meet every airline arrival and departure.

We assign guides at 10:1 ratio. This means groups smaller than 10 people will be merged with other groups under one guide. If you would like a private guide please let us know.

NB: Programs vary depending on the Lodge selected

Amazon Lodges

Posada Amazonas

Refugio Amazonas

Eco Amazonia

Reserva Amazonica

For prices and options please contact us

To arrive at RESERVA AMAZÓNICA is to arrive to another world.

It sits smack on the river bank amid a 40-square-mile private ecological reserve owned by INKATERRA, in the heart of the Amazon Rain Forest, adjacent to the Tambopata national park. The lodge was opened in 1975 and performs innovative sustainable use of the Amazon Rainforest: scientific based tourism since 1978.

RESERVA AMAZÓNICA is part of a private ecological reserve adjacent to the Tambopata National Park, located in the southern part of the Peruvian Amazon basin. The Reserve is reached by following the Madre de Dios River, accessed from the nearest town, Puerto Maldonado.

Daily commercial flights connect Puerto Maldonado with Lima (2 hours) and Cusco (35 minutes).  The lodge is about an hour’s canoe ride (15 Km. or 9 miles) from Puerto Maldonado.

Reserva Amazonica 3D /2N – (KAJ3)
A compact yet thorough excursion, featuring superb activities and explorations, that permits the traveler to discover a wide diversity of ecosystems subsisting in the Amazon rainforest, and to explore the rich biodiversity within the Tambopata region.

DAY 1   PUERTO MALDONADO / RESERVA AMAZONICA
Transfer from the airport to the river port / Set out on outboard motorboat down the Madre de Dios River to Reserva Amazonica (45 min) / Welcome, accommodations and lunch at the lodge / Walk through the trails inside the Ecological Reserve / Cruise the Madre de Dios River by Night / Dinner at the lodge / Evening Nature Presentations on Amazonian topics / Overnight at Reserva Amazonica

DAY 2 RESERVA AMAZONICA
Tropical breakfast buffet 
Canopy and Aguajales. A five-minute boat ride takes you to the Canopy Interpretation Center. Ascend the first tower, 45 meters (150 feet) above the forest floor. Spend an hour and a half walking on the bridges that stretch between seven platforms, as you see giant strangler fig trees, orchids, toucans, woodpeckers, trogons, and with luck, monkeys or a three-toed sloth. Next, a 30-minute walk takes you to a nearby wetland area, an important rainforest ecosystem that is host to many exotic plants and birds. Alternatives are Lake Sandoval, Conception, or Rolin Island.
Navigation in canoe around the Lake Sandoval / Lunch at the lodge / Visit the Canopy Interpretation center and walk through treetops and Wetlands / Dinner at the lodge / Evening Nature Presentations on Amazonian topics / Overnight at Reserva Amazonica.

DAY 3 PUERTO MALDONADO / LIMA
Tropical breakfast buffet.
Return transfer to Puerto Maldonado / Visit to the Butterfly Farm at Puerto Maldonado / Airport Transfer

TOUR INCLUDES:

Roundtrip ground transportation. (Airport / Lodge / Airport)
02 nights Accommodation at RESERVA AMAZÓNICA
All meals at the lodge & Water and typical natural beverages
Bilingual Guide services in English, French or Italian
Basic equipment required for each activity
Excursions mentioned in the program

TOUR DOES NOT INCLUDE:

Airfare to / from Puerto Maldonado
Airport taxes US$ 6.05 approx. 
Dinners and meals that are not mentioned in the program

OPTIONAL EXTRAS – price on application
Native community Visit – 2hrs
Visit to Aceer - the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research - ACEER
Tropical Fish Aquarium – 1hr

FLIGHT OPTIONS
Lima – Puerto Maldonado – Lima
Lima – Puerto Maldonado – Cusco
Cusco – Puerto Maldonado – Cusco
Cusco – Puerto Maldonado – Lima

PRICE ON APPLICATION (POA) IN GROUP SERVICE: MIN. 02 PEOPLE

RESERVA AMAZÓNICA provides the best tourism infrastructure available in the entire region; a prime location to explore the rain forest.  The lodge boasts 30 private cabanas and 3 suites, built in the Amazon’s traditional Ese-Eja and Machiguenga styles.  Each is attractively furnished with log chairs, four-poster beds shrouded by mosquito netting, and have a small porch with two hammocks, ideal for napping.  The cabanas have no electricity – feature that adds to the charm; after dinner, guests return to their cabanas across tree-trunk-boardwalks to find lit candles and kerosene lamps lighting the entry and bathroom. 

