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All rights reserved.
Tambopata-Madidi Wilderness
Amazon Rainforest, Peru
Madre de Dios River, Tambopata National Reserve.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Discover the world's largest pristine rainforest...
Land Price (5 days/4 nights)
Private US$ 1,455 per person
The land price includes escorted transfers, private excursions with a naturalist guide (a birder guide is available at additional cost), entrance fees, specified accommodations, all meals (see details), all land and water transportation, and travel insurance for guests through the age of 59 years (over that age, there is a supplementary fee). All prices are per person based on two people sharing a guest room. For a detailed description of our services, see Opulent Itineraries. We also offer a 4-day/3-night tour and a 6-day/5-night tour. Please note that a valid passport must be brought on this journey and that a yellow fever vaccination is recommended but not currently required.
Map
Detail Map
Air fares are in addition to the land price.
Bungalow of the Heath River Wildlife Center.
Photo: Peru Verde.
The Tambopata-Madidi Wilderness
Three extraordinary, contiguous Amazon reserves lie only a 25-minute flight from Cuzco -- the great Tambopata-Madidi Wilderness on the Peru-Bolivian border. Taken together, these parks are two-thirds the size of Costa Rica and protect the most species-rich natural habitats in the world.
The intimate Heath River provides the fastest and easiest route to the uninhabited, unhunted core of these parks, a vast 2.5-million-acre (one-million-hectare) wilderness full of the five top predators of the Amazon -- Jaguar, Giant Otter, Black Caiman, Harpy Eagle and Anaconda. The unhunted region of Manu (the other great Peruvian nature reserve) is only 750,000 acres (300,000 hectares) and demands more money and time to visit.
The Heath River features the world's most accessible large macaw lick, which has registered up to 260 large macaws in one day, making it one of the five largest recorded macaw licks in the world. Though all five of these licks are spectacular, the Heath Macaw Lick is by far the most economical to visit, making it ideal for a short Amazon itinerary to combine with the Inca sites of Cuzco and Machu Picchu. The Heath lick is the only one of the five that can be reached the same day that you fly by jet from Cuzco, thus saving one or two nights over other licks.
Travelers enjoy warm pancakes and coffee while viewing the photogenic lick from a comfortable floating blind anchored only 100 feet (30 metres) away, a fraction of the distance from which one views the more remote clay licks in Tambopata. Finally, the rainforest on both sides of the Heath River is fully representative of the world's most biologically diverse habitat -- the Amazon forest at the foot of the eastern slope of the Andes.
Canoeing, Tambopata National Reserve.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Heath River Wildlife Center
Location: Heath River, adjacent to the northern tip of Bolivia's 4.7-million-acre Madidi National Park and across the river from Peru's 2.7-million-acre Bahuaja-Sonene National Park. Reserve size: 25,000 acres. Wildlife it protects: Jaguars, Lowland Tapirs, Maned Wolves, Marsh Deer, Harpy Eagles, six species of macaws and Giant Otters.
Only four hours by river from the Puerto Maldonado airport, the Heath River Wildlife Center is the gateway to the largest uninhabited and unhunted rainforest in the Amazon. An immensely photogenic macaw clay lick, capybaras, oxbow lakes with Giant Otters, hundreds of bird and mammal species and a lodge 100%-owned by the Ese'eja Indians of Sonene make the Heath the best combination of nature and culture in the entire Amazon. No other lodge in Tambopata is 100% owned and operated by a community of lowland Indians.
Every person in Sonene speaks the original indigenous language, with Spanish being a distant second used mostly in school and to trade with outsiders and, now, to chat with pampered guests. Women from Sonene hold daily crafts workshops at the lodge, teaching visitors tribal traditions handed down through the millennia.
Though very traditional, the lodge in Sonene does not sacrifice comfort in the least. Guests enjoy roomy, private, double-occupancy bungalows and en-suite facilities with hot showers. The combination of the most accessible and most photogenic large macaw lick and the warmth and uniquely traditional hospitality of our Indian hosts make the Heath River Wildlife Center one of the Amazon's best values in wildlife and authentic rainforest adventure.
As featured on PBS: The Real Macaw.
Rufescent Tiger-Heron,
Tambopata National Reserve.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Highlights
Heath River Wildlife Center
Day 1: Puerto Maldonado - Heath River Wildlife Center. Meet at the airport and drive through town to the Tambopata River port. Travel downriver to the Madre de Dios, which we follow for four hours to the Heath River. Then, travel up this wild and intimate river to the rainforest and savannah ecosystems surrounding the Heath River Wildlife Center. Note that the lodge is located on the Bolivian side of the Heath River, so passports are required to clear Bolivian passport control (a Bolivian visa is not required). Overnight in the Heath River Wildlife Center.
