| Duration 5 Days &
4 Night
Departures Daily departures
Airfares Not included, available upon request
Accommodation 2 Nights in Heath River and 2 Nights
in Sandoval Lake
Customizable YES, feel free to ask for extra
services
DAY 1 PUERTO MALDONADO TO HEATH RIVER WILDLIFE CENTER
Our staff welcome you at Puerto Maldonado airport and we drive
through this bustling Upper Amazon Basin city to the Tambopata
River boat dock. Here we board a powerful motorized dugout canoe
and set off to the nearby confluence of the mighty Madre de Dios
River, where we head downstream for approximately three hours
to the Peru-Bolivia border at the mouth of the remote Heath River.
Even beneath the vast sky of this major Amazon tributary we glimpse
the diversity of the riverine environment, with its forest-capped
red-earth cliffs, alternating with low banks thick with Cecropia
trees and giant grasses.
Now, after brief frontier-crossing formalities, we motor for
about two more hours up narrower and wilder waters, suddenly enjoying
the intimacy of mysterious forest looming close on either side.
Occasional views of native villages and children splashing by
the banks, are interspersed with long, quiet stretches where we
may spot herons, hawks, cormorants, Orinoco Geese, and perhaps
a family of Capybaras -- the world’s largest rodent, weighing
up to 55kg./120lb, and looking like an enormous Guinea Pig. We
reach our simple, charming and comfortable quarters at the Heath
River Wildlife Center in time for dinner. (Box lunch,D)
(Please note that the lodge is located on the Bolivian shore of
the Heath River, so passports are required to clear Bolivian passport
control.)
DAY 2: HEATH RIVER WILDLIFE CENTER
Today we make an early start to visit the lodge’s most spectacular
feature: the Heath River parrot and macaw lick. Here these colorful
birds gather to eat a type of clay from the cliff-like river banks
that neutralizes certain toxins in their diet. They congregate
early each morning, sometimes by the hundreds, jostling and squabbling
over the best eating spots on the clay lick. This noisy and unforgettable
show can go on for two or three hours, and may begin with up to
five species of parrot and two varieties of parakeet, followed
by Chestnut-fronted Macaws and their larger, more boisterous cousins,
the Red-and-green Macaws. This extraordinary wildlife display
occurs at only a handful of sites in the Upper Amazon Basin, and
nowhere else on the planet.
Our floating hide platform provides comfort and complete concealment,
so that we can eat a full breakfast here during pauses in the
bankside spectacle. For ultra-close-up viewing, our guides carry
a tripod-mounted spotting scope, which can also be used to get
telephoto pictures with even the simplest camera.
On our return we can land partway downriver and walk back along
a section of the lodge’s extensive network of forest trails. We
encounter numerous gigantic Brazil-nut, kapok and fig trees, along
with the scary strangler fig, whose life strategy is as sinister
as its name suggests. Our guide will point out and explain the
medicinal and commercial uses of dozens of plants and trees, while
we keep our eyes and ears open for birds, or one of the eight
species of monkeys found in this region. We might come upon a
small herd of White-lipped or Collared peccary – two kinds of
wild pig that are quite common in this area. For purposes of territorial
marking they deploy a “stink gland” so potent that they are often
smelled long before they are seen.
After lunch we typically hike or bicycle along a major trail to
a point where the forest abruptly gives way to the spacious plains
of the Pampas del Heath, part of Bolivia’s Madidi National Park.
This unique environment -- the result of very poor soils, plus
an extreme seasonal cycle of dryness and flooding -- is the largest
remaining undisturbed tropical savannah in the Amazon, and is
home to rare endemic birds and mammals, such as the Swallow-tailed
Hummingbird and the highly endangered Maned Wolf. Shortly beyond
the edge of the forest we can climb a raised platform that allows
us a grand view of this vast expanse of grassland and shrub, studded
with palm trees.
We can continue another hour or so to a swampy area thick with
Mauritia flexuosa palm trees, whose oil-rich palm nuts and hollowed-out
dead palms provide vitally important food and shelter for nesting
pairs of Red-bellied and increasingly rare Blue-and-yellow macaws.
We aim to arrive toward dusk, when the macaws are returning from
their day’s foraging to congregate in this very special breeding
site.
