Duration 5 Days & 4 Night
Departures Daily departures
Airfares Not included, available upon request
Customizable YES, feel free to ask for extra services
DAY 1: PUERTO MALDONADO TO HEATH RIVER WILDLIFE
CENTER
Our staff welcome you at Puerto Maldonado airport and we drive through
this bustling Upper Amazon Basin city to the Tambopata River boat dock.
Here we board a powerful motorized dugout canoe and set off to the
nearby confluence of the mighty Madre de Dios River, where we head
downstream for approximately three hours to the Peru-Bolivia border at
the mouth of the remote Heath River. Even beneath the vast sky of this
major Amazon tributary we glimpse the diversity of the riverine
environment, with its forest-capped red-earth cliffs, alternating with
low banks thick with Cecropia trees and giant grasses. Now, after brief
frontier-crossing formalities, we motor for about two more hours up
narrower and wilder waters, suddenly enjoying the intimacy of mysterious
forest looming close on either side. Occasional views of native villages
and children splashing by the banks, are interspersed with long, quiet
stretches where we may spot herons, hawks, cormorants, Orinoco Geese,
and perhaps a family of Capybaras -- the world’s largest rodent,
weighing up to 55kg./120lb, and looking like an enormous Guinea Pig. We
reach our simple, charming and comfortable quarters at the Heath River
Wildlife Center in time for dinner. (Box lunch, D)
(Please note that the lodge is located on the Bolivian shore of the
Heath River, so passports are required to clear Bolivian passport
control.)
DAY 2: HEATH RIVER WILDLIFE CENTER
Today we make an early start to visit the lodge’s most spectacular
feature: the Heath River parrot and macaw lick. Here these colorful
birds gather to eat a type of clay from the cliff-like river banks that
neutralizes certain toxins in their diet. They congregate early each
morning, sometimes by the hundreds, jostling and squabbling over the
best eating spots on the clay lick. This noisy and unforgettable show
can go on for two or three hours, and may begin with up to five species
of parrot and two varieties of parakeet, followed by Chestnut-fronted
Macaws and their larger, more boisterous cousins, the Red-and-green
Macaws. This extraordinary wildlife display occurs at only a handful of
sites in the Upper Amazon Basin, and nowhere else on the planet.
Our floating hide platform provides comfort and complete concealment, so
that we can eat a full breakfast here during pauses in the bankside
spectacle. For ultra-close-up viewing, our guides carry a tripod-mounted
spotting scope, which can also be used to get telephoto pictures with
even the simplest camera.
On our return we can land partway downriver and walk back along a
section of the lodge’s extensive network of forest trails. We encounter
numerous gigantic Brazil-nut, kapok and fig trees, along with the scary
strangler fig, whose life strategy is as sinister as its name suggests.
Our guide will point out and explain the medicinal and commercial uses
of dozens of plants and trees, while we keep our eyes and ears open for
birds, or one of the eight species of monkeys found in this region. We
might come upon a small herd of White-lipped or Collared peccary – two
kinds of wild pig that are quite common in this area. For purposes of
territorial marking they deploy a “stink gland” so potent that they are
often smelled long before they are seen.
After lunch we typically hike or bicycle along a major trail to a point
where the forest abruptly gives way to the spacious plains of the Pampas
del Heath, part of Bolivia’s Madidi National Park. This unique
environment -- the result of very poor soils, plus an extreme seasonal
cycle of dryness and flooding -- is the largest remaining undisturbed
tropical savannah in the Amazon, and is home to rare endemic birds and
mammals, such as the Swallow-tailed Hummingbird and the highly
endangered Maned Wolf. Shortly beyond the edge of the forest we can
climb a raised platform that allows us a grand view of this vast expanse
of grassland and shrub, studded with palm trees.
We can continue another hour or so to a swampy area thick with Mauritia
flexuosa palm trees, whose oil-rich palm nuts and hollowed-out dead
palms provide vitally important food and shelter for nesting pairs of
Red-bellied and increasingly rare Blue-and-yellow macaws. We aim to
arrive toward dusk, when the macaws are returning from their day’s
foraging to congregate in this very special breeding site.
