Refugio Amazonas STANDARD LODGE
Destinations:  Tambopata National Reserve, Madre de Dios
Duration:        4 days / 3 nights

DAY 1

                                                                                                                 (L, D)
At your arrival, you will be transfered from the airport to the Tambopata River port after a brief stop at Puerto Maldonado headquarters where you will be able to leave all unnecessary luggage for this journey. Begin to experience the enchantment of the Amazon Rainforest as you take a 2 and a half hour boat ride along the Tambopata River to arrive to the Refugio Amazon Rainforest Lodge in the Tambopata National Reserve.

Caiman searches
You will be out at the Tambopata river's edge at night, scanning the shores with headlamps and flashlights to catch the red gleams of reflection from caiman eyes.

Overnight in Refugio Amazon Rainforest Lodge.

DAY 2

Sachavacayoc Oxbow Lake                                                                   (B, L, D)
A two hour hike at dawn from Refugio Amazon Rainforest Lodge takes you to Sachavacayoc Lake within the Tambopata National Reserve. You will then paddle around the lake in a catamaran, searching for the resident family of five giant river otters and caimans.

Farm Visit and Ethnobotanical Garden
Five minutes down river from the lodge lies a farm owned and managed by charismatic Don Manuel from the neighbouring community of Condenado. He grows a variety of popular and unknown Amazon crops.

Brazil Nut Trail and Camp
A few minutes hike from Refugio Amazon Rainforest Lodge in the Tambopata National Reserve is a beautiful old growth patch of Brazil Nut forest that has been harvested for decades (if not centuries) where the precarious remains of a camp used two months a year by Brazil Nut gatherers can still be experienced. We will be demonstrating the whole process of the rainforest only sustainably harvested product from collection through transportation to drying.

Night Walk
You will have the option of hiking out at night, when most of the mammals are active but rarely seen. Much easier to find are frogs with shapes and sounds as bizarre as their natural histories.

Overnight in Refugio Amazon Rainforest Lodge.

DAY 3

Parakeet clay lick                                                                                 (B, L, D)
From a blind you will see parakeets descend on most clear days to ingest the clay on a bank. Species such as Dusky headed and Cobalt winged Parakeet descend at this clay lick. You will visit the lick at dawn, when parrots are most active.

Mammal Clay Lick
Twenty minutes walking from Refugio Amazon Rainforest Lodge is a peccary clay lick. These wild rain forest pigs show up in herds of five to twenty individuals to eat clay in the late morning.

Canopy Tower
A thirty minute walk from Refugio Amazon Rainforest Lodge leads to the 25 meter scaffolding canopy tower. The tower has been built upon high ground, therefore increasing your horizon of the continues primary forest extending out towards the Tambopata National Reserve.

Tambopata National Reserve Lecture
Nightly lectures prepared by the staff of Refugio Amazon Rainforest Lodge cover conservation threats, opportunities and projects in the Tambopata National Reserve.

Overnight in Refugio Amazon Rainforest Lodge.

DAY 4

Refugio Amazon Rainforest Lodge to Puerto Maldonado                            (B)
Leave Refugio Amazon Rainforest Lodge to take a boat back to Tambopata River Port and then to Puerto Maldonado headquarters. Finally, you will be transferred to the airport.