Back in December and January, I traveled to Peru for two weeks. The trip included several days in the Amazon basin, a week in the Andes mountains, and then a few days on the Pacific coast. As you can guess, it was a pretty incredible trip. It was also too great to talk about in just one post, so in this post I’ll focus on the first part: four days in the Amazon rainforest.
Specifically, I went to the Refugio Amazonas Lodge just outside the Tambopata National Reserve in Peru’s Madre de Dios region.
Getting There
Getting to the lodge from Tucson was not straightforward. First, I had to fly from Tucson to Lima (with a layover in Houston). I arrived in Lima around midnight, and by the time I got through customs and immigration, got my luggage, and got a taxi to my hotel, it was almost 2 am the next day.
My hotel was around $40, including a ride from the airport and back the next morning. It was cheap – no air conditioning, loud neighborhood, etc. – but it did the job. All I needed was a few hours of sleep. The next morning at 7, I had already checked out and was on my way back to the airport for the 2-hour flight to Puerto Maldonado, the closest city to the lodge.
A shuttle from the lodge picked up several travelers at the Puerto Maldonado airport, and we made our way to their office in the city. Here, some travelers checked luggage they didn’t need and we had some refreshments and used the toilets. After an hour or so, we got on a bus, then after an hour of that switched to a boat. Though we were in the Amazon basin, we were not on the Amazon River itself. Instead, we were on the Tambopata River, which feeds into the Amazon.
The lodge is deep enough into the rainforest that the only way to get there (or any of the other lodges in the area) is by boat. Essentially, the longer the boat ride, the further into the rainforest you are and the higher likelihood you have of seeing interesting wildlife.
Refugio Amazonas is one of the furthest lodges from the city, but not quite the furthest (Tambopata Research Center, owned by the same company, holds that title). I think the boat ride was around 1.5 hours but I didn’t look at a clock so I’m not sure. Needless to say, by the time we got to the lodge around 4 pm, I needed a nap!
A boat on the Tambopata River.
View from the boat.
My room at the lodge. One side is open to the rainforest.
The path from the lodge through the rainforest to the river. If you look closely, you can see a squirrel stealing the Brazil nuts!
The entrance to the lodge at night.
Night Walk
After my nap and dinner, I joined a group heading out for a night walk. All the tours and meals were included in the lodge package, so I wanted to try as many activities as possible. The night walk was definitely my favorite. Just like I love seeing the weird small critters when I scuba dive, I loved seeing all the weird small things that come out in the rainforest at night.
We got particularly lucky with frogs. Apparently high season for tourism (May-August) is the dry season, so there aren’t as many frogs out and about then. But in December, it’s rainy season, and though we got pretty wet, we were rewarded with 10 or 12 frogs on the night walk. We also saw a bunch of cool insects and arachnids, including bullet ants (infamous for their painful sting), a tailless whip scorpion, and a bunch of spiders. Do NOT go on a night walk through the Amazon if you are squeamish about insects. Actually, probably don’t go to the Amazon at all if that’s your situation – there are bugs everywhere. For me, though, it’s like heaven! I find them so interesting.
A stick insect.
A massive tailless whip scorpion (about 8 inches leg to leg).
A dragonfly resting.
We saw a lot of frogs on our night walk!
The smallest frog we found on our night walk.
Another cute frog.
Some wasps building a nest.
A resting butterfly.
Lake Trip
The next morning, my activity was a lake trip. It was about an hour walk through the rainforest from the lodge to the lake. It was also raining (pouring) the whole walk there. But I had all waterproof gear, and the lodge supplied us with rain boots, so I was comfortable enough. Fortunately for us, the rain cleared right as we arrived at the lake.
We all got in a small boat, and our guide paddled around while pointing out wildlife. While we were on the lake, we saw scarlet macaws, a toucan, some bats on a log, a swimming snake, herons and huatzins, an electric eel, and, of course, piranhas. The lake was absolutely full of piranhas.
The walk back to the lodge was drier than the walk to the lake, so we were actually able to look for wildlife. We saw termites, vampire bats, and saddleback tamarins on the way back.
Getting ready to paddle around the lake.
There are six very well-camouflaged bats on this tree. Can you see them?
A butterfly near the lake.
A really, really big tree!
A hoatzin.
Mammal Clay Lick
Clay licks are full of minerals, like salt, that the animals of the rainforest need to survive. Our afternoon outing was to a nearby mammal clay lick. Unfortunately, we didn’t see much. At the clay lick there were some wild turkeys but no mammals. On the walk back, though, we did see about 8 to 10 more saddleback tamarins (they’re a type of monkey) and a few other critters.
One of the paths through the rainforest.
Saddleback tamarin through a telescope.
A stream of leafcutter ants carrying their harvest back to their nest.
A bat inside the blind at the mammal clay lick. Unfortunately, this was the only mammal we saw on this outing! Sometimes you just don’t see much wildlife.
Macaw Clay Lick
The next morning, we took a 2-hour boat ride down the Tambopata River to a nearby parrot and parakeet clay lick. This was more successful than the mammal clay lick, as they congregate there almost every morning. We waited for about an hour as we watched dozens of macaws and parakeets arrive and settle in the trees. We were in a blind, quite a ways away from the clay wall, but our guides brought telescopes so we could see all the action. Eventually, a couple parrots came down from the trees and started licking the clay. Within minutes, all the birds were on the clay. It was incredible, but it only lasted about 10 or 15 minutes. At that point, something spooked them, and just like that it was over.
On the boat rides there and back, we also got pretty lucky with wildlife. During the trip, we saw several white caimans (related to crocs and alligators) and a couple capybara families (largest rodents in the world). I was hoping for some turtles but with all the rain they weren’t out sunning themselves so we didn’t see any.
View of the macaw clay lick through a telescope.
We saw several white caimans from the boat. We were able to get closest to this one.
A capybara family we spotted from the boat. They are the largest rodents in the world! The mama was about 4 feet/1.3 m long.
Rain
That afternoon, I was supposed to go on a canopy tower tour. Unfortunately, it was pouring and there was lightening. I actually was pretty lucky this was the only activity that got stormed out. It was rainy season, after all. Later, when it cleared up a bit, I was able to go on a tour of a nearby jungle farm. We tasted all sorts of fruits, but they were all really sour. I have a pretty low tolerance for sour so most of them were not tasty for me, but others on the tour seemed to enjoy them.
I also found a huge praying mantis (my favorite insect), but unfortunately it was already dead. I’ve included a picture anyway, because I just really like praying mantids.
A very large praying mantis. Unfortunately, it was already dead when I found it.
Summary
All in all, I was pretty happy with my four days in the Amazon. There were a few weird customer service things at the lodge in the last day, but other than that, it was really great. I was tempted to stay somewhere cheaper in Puerto Maldonado and just do day trips into the rainforest, but I’m glad I didn’t. It was really nice to already be right in the middle of nature and not have to worry about food, which tour guides to use, transportation, etc. I strongly recommend splurging a bit if you every have the chance to go here – it’s worth it.
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