Tambopata 5 Days the expedition to the deep jungle

DAY-BY-DAY PROGRAM

The route, step by step

Each of the 5 days combines route, history and rest. This is the complete program, step by step.

1. DAY 1

   Puerto Maldonado – Upper Tambopata – Canopy Tower

   Pickup in Puerto Maldonado and combined journey: ~2 hours along the Interoceanic Highway and jungle trail to the port of the upper Tambopata, and from there by boat upstream, crossing the mouth of the Malinowski River, the border of the uninhabited core area of the Tambopata National Reserve. Along the way: capybaras, caimans, Orinoco geese and the first macaws. Lunch on board. Check-in at the lodge and introduction walk from the secondary to the primary forest. At dusk, ascent to the canopy tower (25–35 m) to watch the sun set over a green ocean. At night, caiman safari by boat. Dinner and the guide's talk about the expedition plan.

   See the full day

   • Lunch · Dinner
   • Upper Tambopata lodge

   
2. DAY 2

   Chuncho Clay Lick at Dawn – Upstream – Camp

   Wake up at 4:30 am with a hot drink and upstream navigation in the dark. We dawn in front of the Chuncho clay lick, the largest concentration of macaws on the planet: picnic breakfast in the hide while hundreds of scarlet, red-and-green and blue-and-yellow macaws, with clouds of parrots and parakeets, descend to the clay bluff between 6:30 and 11:00 am. We continue upstream to the edge of the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park and set up camp on a sandy beach inside the reserve: track reading (tapir, jaguar, capybara), river bath and bonfire under the Milky Way. Night walk around the camp: horned frogs and arboreal boas. Night in tents on the beach.

   See the full day

   • Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
   • Camp on a sandy beach

   
3. DAY 3

   Mammal Clay Lick – Kayak – Return to the Lodge

   Sunrise on the beach and an early visit to a second clay lick: El Gato creek and its parrot clay lick, or the 2-hour walk to a mammal clay lick where tapirs, collared peccaries and deer come for the clay minerals. Catch-and-release piranha fishing and a bath in the river. We begin the descent: ~2 hours of downstream navigation with lunch on board, and for the most active, a stretch of kayaking on the calm waters of the Tambopata. Back at the lodge, the ethnobotanical trail: cat's claw, sangre de grado, walking palms and 45-meter emergent lupunas. Sunset on the river with stargazing and a last nocturnal caiman safari. Dinner and night at the lodge.

   See the full day

   • Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
   • Upper Tambopata lodge

   
4. DAY 4

   Madre de Dios River – Sandoval Lake – Sunset

   Breakfast with the roar of the howlers and a change of basin: boat and road back to Puerto Maldonado and navigation on the Madre de Dios (~45 minutes) to the entrance of Sandoval Lake. A 3-km trail among chestnut trees and aguajales to the wooden canoe that takes us to the lake: we row among 30-meter palms looking for the resident giant otter family, black caimans over 4 meters, hoatzins, monkeys and the cocoi heron. Picnic lunch. The afternoon belongs to the lake: a full circuit by rowing with the sunset setting the aguajal on fire, one of the most photographed landscapes of the Peruvian Amazon, and a nocturnal caiman search from the canoe. Dinner and night in a lodge by the lake.

   See the full day

   • Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
   • Lodge by Sandoval Lake

   
5. DAY 5

   Dawn Row – Puerto Maldonado

   Last row at dawn, the best window to see the giant otters fishing: the mist rises from the water while macaws fly over the lake and howlers mark territory. Breakfast and a last walk through the primary forest, with the option of a swim in the lake's designated area. Return along the 3-km trail and upstream navigation of the Madre de Dios to Puerto Maldonado. Transfer to the airport coordinated 2 hours before the flight. End of our services.

   See the full day

   • Breakfast

   

WHAT'S INCLUDED

Everything you need, no surprises

GALLERY

The tour in pictures

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS