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Amazon Jungle Tours
Macaw clay lick Tours
[ Index ] [ Macaw clay lick Express ] [ Macaw clay lick Classic ] [ Pongo de Mainique ] [ Macaw clay lick Extensive ] [ Heath river Classic ] [ Heath river Expedition ]
Heath
River Expedition ( 6 Days and 5 Nights )
Price per person
High Season $840.00
Low Season $785.00
Combine a pleasant trip to Sandoval lake plus a visit to the large Macaw Clay
Lick and the Heath's dry Savannah.
Daily departures
Day 1:
MEETING THE JUNGLE
We are met by our guide at Puerto Maldonado airport and
transferred to the port on the Tambopata River. Here we
board a motorized canoe for a four-and-a-half hour
journey to the Heath River Wildlife Center. After
descending the Tambopata River for 5 minutes to the
confluence with the larger Madre de Dios River, our boat
heads east, downstream on the mighty Madre de Dios River,
passing small gold prospecting barges before reaching
the Peru-Bolivia border. This stretch of the Madre de
Dios River is particularly attractive, as more than 75%
of the riverbank is still covered by towering, virgin
rainforest, and periods of 15-20 minutes go by without a
single sign of forest cutting. (For comparison, a
similar length of river travel up the Tambopata River
features only 10-15% of primary forest along the
riverbank---the rest is in agriculture and freshly
burned forest clearings). Here we transfer to a smaller
motorized canoe and head up the narrow, intimate Heath
River, which forms the wilderness border between Peru
and Bolivia, to arrive at our 100% Indian-owned lodge,
the only all-Indian-owned lodge in the Tambopata region.
We will provide a complete box lunch during the river
trip.
PLEASE NOTE THAT VALID PASSPORTS MUST BE BROUGHT FOR
THIS JOURNEY.
In the late afternoon, our Ese Eja Indian hosts will
take us to explore the forest surrounding the lodge in
search for the various species of monkeys and hundreds
of species of birds that make the rainforest home. After
dinner we explore the forest by flashlight, including a
visit to a small mammal clay lick if it is active. (L,
D)
Day 2: COLLPA
Rising before dawn we once again board the canoe for the
journey up the Heath River to the Macaw and Parrot Clay
Lick. Depending on the level of the river this journey
can take up to one hour. During the river trip upstream,
we nearly always see one or two families of Capybaras on
the banks of the river. At 120 pounds (55 kilograms),
this simply gigantic relative of the guinea pig is the
largest and most photogenic rodent in the world. Once at
our specially-designed floating blind, our breakfast is
served as we marvel at the medium-sized, emerald-green
and electric-blue parrots and the large blazing
Red-and-Green Macaws that arrive in two shifts to eat
the clay. Note that in some years ALL macaw and parrot
licks in southern Peru are less active in May, June, and
early July than in the rest of the months of the year.
Thus, bear this in mind if you are especially interested
in photography of the parrots and macaws. Returning to
the lodge after the a beautiful parrot display our
native guides take us on an ethno-botanical walk through
the forest, explaining how they use many of the forest
trees and plants in their daily lives, either as
medicines or for bows and arrows and in home
construction. After lunch and a short rest we go first
by canoe then a short walk to a natural forest of
towering, 170-foot-tall (55-meter-tall) Brazil nut trees
to learn how the slight, yet surprisingly powerful, men
of the village harvest these nuts, which fall from the
treetops encased in rock-hard brown spheres the size of
small grapefruits. Our Ese Eja Indian hosts have
harvested these delicious, valuable nuts for thousands
of years, and now they will show you the mystery and
splendor of this wonder of the Amazon. Starting at some
point in mid-2002, our hosts also will feature a new
canopy attraction in the top of a huge canopy emergent
tree. The details will be available as this attraction
is completed. (B, L, D)
Day 3: JUNGLE TRAILS
Extra day exploring the jungle trails. Overnight at
Heath River Wildlife Center with full board (B, L, D)
Day 4: MACAW CLAY LICK
Rising before dawn we once again board the canoe for the
journey up the Heath River to the Macaw and Parrot Clay
Lick. Depending on the level of the river this journey
can take up to one hour. During the river trip upstream,
we nearly always see one or two families of Capybaras on
the banks of the river. At 120 pounds (55 kilograms),
this simply gigantic relative of the guinea pig is the
largest and most photogenic rodent in the world. Once at
our specially-designed floating blind, our breakfast is
served as we marvel at the medium-sized, emerald-green
and electric-blue parrots and the large blazing
Red-and-Green Macaws that arrive in two shifts to eat
the clay. Note that in some years ALL macaw and parrot
licks in southern Peru are less active in May, June, and
early July than in the rest of the months of the year.
