Duration 3 Days & 2 Night
High season: From April to November
Low season From Jan to Mar and Dec
Departures Daily departures
Airfares Not included, available upon request
Customizable YES, feel free to ask for extra
services
DAY 1 DISCOVER THE JUNGLE
Transfer from Puerto Maldonado airport to the river port on
the Madre de Dios River. A 25 minutes journey down the Madre
de Dios River by motor canoe brings you to the riverside trailhead
to Sandoval Lake Lodge. From here the trail takes you on a 2-miles
(3,2-kilometers) walk through secondary forest, until we reach
a small canal where we board canoes and are paddled 220 yards
(201 meters) through a flooded forest of 100-foot (30-meters)
tall Mauritia palms. As the canal opens onto the shimmering
surface of the lake, we transfer to a catamaran and are leisurely
paddled across half the lake to the lodge.
After lunch and a brief rest to avoid the early afternoon heat,
we will learn about the history of the lodge and the philosophy
of its founders. Then we once again board the catamaran and
set off to explore the entire west end of the lake. Here, in
the flooded palm forest we drift to the sounds of hundreds of
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.
As night falls we will look for the large and extremely rare
Black Caimans. If it is a clear starlit night, we will also
be able to float in the middle of the lake to marvel at the
brilliance of the sky and listen to the sounds of the forest.
We return to the lodge for a short video or slide presentation
and dinner. At any point, you could step out from the bar to
admire the wide variety of nocturnal moths, beetles and praying
mantis attracted to our black light in the lodge clearing.
For those with lots of energy, our guide will take us on a
short night-walk into the forest behind the lodge. (L,D)
DAY 2 SANDOVAL LAKE LODGE
A pre-dawn wake-up call will enable us to be on the lake for
sunrise and a hopeful encounter with the family of Giant Otters
who frequent the lake and are most active at this time of day.
Sandoval Lake offers abundant wildlife including over 40 species
of birds resident to its lake margins, most of the fish-eating
water birds around the lake actively fish in the early morning
as well, and this outing should provide excellent views, of
the prehistoric- looking Hoatzins, These are easy to observe
and also photograph from the paddled canoes or catamarans.
After returning for a late breakfast we set off into the cool
under story of the tall virgin forest near the lake to see some
towering wild Brazil Nut trees and a demonstration of how our
hosts collect, open and commercialize this important natural
product.
After lunch and an hour or so to relax we once again board
the catamaran to explore the eastern part of the lake, where
we might see one or more of the five species of monkeys who
live in the forest near the lake, such as the Brown Capuchin
Monkey and Squirrel Monkey.
Before dinner we will again enjoy an informative natural history
video or slide presentation.
We will leave after dinner to try and spot some Black Caimans
on the lake, or to go on a short night walk through the primary
forest. (B,L,D)
DAY 3 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.
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