| 6
Day Macaw Clay Lick Program
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 6:1 ratio in
Tambopata Research Center. This means groups smaller than
6 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.
Puerto
Maldonado 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.
Tambopata
River Port to Refugio Amazonas. The two and a half hour boat
ride from the Tambopata Port to Refugio Amazonas will take
us past the Community of Infierno and the Tambopata National
Reserve´s checkpoint and into the buffer zone of this
1.3 million hectare conservation unit.
Boxed
Lunch.
Orientation.
Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief
you with important navigation and security tips.
Dinner.
Caiman
searches. We will be out at the river's edge at night, scanning
the shores with headlamps and flashlights to catch the red
gleams of reflection from caiman eyes.
Overnight
in Refugio Amazonas.
Day
2
Canopy
tower: A thirty minute walk from Refugio Amazonas leads to
the 25 meter scaffolding canopy tower. A bannistered staircase
running through the middle provides safe access to the platforms
above. The tower has been built upon high ground, therefore
increasing your horizon of the continuous primary forest extending
out towards the Tambopata National Reserve. From here views
of mixed species canopy flocks as well as toucans, macaws
and raptors are likely.
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.
Refugio
Amazonas to Tambopata Research Center. Four and half hours
by boat from Refugio Amazonas, in the pristine heart of the
reserve, lies the Tambopata Research Center. One and half
hours into our boat journey, as we cross the confluence with
the Malinowski River, we will leave the final traces of human
habitation behind. Within the 700,000 hectare uninhabited
nucleus of the reserve, sightings of capybara, caiman, geese,
macaws and other large species will become more frequent.
Boxed
Lunch.
Orientation.
Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief
you with important navigation and security tips.
Overlook
Trail: A three to five kilometer hike will lead us to overlooks
commanding magnificent views of the Tambopata winding its
way into the lowlands. The forest on this trail, regenerating
on old bamboo forest, is good for Howler Monkey and Dusky
Titi Monkey.
Dinner.
Macaw
Project Lectures: After dinner scientists will provide an
in depth look at the biology of macaws, their feeding habits,
the theories for clay lick use, their breeding and feeding
ecology, population fluctuations and the threats to their
conservation.
Overnight
in Tambopata Research Center.
Day
3
Macaw
Clay Lick: On most clear mornings of the year dozens of large
macaws and hundreds of parrots congregate on this large river
bank in a raucous and colorful spectacle which inspired a
National Geographic cover story. Discretely located fifty
meters from the cliff, we will observe Green-winged, Scarlet
and Blue-and-gold Macaws and several species of smaller parrots
descend to ingest clay. Outings are at dawn when the lick
is most active.
Breakfast.
Floodplain
Trail: This five kilometer trail covers the prototypical rain
forest with immense trees criss-crossed by creeks and ponds.
Amongst the figs, ceibas and shihuahuacos we will look for
Squirrel, Brown Capuchin, and Spider Monkeys as well as peccaries.
TRC is located within this habitat.
Lunch.
Pond
Platform: Ten minutes upriver from the lodge is a tiny pond
with a platform in the middle. It is a great place to spot
waterfowl such as Muscovy duck, sunbittern and hoatzin along
with the woodpeckers, oropendolas, flycatchers and parakeets
that call this pond their home.
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
in Tambopata Research Center.
Day
4
Time-
off. Time off to relax and enjoy the lodge surroundings, wander
off on your own, try out a new trail, or repeat your favorite
activity.
Breakfast.
Terra
Firme Trail: An entirely different habitat characterized by
smaller, thinner trees atop hills and slopes is covered by
this five kilometer trail. Saddleback tamarins are frequently
found here. As we walk near the limits of the swamp we will
also keep our eyes open for rare tapir tracks.
Lunch.
Palm
Swamp: A thirty minute hike from TRC brings us to the palm
swamp. Dead aguaje palms serve as nests to Red-bellied and
Blue-and-gold macaws. An elevated boardwalk and scaffolding
tower allow for eye level observation of the macaws as they
fly in and out of their nests.
Dinner.
Overnight
in Tambopata Research Center.
Day
5
Breakfast
Tambopata
Research Center to Refugio Amazonas. A three and a half hour
boat ride brings us to Refugio Amazonas.
Boxed
Lunch.
Condenado
Oxbow Lake - CONDEL: A forty minute hike takes you Condenado
Lake. You paddle canoes around the lake looking for lakeside
wildlife such as hoatzin and caiman, hoping to see the otters
which are infrequently seen here. You will also be rewarded
with overhead sightings of macaws.
Dinner.
Tambopata
National Reserve Lecture. Nightly lectures prepared by the
staff of Refugio Amazonas cover conservation threats, opportunities
and projects in the Tambopata National Reserve.
Overnight
in Refugio Amazonas
Day
6
Breakfast.
Transfer
Boat - Refugio Amazonas to Tambopata River Port.
Transfer
Tambopata River Port to Pto Maldonado Headquarters.
Transfer
Pto Maldonado Headquarters - 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.
Boat
Transportation. All our 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´s
arrival and departure with a maximum two hour wait.
Price:
from 845.00 USD per person.
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