Tambopata Tour 4 Days: Macaw & Mammal Clay Licks and Sandoval Lake

Day 01: Puerto Maldonado – Collpas Tambopata Inn – Forest Walk – Canopy Tower

After breakfast in Puerto Maldonado, we pick you up at the airport or bus station and drive about 2 hours to the Tambopata River, near the boundary of the Tambopata National Reserve. Our boat takes you 30 minutes upriver to Collpas Tambopata Inn, with good chances of seeing birds along the riverbanks. You arrive around midday and get a welcome drink and a short briefing about the lodge.

In the afternoon we walk 2 to 3 km (1.2 to 1.9 mi) into the primary forest behind the lodge, among huge trees, lianas and vines. Along the trail your guide explains the main medicinal plants, such as quinine, once used against malaria, cat’s claw, dragon’s blood and ayahuasca, and looks for the seven monkey species of the area and for forest birds. We end the walk at our 50 m (165 ft) canopy tower, with a view over the top of the rainforest.

In the evening you can take the boat with a spotlight to look for white and black caimans along the Tambopata River.

Day 02: Chuncho Macaw Clay Lick – Kayaking – Night Walk

Wildlife in the Amazon is most active at first light, when it is cooler, so we start early: we leave by boat at 5:00 a.m. and go upriver for an hour, passing the Tambopata National Reserve checkpoint at sunrise. Capybaras, the largest rodent in the world, are often seen on the way, and jaguars are occasionally spotted on the riverbanks.

Our destination is the Chuncho clay lick. All year round, dozens of large macaws and hundreds of parrots gather on this riverbank in a loud and colorful spectacle, best in the dry season. From a discreet spot 60 to 80 m (200 to 260 ft) from the clay bank, we watch red-and-green, scarlet and blue-and-yellow macaws and several smaller parrot species come down to eat clay. Dawn is when the clay lick is most active, and breakfast is served in front of it.

In the afternoon we go kayaking for about 2 hours on the river or the stream, depending on what you prefer, with good chances of seeing capybaras, turtles and river birds.

After dark we go on a night walk, when most insects are active. Frogs are the easiest to find, with shapes and calls as strange as their lives, and we also look for spiders, tarantulas and sometimes a snake.

Day 03: Mammal Clay Lick – Fishing on the Tambopata River

Today we walk a 5 to 8 km (3 to 5 mi) trail through classic rainforest, with immense trees crossed by creeks and ponds, among figs, ceibas and shihuahuacos, to a mammal clay lick. On the way we look for squirrel monkeys, brown capuchins and red howler monkeys, as well as peccaries.

In the afternoon we fish for about 2 hours on the Tambopata River, home to payaras, pacu, catfish such as zúngaro, piro and surubí, and piranhas. With our local methods we usually have good chances of catching some.

Day 04: Puerto Maldonado – Sandoval Lake – End of the Tour

We leave the lodge early and return by boat and car to Puerto Maldonado for breakfast. From the city’s main port, a boat takes us about 40 minutes to the Sandoval Lake sector of the Tambopata National Reserve, and we walk 3 km (1.9 mi) through the forest to the shore of Sandoval Lake, an oxbow lake.

The lake is full of birds, and it is a very good place to see monkeys such as the red howler monkey, brown capuchin, squirrel monkey, dusky titi monkey and saddleback tamarin. Our guides put the chance of seeing giant river otters at about 40%. We have lunch at the edge of the lake.

Then the expedition comes to an end: we take you back to the city, to the airport or bus station for your onward journey. Meals: breakfast and lunch.