Posada Amazonas – 5d/4n

Itinerary

Day 1

Arrival & Reception by Guide
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.

Transfer Airport to Puerto Maldonado Headquarters
Upon arrival from Lima or Cusco, we will welcome you at the airport and drive you ten minutes to our Puerto Maldonado headquarters. 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.

Transfer Pto Maldonado Headquarters to Tambopata River Port
Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometers to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno. The port is a communal business.

Box Lunch

Transfer Boat – Tambopata River Port to Posada Amazonas
The forty-five-minute boat ride from the Tambopata Port to Posada Amazonas will take us into the Community´s Primary Forest Private Reserve.

Orientation
Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips.

Canopy Tower
A twenty-minute walk from Posada Amazonas leads to the 30-meter scaffolding canopy tower. A bannister 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.

Dinner

Ecotourism Lecture
A daily presentation on the Infierno ecotourism project is available every night from a staff member.

Overnight at Posada Amazonas

Day 2

Breakfast

Tres Chimbadas Oxbow Lake
Tres Chimbadas is 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.

Lunch

Ethnobotanical Tour
A twenty-minute boat-ride 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 that explains the different medicinal (and other) uses of selected plants.

Dinner

Night walk
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.

Overnight at Posada Amazonas

Day 3

Breakfast

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 riverbank. 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-afternoon.

Ceiba Trail Hike
We leave from the lobby at Posada Amazonas and embark on 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 rainforest and its principal taxonomic groups.

Lunch

Farm Visit
A thirty-minute boat ride downriver takes us to the most intact 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 serve a purpose.

Dinner

Posada Amazonas – Overnight

Day 4

Breakfast

Brazil Nut Trail and Camp
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.

Lunch

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.

Dinner

Posada Amazonas – Overnight

Day 5

Breakfast

Transfer Boat – Posada Amazonas to Tambopata River Port

Transfer Tambopata River Port to Pto Maldonado Headquarters

Transfer Puerto Maldonado Headquarters to Airport
We retrace our river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado, our office, and the airport. Depending on airline schedules, this may require dawn departures.

Rates in 2020

Based on double occupancy. For single or triple rates, please inquire.

Superior Room

based on double occupancy

$1216/person

Mosquito net
Hot water
Eco-friendly toiletries
Hammock (in two-bed room)
Ceiling fan
Safe deposit box
Mini bar
Private deck
Electric lamps & outlets*
Wifi*
Umbrellas
Slippers

inquire

Comfort Rooms

based on double occupancy

$1296/person

Mosquito net
Hot water
Eco-friendly toiletries
Hammock
Ceiling fan
Safe deposit box
Mini bar
Private deck
Electric lamps & outlets*
Wifi*
Umbrellas
Slippers

inquire

Suite Rooms

based on double occupancy

$1488/person

Mosquito net
Hot water
Eco-friendly toiletries
Hammock
Ceiling fan
Safe deposit box
Mini bar
Private deck
Electric lamps & outlets*
Wifi*
Umbrellas
Slippers

inquire

Notes:

Flights from Lima to Puerto Maldonado depart from Jorge Chavez airport’s domestic terminal and take about 3 hours. Most flights stop in Cuzco before continuing to Puerto Maldonado. Flights from Cusco depart from the domestic terminal of Velasco Astete airport and take around 45 minutes.

Transfer-in (From Puerto Maldonado to Lodge): daily at 13:00 and 13:30
Transfer-out (Lodge to Puerto Maldonado): daily at 07:00 and 08:00

Transfer time takes about 2 hours. Thus, it is important to schedule flights accordingly – the arrival flight should reach Puerto Maldonado before 2 pm and the departure flight should not be scheduled before midday. We do not take responsibility for any delays.

Please note

Do not take LATAM 2081 or LATAM 2077 as they do not match with our transfers to the lodge. We do not recommend arriving or departing to / from Puerto Maldonado by bus, as the highway is unsafe **

The access to the lodges involves going up a staircase with about 70 to 90 steps. The number of steps will vary depending on the season, rainy or dry, due to the fluctuation of the river. These steps are considered a medium level of effort. It usually takes about a fifteen-minute-walk to get to the lodge.

Lodge accommodations based on double occupancy
All scheduled land and river transportation
All transfers
All scheduled excursions with English-speaking guide services
Meals as specified in the itinerary, B=Breakfast; L=Lunch; D=Dinner.

