DAY 1: PUERTO MALDONADO - POSADA AMAZONAS

Upon arrival from Lima or Cuzco, reception and transfer to the Tambopata river port in Puerto Maldonado. Puerto Maldonado is situated at the mighty Madre de Dios and Tambopata rivers and is a bustling, booming tropical frontier town. Its principal activities are gold mining, Brazil nut collecting, timber extraction, agriculture and ecotourism. After a brief visit of the town we will depart for a 2 hour boat trip by motorized canoe to Posada Amazonas. Depending on the arrival time of the plane we will have a box lunch aboard the boats or have lunch upon arrival at Posada Amazonas. During our voyage we may see bird species typical of the river or forest edge such as: Black Skimmer, Pied Lapwing, Capped Heron, Jabiru Stork, Roadside Hawk, and several species of kingfishers, swallows and flycatchers. When we arrive at Posada Amazonas we will unpack and unwind. Posada Amazonas is a luxurious yet unobtrusive 24 room lodge owned jointly by Rainforest Expeditions and the Ese'eja Native Community of Tambopata. We will receive a short orientation and a complete briefing f the lodge and the Ese'eja Ecotourism Project before our afternoon activity: Ethnobotany. In this activity, we will hike the trails around Posada Amazonas with an Ese´eja native, who will explain to us the everyday uses of forest medicine, construction, food and fiber. We will return to Posada Amazonas for dinner and overnight stay. A video about the forest of Tambopata will be shown after dinner.

L, D

DAY 2: POSADA AMAZONAS- TAMBOPATA RESEARCH CENTER

We will be up at dawn for a visit to the Tres Chimbadas oxbow lake. We depart after an early breakfast. Fifteen minutes from Posada Amazonas by boat and a 30-minute walk will take us to the lakeshore. From here we take a long, easy canoe ride around it. We will look for giant river otters, turtles, hoatzin, and wading birds. The giant river otters that are seen in Tres Chimbadas belong to a resident family of nine. As we approach noon, animal activity decreases, a tropical sunlight makes it irresistible to take a swim on the lake, so pack your swimsuit. Right after that we will travel up the Tambopata River for 3 to 4 hours into the pristine heart of the reserve. After the first hour we will leave the final traces of human habitation behind as we cross the northern boundary of the 700,000-hectare, completely uninhabited, proposed Tabopata National Park. Differences in wildlife abundance will be noticed immediately. We will begin to see macaws, herons, kingfishers and cormorants frequently and improve our chances of encounters with capybaras, caiman, storks, ducks and other wildlife. Boxed lunch on the boat. We will arrive at Tambopata Research Center in the early afternoon, being greeted by the Chicos, our flock of semi-wild, rescued macaws. On arrival, we will hold an orientation session. After this we will hike the 1.5-mile Bamboo Trail, a trail that is famous for the abundance of rare birds that live exclusively in this habitat and are endemic to southern Peru.

B, L, D

DAY 3: TAMBOPATA RESEARCH CENTER

At dawn we will cross the river and enjoy the world's largest macaw clay lick where hundreds of parrots and macaws of up to 15 species congregate daily. The January 1994 issue of National Geographic features an article on Tambopata Research Center and the Tambopata Macaw Project. It begins with a description of the daily spectacle at the clay lick: " When the morning sun clears the Amazon tree line in southeastern Peru and strikes a gray-pink clay bank on the upper Tambopata River, one of the world's most dazzling wildlife gatherings is nearing its riotous peak. The steep bank has become a pulsing, 30-foot-high palette of red, blue, yellow and green as more than a thousand parrots squabble over choice perches to grab a beak-full of clay, a vital but mysterious part of their diet. More than a dozen parrot species will visit the clay lick throughout the day, but this midmorning crush belongs to the giants of the parrot world, the macaws." You can expect to see ten to twelve of the following members of the parrot family: Red-and-green, Blue-and-gold, Scarlet, Red-bellied, Chestnut-fronted and Blue-headed Macaws; Mealy and Yellow-crowned Amazons; Blue-headed, Orange-cheeked and White-bellied Parrots; Dusky-headed, White-eyed, Cobalt-winged and Tui Parakeets and Dusky-billed Parrotlets. This show will continue until the macaws sense danger, usually in the form of an eagle, and depart simultaneously in an explosion of sound and color. Around midmorning, when the most intense clay lick activity is over for the day, we will return to TRC for breakfast. After breakfast we will hike the 1.5-mile Ocelot Trail, a trail which exemplifies the quintessential rainforest. This forest supports monkeys and Collared peccary. The trail passes through the swamp, a nesting colony and preferred roost for Blue and Gold and hen macaws. After a lazy afternoon with the macaws we will hike back and see horned frogs, tree frogs and an incredible variety of colors.

B, L, D

DAY 4: TAMBOPATA RESEARCH CENTER

We will wake up at dawn once again to visit the macaw clay lick and then return for breakfast. The rest of the morning will be spent walking a trail that passes through seasonally flooded forest, allowing us excellent opportunities to see wading birds and even mammals that look for this precious bodies of water to quench their thirst. This trail also reports excellent opportunities to spot howler monkeys and mixed flocks of birds. After lunch we will take a short five minute boat ride to a small, drying oxbow lake where we will spend the afternoon on a platform in the middle of the pond observing some of its bird life, which may include hoatzin, duck, ibis, woodpeckers, chachalaca, parakeets, oropendolas and numerous flycatcher species. We will return to TRC for dinner and an optional night outing.

B, L, D

DAY 5: POSADA AMAZONAS-PUERTO MALDONADO

We will wake up at dawn once again to visit the macaw clay lick and then return for breakfast. At midmorning we will depart for Posada Amazonas, having a boxed lunch on the boat. As soon as we get to Posada Amazonas, we will unpack and do our last activity. We'll visit a native slash and burn farm. Slash and burn agricultural systems are often thought of as wasteful because the fields are burnt, cultivated for a few years, and then abandoned. Many resident studies, however, have shown that this is far from the truth. The secret of their success is mixed planting in small patches using a mixture of herbaceous and woody crops so that the they are not decimated by disease and pests spreading through mono-cultures. After our visit, we will be able to understand why the Ese´eja cultivate a system that is sustainable over the long term. We will return to Posada Amazonas for dinner and overnight. A video will be displayed this evening at the dining room.

DAY 6: POSADA AMAZONAS-PUERTO MALDONADO

After an early breakfast we will return to Puerto Maldonado for our flight back to Lima or Cuzco.

B, L, D

PLEASE NOTE:

· Boats depart everyday from Puerto Maldonado to Posada Amazonas and back.

· Boats depart everyday from Posada Amazonas to Tambopata Research Center and back.