Amazon Extension (Essence)

On arrival at Lima airport, you will be met and taken to your hotel.

Half tour of colonial and modern Lima.

Posada Amazonas is a 30 bedroom lodge owned by the local community of Infierno and managed with Rainforest Expeditions. Located within the territory of the Infierno Community and built within the 2,000 hectare, private, communal reserve, which is also directly adjacent to the Tambopata National Reserve.

Thanks to its location and accesibility to nearby reserves, Posada Amazonas provides excellent wildlife observation opportunities, a chance to immerse yourself in the local culture while staying in comfortable accommodation. An ideal 3 night introduction to the Amazon.

DAY 1 (L,D)

Arrival & Reception by Guide

Our guides are biologists, tourism professionals, or community members. Unless noted otherwise, our guides speak English. We assign guides at 10:1 ratio in Posada Amazonas. This means groups smaller than 10 people will be merged with other groups under one guide. If you would like a private guide or a guide in a language other than English please let us know.

Transfer Airport to Puerto Maldonado Headquarters

Upon arrival from Lima or Cusco, we will welcome you at the airport and drive you ten minutes to our Puerto Maldonado headquarters. While enjoying your first taste of the forest in our gardens we will ask you to pack only the necessary gear for your next few days, and leave the rest at our safe deposit. This helps us keep the boats and cargo light.

Transfer Pto Maldonado Headquarters to Tambopata River Port

Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometers to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno. The port is a communal business.

Transfer Boat – Tambopata River Port to Posada Amazonas

The forty five minute boat ride from the Tambopata Port to Posada Amazonas will take us into the Community´s Primary Forest Private Reserve.

Orientation

Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips.

Canopy Tower

A twenty minute walk from Posada Amazonas leads to the 30 meter scaffolding canopy tower. A bannistered staircase running through the middle provides safe access to the platforms above. From atop you obtain spectacular views of the vast expanses of standing forest cut by the Tambopata River winding through the middle. Now and then toucans, parrots or macaws are seen flying against the horizon, or mixed species canopy flocks land in the treetop next to you.

Dinner

Ecotourism Lecture

A daily presentation on the Infierno ecotourism project is available every night from a staff member.

Overnight at Posada Amazonas

Breakfast

Tres Chimbadas Oxbow Lake

Tres Chimbadas is thirty minutes by boat and forty five minutes hiking from Posada Amazonas. Once there you will paddle around the lake in a catamaran, searching for the resident family of nine giant river otters (seen by 60% of our lake visitors) and other lakeside wildlife such as caiman, hoatzin and horned screamers. Otters are most active from dawn to eight or nine AM.

Lunch

Ethnobotanical Tour

A twenty minute boat drive downriver leads you to a trail designed by the staff of the Centro Ñape. The Centro Ñape is a communal organization that produces medicines out of forest plants and administers them to patients who choose their little clinic. They have produced a trail which explains the different medicinal (and other) uses of selected plants.

Dinner

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 at Posada Amazonas

Parrot Clay Lick

This clay lick is only a twenty minute walk from Posada Amazonas. From a blind located about twenty meters away you will see dozens of parrots and parakeets descend on most clear mornings to ingest the clay on a river bank. Species such as Mealy and Yellow- headed Amazon, Blue-headed Parrot and Dusky headed Parakeet descend at this clay lick. The clay lick is active at dawn, during the late mornings and mid-afternoons.

Ceiba Trail Hike

We leave from the lobby at Posada Amazonas and embark on a two hour hike crowned by the largest tree in the vicinity: a giant ceiba tree. During the hike we will focus on the natural history of the rain forest and its principal taxonomic groups.

Lunch

Farm Visit

A thirty minute boat drive downriver takes us to the most complete farm in the community of Infierno. The owner grows a diverse variety of popular and unknown Amazon crops. In his garden, just about every plant and tree serves a purpose.

Dinner

Overnight at Posada Amazonas

We retrace our river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado, our office and the airport. Depending on airline schedules, this may require dawn departures.

Boat Transportation. All our boats are 20 foot long, roofed canoes with 55 hp outboard motors. Daily arrivals and departures from every port are scheduled to meet every airline´s arrival and departure with a maximum two hour wait.

Travel Tips

What to bring
– Good binoculars
– Camera gear
– Tight-weave, light colored, long cotton pants
– Long sleeved, tight-weave, light colored cotton shirts
– Ankle-high hiking boots and sneakears
– Flashlight with batteries
– Sunblock lotion
– Sunglasses
– Broad-brimmed hat
– Rain suit or poncho
– Insect repellent
– Small denomination bills
– Small daypack

Luggage is hand-carried at various stages in the trip for long distance. We strongly recommend you limit your weight to 15 kilos (32 pounds a piece).

If you are visiting other destinations in Peru that require different kinds of clothing, you can always pack separate bags and safely leave them at our offices in Puerto Maldonado on the first day so we won’t be carrying them around uselessly. Your bag will be waiting for you at the airport the day you leave.