Day 2: Heath River Wildlife Center. Board a motorized canoe for the journey up the Heath River to the macaw and parrot clay lick. A specially-designed floating blind allows for proximity and complete concealment. When we return to the lodge, the guide leads us on an ethno-botanical walk. After lunch and a rest, hike through the rainforest to the Pampas del Heath, the largest remaining undisturbed savannah in the Amazon. Overnight in the Heath River Wildlife Center.
Day 3: Heath River Wildlife Center. Breakfast in the floating blind at the macaw and parrot clay lick for a last round of looks and photos. Then, return to the lodge to explore some trails. After lunch, we could visit the Ese'Eja natives of Sonene and after dinner, we'll explore the forest by flashlight, including a visit to a mammal clay lick, if it is active. Overnight in the Heath River Wildlife Center.
Day 4: Heath River Wildlife Center. In the morning, explore different trails, searching for birds and monkeys. At the end, we will visit a mammal lick. After lunch, travel upriver to explore areas close to the Madidi National Park. Optional night walk through the forest. Overnight in the Heath River Wildlife Center.
Day 5: Heath River Wildlife Center - Puerto Maldonado. Early morning departure to Puerto Maldonado. During the riverboat trip, families of Capybaras are often spotted on the banks of the river. Upon arrival in port, reception and transfer to the airport for the flight to Cuzco or Lima.
Details
Black Caiman, Tambopata National Reserve.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Day 1: Puerto Maldonado - Heath River Wildlife Center
We meet at the Puerto Maldonado airport and drive through town to the Tambopata River port. After boarding motorized canoes, we travel downriver to the mighty Madre de Dios, which we follow for approximately four hours to the Heath River. We then travel up this wild and intimate river, which forms the wilderness border between Peru and Bolivia, to the rainforest and savannah ecosystems surrounding the Heath River Wildlife Center. Note that the lodge is located on the Bolivian side of the Heath River, so passports are required to clear Bolivian passport control (a Bolivian visa is not required). Overnight in the Heath River Wildlife Center.
Blue-and-Gold Macaw, Tambopata National Reserve.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
One of the world's most dazzling wildlife spectacles is nearing its riotous peak...
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 spectacles is nearing its riotous peak. The steep bank has become a pulsing, 130 foot high palette of red, blue, yellow and green as more than a thousand parrots squabble over choice perches to grab a beakful 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.
-- Charles A. Munn, Macaws: Winged Rainbows, National Geographic, January, 1994
Choro Monkey, Tambopata National Reserve.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Day 2: Heath River Wildlife Center
We rise early in the morning to board a motorized canoe for the 10-minute journey up the Heath River to the macaw and parrot clay lick. Brightly-colored parrots and macaws fly in by the hundreds to feed on the clay that detoxifies certain seeds and nuts they eat. Marvel at the cacophony of sound and color as Red-and-Green Macaws vie for the best clay-eating position. A specially-designed floating blind allows for proximity and complete concealment -- so you can even have breakfast and coffee while the birds are performing their morning ritual.
When we return to the lodge, the guide leads us on an ethno-botanical walk through the forest, pointing out flora used in the daily lives of rainforest people. The guide explains how certain plants are used for medicinal or healing purposes, which ones can be made into the best bows and arrows, and how to select trees and leaves for home construction.
After lunch and a short rest, we hike through the rainforest to the Pampas del Heath, the largest remaining undisturbed savannah in the Amazon. The contrast is striking as we emerge from the mature rainforest onto the palm-studded grassland plain of the Pampas. Overnight in the Heath River Wildlife Center.
Tigrillo, Tambopata National Reserve.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Day 3: Heath River Wildlife Center
We breakfast in the floating blind at the macaw and parrot clay lick for a last round of looks and photos. Then, we return to the lodge to explore some trails. After lunch, we could visit the Ese'Eja natives of Sonene, where there will be an opportunity to interact with the community and purchase local handicrafts or explore the trails. After dinner, we'll explore the forest by flashlight, including a visit to a mammal clay lick, if it is active. Overnight in the Heath River Wildlife Center.
Rainbow Boa, Tambopata National Reserve.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Day 4: Heath River Wildlife Center
In the morning, we explore different trails, searching for birds and monkeys. At the end, we will visit a mammal lick. After lunch, we travel upriver to explore areas close to the Madidi National Park. Optional night walk through the forest. Overnight in the Heath River Wildlife Center.
Canoe, Tambopata National Reserve.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Day 5: Heath River Wildlife Center - Puerto Maldonado
Early morning departure to Puerto Maldonado. During the riverboat trip back downstream, families of Capybaras are often spotted on the banks of the river. Weighing up to 120 pounds (55 kilograms), this giant three-toed relative of the guinea pig is the largest rodent in the world. Upon arrival in port, reception and transfer to the airport for the flight to Cuzco or Lima.
Extraordinary explorations.
© 2011 Inka's Empire Corporation, Luxury Peru Travel & Peru Tours. All rights reserved.