We return to the lodge by night, using our flashlights, and perhaps
pausing here and there in total darkness, to listen to the ever-changing
orchestra of animals, frogs and insects, and to experience the
magic of the night-time rainforest. We may come upon such bizarre
nocturnal creatures as camouflaged frogs disguised as dead leaves,
toads the size of rabbits, hairy tarantulas peering out of their
dirt holes, night monkeys lurking among the tree branches, and
a seemingly unpredictable array of other nightlife.
After dinner some guests may choose to visit one of our mammal
lick hides, in hopes of seeing a Lowland Tapir, the rainforest’s
largest mammal. Hardy adventurers can choose to camp here with
their guide, in order to experience a full night in the heart
of the rainforest and increase their chances of a major wildlife
sighting. (B, L, D)
DAY 3 : HEATH RIVER WILDLIFE CENTER TO SANDOVAL LAKE
LODGE
We set off early for the Madre de Dios River and Lake Sandoval.
This is peak hour for wildlife so we keep a sharp eye on the riverbanks,
often spotting families of Capybara, and perhaps being rewarded
with a rare jaguar sighting, or a tapir swimming across the current.
Around mid-morning we reach the boat landing at the trailhead
to Lake Sandoval, a protected lake in the Tambopata Reserve. We
walk the 3km/2 mile trail and travel by canoe down the narrow
channel that leads us onto the open waters of this beautiful lake.
As our crew paddle us across to the lodge (motors are prohibited
here) we may see the lake’s surface roil as a massive Paiche –
an Amazon fish that can reach 100kg/220lbs – breaks the surface.
Or perhaps we will hear the strange and haunting calls, and see
the heads bobbing above the lake’s surface, that will signal our
first acquaintance with Pteronura brasiliensis, the Amazonian
Giant Otter.
After lunch we can take a leisurely canoe tour along the forested
fringes of the eastern lake, spotting for herons and other water-birds,
flycatchers, raptors and some of the six monkey species found
in the area, with a good chance of seeing one of the glorious
sunsets for which the lake is renowned. When permitted, we may
climb the park authority lookout tower that marks the border of
Sandoval’s restricted zone, for a superb view of the entire lake.
On still, clear nights the mirror surface of the lake is nature’s
planetarium, glittering with the millions of stars of the brilliant
southern sky. Before dinner we can round off this full day with
a short night walk, spotting for nocturnal creatures along one
of the trails near the lodge. (Box lunch, L ,D)
DAY 5: SANDOVAL LAKE LODGE
We rise early to tour the lake shore by canoe once more, in quest
of new wildlife sightings. Our viewpoint from the canoe often
allows closer and more extended encounters with birds and mammals
than on a typical forest trail hike, and we may witness intimate
feeding and mating behavior. On Lake Sandoval monkeys, in particular,
have almost lost their fear of humans.
We return to the lodge for breakfast and rest for a while, perhaps
enjoying the panoramic view from our high point on the lake shore,
before setting out to walk a special circuit where we investigate
and learn the uses of dozens of Amazonian medicinal plants. We
will see palmicho, the plant that supplies the roof-thatch material
for our lodges, Candlestick Ginger for anti-inflammatory medicine,
the historically important Chinchona, or Quinine tree, whose bark
has saved countless thousands from the throes of malaria, and
numerous other vital plants. This route includes both wild forest
and a small botanical garden dedicated to cultivation of some
of these species.
After the mid-day heat subsides we canoe our way around the shore
to the western end of the lake, and encounter the flooded palm
swamps where macaws make their home and monkeys abound. As we
make our way back to the lodge later, it is getting dark and we
can use our flashlights to spot the brilliant red eyes of caimans
and get close to them as they lurk along the bushy shoreline with
their snouts just above water. (B, L, D)
DAY 5 TRANSFER OUT
After early breakfast we leave near dawn and we take a final,
shorter paddle around the west end of the lake to try and glimpse
the Giant Otters before returning by motor canoe for the 35 minutes
return trip to the Puerto Maldonado Airport, taking advantage
of valuable early morning wildlife activity along the river. From
here you fly to Cusco or Lima, where your jungle adventure ends.
(B)
Please note that the program may vary slightly so as to maximize
your wildlife sightings, depending on the reports of our researchers
and experienced naturalist guides based at the lodge.
END OF OUR SERVICES
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Accommodation
Sandoval Lodge
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