The wildlife is remarkable, from giant and colorful parrots, to toucans, macaws, tapir, tamarin, owl, the gorgeous Southern Amazon Red Squirrel, as well as a large variety of monkeys. RESERVA AMAZÓNICA has the world record of ant species in a single place (362 species), according to Professor E. O. Wilson (Harvard University).

Service areas are located in a two-storey wooden pavilion with cathedral ceiling that houses the dining room, the bar and the mail lounge, and a mezzanine overlooking the rainforest where visitors can relax while contemplating a unique scenery.

The southern Peruvian rainforest is one of the last easily accessible virgin tropical rainforests of the world. Considered by Conservation International as one of the global Mega Diversity Hot Spots, the region has remained intact because of the limited road access and the fact that it is home to several major National Parks: Manu, Candamo, Tambopata National Reserve, Amarakaeri and Bahuaja Sonene Reserve, with more than nine million protected acres (3.6 million hectares).

The temperature varies from 27°C (84 F), to 38°C (100 F).  December through March is usually hotter with occasional afternoon rainfall that refreshes. Sometimes there are occasional sudden drops in temperature, known as friajes or cold fronts, which can dip down to 10°C (50 F).

THE AMAZON PAVILION

The heart of the lodge is the central pavilion, a circular, two-storey lounge and dining room. Both practical and beautiful, the Amazon Pavilion features rustic furniture built with local woods by native craftspeople. The upstairs loggias, with big balconies overlooking the Madre de Dios River and the surrounding forest, are ideal for afternoon tea or a pre-dinner Pisco Sour cocktail. Hammocks and large sofas, next to large windows with fiber glass screening, complete the prevailing relaxed atmosphere.  The Amazon Pavilion serves as the lodge Dinning Room and is the only hall in the lodge with electric lighting

RESERVA AMAZONICA lodge features both Standard Cabanas and Amazonica Suites:

Standard “cabanas”

RESERVA AMAZONICA features 30 double private cabanas built following the traditional style of the native Machiguenga and Ese-Eja people. Each bungalow is raised on stilts and has a steeply pitched, thatched palm roof, a terrace with two hammocks, a large bedroom with large windows, mosquito nets and a private bathroom with filtered water.

Amazonica Suite
Three of the cabanas rate as “suites” and have a more luxurious bedroom with two double beds.  Also, following indigenous architectural traditions, suites feature more space, a large bathroom, showers featuring solar heated filtered water, a walk-in closet, large windows and a spacious terrace with two hammocks.

OTHER SERVICES AND FACILITIES

• A small boutique offering a variety of eco-friendly items: insect repellent, basic over-the-counter medicines, Inkaterra clothing, tote bags, and other products.
• Local guides and interpreters in English, French and Italian (other languages upon request and with additional charge).
• The Interpretation Center, a classroom with specialized written information about the Amazon and EcotourismCell phone service.
• We provide rubber boots to walk on the jungle trails (free of charge); cellular phone service; River journey in our little fleet of three outboard motor-driven boats, two small outboard boats and three rowboats at the Lake Sandoval; and Bus service between the river port and the airport, used also for excursions in Puerto Maldonado in our tropical wooden bus.

The following Activities are conducted during our Explorations:

Amazon Gastronomy
Visitors can learn from our cooks about the ingredients and processes involved in Amazon cooking.

Animal Foot prints
Visitors search and identify animal footprints along the Amazon trails, having the chance to take home intact wax replicas of the footprints found.

Bird Watching
The Madre de Dios Rainforest is home to more than 500 bird species.  Visitors can spot around 180 species, both inside the rainforest or outside in beaches and rivers.  Specialized guides with wide ornithology experience are available at the lodge, allowing birdwatchers to enjoy their hobby in one of the richest bird ecosystems on earth.

Discovering the Amazon Ecosystem
The Amazon Rainforest encloses a wide array of ecosystems, each composed of specific water and land resources, particular weathers and diverse species.  Travelers can explore part of this universe through trails, swamps, creeks and streams in RESERVA AMAZÓNICA.

Flora Observation
Visitors are able to discover the shapes and colors of orchids, heliconias and bromelias; the divine world of the “walking palm trees”; the smells of vanilla and the sacha ajo; the symbiosis between the tangarara tree and the “fire ant”; or the “battle” between the destroyer matapalo and immense trees.  Our guides are perfectly qualified to resolve all visitors´ concerns.