Thus, bear this in mind if you are especially interested
in photography of the parrots and macaws. After the
spectacle of the lick we return to the lodge to pack and
then boat back upstream on the Madre de Dios River to
Sandoval Lake Lodge, which is located on the banks of
the lake that most experts consider to be the most
beautiful in all the southern Amazon of Peru. A box
lunch will be eaten during the journey. Arriving at the
trail head to Sandoval Lake Lodge we take a 45-minute
walk or rickshaw ride through the forest to a small
canal where we board a canoe and then transfer to one or
more hand-paddled catamarans, each of which has a
capacity for 20 people. Arriving on the lake in the cool
golden light of the late afternoon, we enter into a
flooded palm forest and drift beneath dozens (and often
hundreds) of babbling Red-bellied Macaws as they return
to the palm forest for the night. This macaw species is
found locally in parts of the Amazon, always living in
flooded palm forests such as the beautiful palm stand at
Sandoval Lake. At 500-800 birds, this flock of macaws at
Sandoval Lake is currently the largest reported in the
world for this highly-specialized macaw. We return to
the lodge around nightfall for dinner. (B, L, D)
Day 5: SANDOVAL LAKE
After a dawn breakfast, we explore the western end of
the lake in the hope of encountering the family of nine
Giant Otters that live in the lake. For those with lots
of energy, our guide will take us hiking through the
forest, and will bring the forest to life with stories
of the rain forest and the medicinal uses of the plants.
Following lunch and an optional rest, in the late
afternoon we once again board the catamaran and set off
to explore the eastern end of the lake. Here we might
see Brown Capuchin and Bolivian Squirrel Monkeys as they
forage along the lakes' edge. After dinner we can return
to the catamaran to look for large Black Caiman, the
rarest of the crocodilians of the Amazon. If it is a
clear starlight night, we will also be able to float in
the middle of the lake and marvel at the brilliance of
the night sky. There is a final after-dinner opportunity
to look for Caiman on the lake, or to explore the lodge
trails by flashlight. (B, L, D)
Day 6: TRANSFER OUT
After a dawn breakfast we return to Puerto Maldonado for
the flight back to Cusco or Lima. (B) |
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Accommodations |
Sandoval Lodge |
Macaw clay lick |
Sandoval's Black
Cayman |
Madre de Dios river |
INCLUDES: All hotel and lodge
accommodations based on double occupancy. All scheduled land, lake
and river
transportation. All transfers. All scheduled excursions with English-speaking guide
services. All entrance fees. Meals as specified in the itinerary. B=Breakfast;L=Lunch;D=Dinner.
NOT INCLUDED IN THE FEE
International or domestic airfares, airport departure taxes or visa fees, excess baggage
charges, additional nights during the trip due to flight cancellations, alcoholic
and non-alcoholic
beverages or bottled water, snacks, insurance of any kind, laundry, phone calls, radio
calls or messages, reconfirmation of flights and items of personal nature.
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Reservations
- Ask
for the availability by sending an e-mail to orquidea@orquidea.net
,we will answer within 48 hours.
- Once we have confirmed
the availability , we need the payment in advance. We accept Visa
and MasterCard on-line, please fill out our SECURE SERVER RESERVATION FORM
. Please note that all the transactions are managed by the
Internetsecure banking service ( Canadian company ) , for your total
security. All the information is encrypted, we will not know your card
number. More information about our reliability are available here
- We'll send you a receipt of the deposit
and the confirmation of your reservation
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