| Duration 5 Days &
4 Night
Departures Daily departures
Airfares Not included, available upon request
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
Our second full day at the lodge allows us to choose from a wide
range of activities available in this exceptionally diverse tropical
environment. Many people choose to make a second visit to the
macaw clay lick. Later we can take a canoe tour around Cocha Moa,
an oxbow lake that lies a short way downstream from the lodge.
The reeds, fallen trees and forested shoreline of this lake teem
with birds and other wildlife. Red Howler Monkeys may peer at
us through the branches of the giant trees above us, while herons
lie in wait among the fallen trees, cormorant-like Anhingas watch
from the forest branches, and an Osprey may circle overhead. Flocks
of brilliant Red-capped Cardinals gather on dead branches, and
a colorful, primitive bird, the Hoatzin, hops its ungainly way
along the swampy water’s edge.
In the afternoon we may travel an hour or so downriver to visit
the Ese’Eja native community of Sonene, where we can meet these
descendants of nomadic forest tribes, and catch a glimpse of those
traditional ways of life that they manage to maintain in the modern
world. We can also purchase their handcrafts, made from a wide
range of seeds collected from the forest.
After dinner we can board our canoe once more, for an evening
of spotting for caiman, the Amazonian cousin of the alligator.
This region is home to the endangered black caiman, and we nearly
always pick out a few with our powerful spotlight as we patrol
the river. (B, L, D)
DAY 4: HEATH RIVER WILDLIFE CENTER
Today we follow pathways new to us, and explore fresh areas along
the lodge’s extensive network of forest trails, deepening our
acquaintance with the forest and its ways, and searching for birds,
mammals, and other creatures we may not yet have seen. Perhaps
we will run across peccary for the first time, or add two or three
species to our monkey list. Our guides will point out new species
of trees and plants, explaining their medicinal, commercial or
ritual uses. Towards the end of our walk we will visit one of
the lodge’s several mammal clay licks, which may provide a surprise
encounter with a tapir, or a Red Brocket Deer.
After lunch we plunge deeper into the wilderness, boating up the
Heath River into areas that are completely unpopulated, and seldom
visited by anyone except an occasional park ranger, and the indigenous
Ese’Eja river people. This journey is always an adventure – especially
in the dry season months of June through October, when our crew
may frequently have to push the canoe across sandbanks and gravel
shallows. Wildlife spotting from the canoe is comfortable, effortless
and productive, as many birds and animals patrol the river banks,
and not infrequently swim across the river. Along with countless
bird species, we usually spot families of Capybara, the giant
three-toed relative of the guinea pig, which can weighs up to
55kg./120 lbs., and is the world’s largest rodent. We are often
even more successful after we reach the upper limits of canoe
navigation, when we can turn the engine off for long spells and
float soundlessly downriver, catching the forest wildlife unawares.
We return to the lodge for some leisure time before dinner. Later
we have the option of a night trail walk in search of the numerous
creatures, including frogs, toads, owls, nighthawks, spiders and
night monkeys, that make the forest such a busy and different
place during the night. (B, L, D)
DAY 5: TRANSFER OUT
We leave at dawn for the return trip downstream. 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.
We reach the Madre de Dios River, re-enter Peru, and set off upstream
for Puerto Maldonado, where we are transferred to the airport
for our flight to Cusco or Lima.(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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Accommodations |