Jungle Survival Skills
Some of our most skilled local guides show the jungle through the eyes of a survivor.  Guests can learn to use the longbow and the blowgun, to recognize which animals and plants are edible and to identify local sounds, among other techniques.

Native Styled Fishing
Visitors have the chance to try and witness diverse Amazon fishing modes: using fishhooks and spears, nets and traps, or fishing bows and tarrajas.

Photography
Visitors can look for picture opportunities in this photographic paradise.

Searching for Medicinal Plants
Amazon foresters know more than 3000 plants with medicinal attributes from which they obtain resins, fruits, leaves, brews or essences.  Many of these species have been incorporated to the western medicine in a variety of ways, and there is still plenty of research taking place.  Visitors can accede to this knowledge, identifying oje, uña de gato, sangre de grado, and aphrodisiac cashapona aerial root, and even sample native medicinal plants.

Swimming in the Amazon
Occasionally, travelers can carefully swim in the lukewarm waters of lakes and streams, at their own risk.

Star Gazing
Visitors can discover the astounding southern sky from land station or while moving around the Madre de Dios River, using our special equipment.

Tracking Ants
This activity is about following and identifying different Amazon ant species and learning about their team-based working system, as well as understanding the importance of ants in the Amazon ecosystem.  During his work at RESERVA AMAZÓNICA, Harvard Professor Edward O. Wilson registered the world record of ant species in a single location (362 species).

Trail System
Our Trail System includes four clearly-cut trails and extends roughly across eight kilometers (6 miles) through the lodge’s surrounding rainforest, allowing an easier access to the various Amazon habitats: seasonably flooded forests and groves, Amazon palms, flooded groves, primary and secondary forests, among others. It is advisable to walk slowly and cautiously, as well as to amplify your senses to distinguish all surrounding views and sounds. The Trail System includes: Oja Trail, Lupuna Trail, Swamp Trail and Aguaje Palm Trail.

Rainforest by Night
Venturing into the rainforest after dark enables visitors to listen to nocturnal forest sounds and spot Amazon species that only emerge at night, such as tarantulas, armadillos and even ocelots. A guide and a powerful flashlight are required. Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes.

AMPHIBIANS
More than 60 amphibian species have been registered within RESERVA AMAZÓNICA, including a new species to science named Hyla Koechlini, discovered in 1986 by Mr. Duellman and Mr. Trueb from Kansas University.

ARACHNIDS
RESERVA AMAZÓNICA, along with the Tambopata Region, shares a high diversity of spiders (442 species), perhaps the highest in the Neotropical Region.

BIRDS
RESERVA AMAZÓNICA is home to 366 bird species. Some of them can only be observed in this area due to the diversity of ecosystems prevailing in the region.

BUTTERFLIES
More than 300 butterfly species can be observed within the lodge grounds, including rare species with very few specimens in other places of the world.

GASTROPODS
More than 40 mollusk species have been recorded in RESERVA AMAZÓNICA, including new species to science discovered in 1991 by the BIOTROP Program (Helicina n. sp. and Solaropsis n. sp.), as well as first records of genera for Peru (Adelopoma, Cecilioide and Stiphanoda).

HOMOPTEROUS
More than 300 homopterous species have been recorded within the reserve; the Cicadellidae family is the largest one with 179 species.

MAMMALS
The reserve is home to 136 mammal species, including 42 bat species, 22 rodent species and 8 carnivore species.

REPTILES
Most snakes are more abundant from May to October, whereas lizards are more commonly observed from November to April. The reserve is home to 83 reptile species.

FLORA SPECIES
More than 1000 flora species have been identified within the reserve grounds, including 400 tree species, orchids (80 species), araceaes (40 species), and beautiful bromelias and heliconias. Amongst the most impressive trees are Ceiba (50 m or 160 ft tall) and Lupuna (2 m or 6 ft wide).

PRICE INCLUDE

Roundtrip transportation from Puerto Maldonado airport to Reserva Amazonica
Private rooms with private bathrooms
All meals and snacks
Purified drinking water and juices
Bilingual naturalist guide
Tambopata National Reserve entrance fee
Price does NOT include domestic or international flights.
Notes
Excursions are subject to changes according to circumstances without prior notice.
Activity schedule varies depending on the weather and demand.
These programs are not recommended for children under 5.

Private departures and tours are available upon request at an extra cost.

For all enquiries please contact us