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PERUVIAN
RAINFOREST Tambopata Candamo Posadas Amazonas Programs |
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ABOUT POSADAS AMAZONAS PROGRAMS - in their own words:
NOTE: Our guides are biologists, tourism professionals, or community members. Unless noted otherwise, our guides speak English. We assign guides at 10:1 ratio in Posada Amazonas. This means groups smaller than 10 people will be merged with other groups under one guide. If you would like a private guide or a guide in a language other than English please let us know. All our boats are 20 foot long, roofed canoes with 55 hp outboard motors.
FOUR-DAY / THREE-NIGHT PROGRAM
DAY 1
Arrival & Reception by Guide and transfer Airport to Puerto Maldonado Headquarters, a drive of ten minutes. 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.
Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometers to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno. The port is a communal business.
Next enjoy the forty five minute boat ride from the Tambopata Port to Posada Amazonas passing through the Community´s Primary Forest Private Reserve. Box lunch en route.
Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips. After getting settled, enjoy your first foray into the rainforest with a visit to the Canopy Tower. A twenty minute walk from Posada Amazonas leads to the 30 meter scaffolding canopy tower. A bannistered staircase running through the middle provides safe access to the platforms above. From atop you obtain spectacular views of the vast expanses of standing forest cut by the Tambopata River winding through the middle. Now and then toucans, parrots or macaws are seen flying against the horizon, or mixed species canopy flocks land in the treetop next to you.
After dinner there will be an Ecotourism Lecture, a daily presentation on the Infierno ecotourism project is available every night from a staff member.
DAY 2
Breakfast and morning excursion to the Tres Chimbadas Oxbow Lake, located thirty minutes by boat and forty five minutes hiking from Posada Amazonas. Once there you will paddle around the lake in a catamaran, searching for the resident family of nine giant river otters (seen by 60% of our lake visitors) and other lakeside wildlife such as caiman, hoatzin and horned screamers. Otters are most active from dawn to eight or nine AM.
After lunch enjoy the Ethnobotanical Tour. A twenty minute boat drive downriver leads you to a trail designed by the staff of the Centro Ñape. The Centro Ñape is a communal organization that produces medicines out of forest plants and administers them to patients who choose their little clinic. They have produced a trail which explains the different medicinal (and other) uses of selected plants.
After dinner 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.
DAY 3
Morning visit to the Parrot Clay Lick. This clay lick is only a twenty minute walk from Posada Amazonas. From a blind located about twenty meters away you will see dozens of parrots and parakeets descend on most clear mornings to ingest the clay on a river bank. Species such as Mealy and Yellow- headed Amazon, Blue-headed Parrot and Dusky headed Parakeet descend at this clay lick. The clay lick is active at dawn, during the late mornings and mid-afternoons.
Afterwards take the Ceiba Trail Hike, a two hour hike crowned by the largest tree in the vicinity: a giant ceiba tree. During the hike we will focus on the natural history of the rain forest and its principal taxonomic groups.
After Lunch take a thirty minute boat drive downriver takes us to the most complete farm in the community of Infierno. The owner grows a diverse variety of popular and unknown Amazon crops. In his garden, just about every plant and tree serves a purpose.
DAY 4
Today we retrace our river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado, to pick up your luggage and proceed to the airport. Depending on airline schedules, this may require dawn departures.
SOFT ADVENTURE PROGRAM - FIVE-DAYS / FOUR-NIGHTS
DAY 1
Arrival & Reception by Guide and transfer Airport to Puerto Maldonado Headquarters, a drive of ten minutes. 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.
Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometers to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno. The port is a communal business.
Next enjoy the forty five minute boat ride from the Tambopata Port to Posada Amazonas passing through the Community´s Primary Forest Private Reserve. Box lunch en route.
Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips. After getting settled, enjoy your first foray into the rainforest with a visit to the Canopy Tower. A twenty minute walk from Posada Amazonas leads to the 30 meter scaffolding canopy tower. A bannistered staircase running through the middle provides safe access to the platforms above. From atop you obtain spectacular views of the vast expanses of standing forest cut by the Tambopata River winding through the middle. Now and then toucans, parrots or macaws are seen flying against the horizon, or mixed species canopy flocks land in the treetop next to you.
After dinner there will be an Ecotourism Lecture, a daily presentation on the Infierno ecotourism project is available every night from a staff member.
DAY 2
Breakfast and morning excursion to the Tres Chimbadas Oxbow Lake, located thirty minutes by boat and forty five minutes hiking from Posada Amazonas. Once there you will paddle around the lake in a catamaran, searching for the resident family of nine giant river otters (seen by 60% of our lake visitors) and other lakeside wildlife such as caiman, hoatzin and horned screamers. Otters are most active from dawn to eight or nine AM.
After lunch, enjoy a Jungle Mountain Biking excursion into the forest for a different perspective. Our ride of 10 kilometers long goes through the Ese Eja community protected land. Your chances to spot wildlife are high, on your way you fill find loops, slopes, wooden bridges and creeks, our ride can take you directly to the Nape botanical garden in order not to miss any regular activity.
Then continue on the Ethnobotanical Tour, going either by bike or by A twenty minute boat drive downriver leads you to a trail designed by the staff of the Centro Ñape. The Centro Ñape is a communal organization that produces medicines out of forest plants and administers them to patients who choose their little clinic. They have produced a trail which explains the different medicinal (and other) uses of selected plants.
After dinner 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.
DAY 3Morning visit to the Parrot Clay Lick. This clay lick is only a twenty minute walk from Posada Amazonas. From a blind located about twenty meters away you will see dozens of parrots and parakeets descend on most clear mornings to ingest the clay on a river bank. Species such as Mealy and Yellow- headed Amazon, Blue-headed Parrot and Dusky headed Parakeet descend at this clay lick. The clay lick is active at dawn, during the late mornings and mid-afternoons.
Afterwards take the Ceiba Trail Hike, a two hour hike crowned by the largest tree in the vicinity: a giant ceiba tree. During the hike we will focus on the natural history of the rain forest and its principal taxonomic groups.
After Lunch enjoy Sea-Kayaking in lodge surroundings. 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.
DAY 4
After breakfast you'll do the Canopy Climbing Experience, replicating the daily work of macaw researchers: climb a 30 meter tree with a rope, harness and jumar. From this vantage point we will have a macaws eye view of the forest. This demanding exercise is perfectly safe and requires no previous experience.
After lunch take the Overlook walk This 2 km trail will bring us along the Tambopata River. We will be able to clearly separate a Terra Firme Forest from a Secondary Forest after this walk, as the trail crosses both habitats. Resting on the benches we can witness the Tambopata on its unhurried journey across the lowland rainforest.
After dinner, enjoy an Ecotourism Lecture A daily presentation on the Infierno ecotourism project is available every night from a staff member.
DAY 5Today we retrace our river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado, to pick up your luggage and proceed to the airport. Depending on airline schedules, this may require dawn departures.