US$13 reserve entrance fee
International or domestic airfares,
Airport departure taxes or visa fees
Excess baggage charges,
Additional nights during the trip due to flight cancellations
Alcoholic beverages, bottled water, or snacks,
Insurance of any kind,
Extras such as:
Laundry,
Phone calls,
Radio calls or messages,
Reconfirmation of flights
and items of personal nature.

When is the dry season?: Although it can rain at any time of the year, the Tambopata region tends to be drier from May until October. The rains start up in earnest in November and continue until April with the wettest months usually being November and December. During the dry season, trails aren’t as muddy, so chances are activities won’t be affected by rain and more macaws and parrots can be seen on the clay licks. On the other hand, during the dry season, it is much hotter and steamier, there is less bird activity on sunny days, it is more difficult to find amphibians, and more river transports take longer due to low water levels.

Tambopata during the wet season: Expect a lot of rain, and fewer fellow ecotourists. Usually, it rains in the afternoon, while mornings are a little cooler and cloudy. There may be higher bird activity due to the cloudy weather. The ponds and temporary wetlands that form at this time of the year in the rainforest are excellent sites for nature observation, especially for finding reptiles and amphibians.

Wildlife observation: No month is better than any other for spotting wildlife. Different conditions are favourable for different animals. While parrots and macaws tend to visit the clay lick more during the dry season, other animals come and go no matter what time of the year it is. A much bigger factor for seeing Amazonian wildlife is the guide’s level of experience and training.

Spotting monkeys: If you visit lodges such as the Tambopata Research Center, Refugio Amazonas, or Posada Amazonas, you have a very good chance of seeing several monkey species at any time of the year. The rollicking calls of Dusky Titis echo from vine tangles, Red Howler Monkeys call from the canopy, and troops of Squirrel Monkeys roam through secondary growth forest near oxbow lakes. Black Spider Monkeys may be a bit easier to find during the wet season because it’s usually easier to locate the fruiting trees they feed on, but a good guide will increase your chances of seeing them no matter what time of year it is.

Your luggage is hand-carried at various stages in the trip for a long distance. We strongly recommend you limit your weight to 10 kilos (22 pounds a piece). You can leave your large duffle bags in our office at Puerto Maldonado. If you are visiting other destinations in Peru or South America that require different kinds of clothing, you can always pack separate bags and safely leave them at our offices in Puerto Maldonado on the first day so we won’t be carrying them around uselessly. Your bag will be waiting for you at the airport the day you leave.

Binoculars
Camera gear, bring your long lens!
Tight-weave, light-colored, long cotton pants
Long-sleeved, tight-weave, light-colored cotton shirts
Ankle-high hiking boots and sneakers
Flashlight (headlamp) with batteries
Sunblock lotion
Sunglasses
Broad-brimmed hat
Rain suit or poncho
Insect repellent
Small denomination bills
Small daypack
Slippers or sandals for walking around the lodge

Sustainability

We are deeply committed to sustainability. Sustainability is at the core of our company and we try to reduce our footprint wherever we can:

We use water and energy efficiency systems
We use local building materials
We work and partner with the local community
We protect and conserve the forest in the Tambopata National Reserve through various initiatives and our eco-tourism company

However, generating some carbon emissions is inevitable, so what we can’t reduce, we offset.

We are proud to announce that our three lodges are the first carbon neutral lodges in the Tambopata National Reserve. Our operations are now 100% carbon neutral. This includes:

Day to day operations at all three lodges
Our offices in Puerto Maldonado
Transportation of all permanent staff

This is thanks to our partnership with Regenera. Regenera is an innovative footprint management service that measures our carbon footprint and offsets it through local carbon sequestration and avoided deforestation actions, and transfers 60% of revenues to local communities who have agreed to protect forests.

We are currently working with Nature Services Peru (the folks that created Regenera) to create an option for our guests to offset their own travel emissions.

We know that climate change threatens the natural environment and we want to do everything we can to protect it. Together – we believe we can safeguard our beautiful rainforest for many generations to come.

Using Local Resources

Our lodges are built with local materials, and we source the vegetables and fruits that we can from local farms.

Energy Efficiency

We incorporate energy efficient lighting, heating, and cooling, produce some of our own electricity thru solar (most is gas), have a linen and towel reuse program, use biodegradable products, and compost.

Social Impact

We started working with the local community of Infierno in 1995, and our partnership with them has grown since then, especially with co-management of Posada Amazonas. We are also promoting work with other Amazonian communities in our neighborhood. The best way to describe our work here: we try to be good neighbors to all species of primates. This how we achieve our conservation impact.