We return to the lodge by night, using our flashlights, and perhaps
pausing here and there in total darkness, to listen to the ever-changing
orchestra of animals, frogs and insects, and to experience the magic of
the night-time rainforest. We may come upon such bizarre nocturnal
creatures as camouflaged frogs disguised as dead leaves, toads the size
of rabbits, hairy tarantulas peering out of their dirt holes, night
monkeys lurking among the tree branches, and a seemingly unpredictable
array of other nightlife.
After dinner some guests may choose to visit one of our mammal lick
hides, in hopes of seeing a Lowland Tapir, the rainforest’s largest
mammal. Hardy adventurers can choose to camp here with their guide, in
order to experience a full night in the heart of the rainforest and
increase their chances of a major wildlife sighting. (B, L, D)
DAY 3: HEATH RIVER WILDLIFE CENTER
Our second full day at the lodge allows us to choose from a wide range
of activities available in this exceptionally diverse tropical
environment. Many people choose to make a second visit to the macaw clay
lick. Later we can take a canoe tour around Cocha Moa, an oxbow lake
that lies a short way downstream from the lodge.
The reeds, fallen trees and forested shoreline of this lake teem with
birds and other wildlife. Red Howler Monkeys may peer at us through the
branches of the giant trees above us, while herons lie in wait among the
fallen trees, cormorant-like Anhingas watch from the forest branches,
and an Osprey may circle overhead. Flocks of brilliant Red-capped
Cardinals gather on dead branches, and a colorful, primitive bird, the
Hoatzin, hops its ungainly way along the swampy water’s edge.
In the afternoon we may travel an hour or so downriver to visit the
Ese’Eja native community of Sonene, where we can meet these descendants
of nomadic forest tribes, and catch a glimpse of those traditional ways
of life that they manage to maintain in the modern world. We can also
purchase their handcrafts, made from a wide range of seeds collected
from the forest.
After dinner we can board our canoe once more, for an evening of
spotting for caiman, the Amazonian cousin of the alligator. This region
is home to the endangered black caiman, and we nearly always pick out a
few with our powerful spotlight as we patrol the river. (B, L, D)
DAY 4: HEATH RIVER WILDLIFE CENTER
Today we follow pathways new to us, and explore fresh areas along the
lodge’s extensive network of forest trails, deepening our acquaintance
with the forest and its ways, and searching for birds, mammals, and
other creatures we may not yet have seen. Perhaps we will run across
peccary for the first time, or add two or three species to our monkey
list. Our guides will point out new species of trees and plants,
explaining their medicinal, commercial or ritual uses. Towards the end
of our walk we will visit one of the lodge’s several mammal clay licks,
which may provide a surprise encounter with a tapir, or a Red Brocket
Deer.
After lunch we plunge deeper into the wilderness, boating up the Heath
River into areas that are completely unpopulated, and seldom visited by
anyone except an occasional park ranger, and the indigenous Ese’Eja
river people. This journey is always an adventure – especially in the
dry season months of June through October, when our crew may frequently
have to push the canoe across sandbanks and gravel shallows. Wildlife
spotting from the canoe is comfortable, effortless and productive, as
many birds and animals patrol the river banks, and not infrequently swim
across the river. Along with countless bird species, we usually spot
families of Capybara, the giant three-toed relative of the guinea pig,
which can weighs up to 55kg./120 lbs., and is the world’s largest rodent.
We are often even more successful after we reach the upper limits of
canoe navigation, when we can turn the engine off for long spells and
float soundlessly downriver, catching the forest wildlife unawares.
We return to the lodge for some leisure time before dinner. Later we
have the option of a night trail walk in search of the numerous
creatures, including frogs, toads, owls, nighthawks, spiders and night
monkeys, that make the forest such a busy and different place during the
night. (B, L, D)
DAY 5: TRANSFER OUT
We leave at dawn for the return trip downstream. This is peak hour for
wildlife so we keep a sharp eye on the riverbanks, often spotting
families of Capybara, and perhaps being rewarded with a rare jaguar
sighting, or a tapir swimming across the current. We reach the Madre de
Dios River, re-enter Peru, and set off upstream for Puerto Maldonado,
where we are transferred to the airport for our flight to Cusco or
Lima.(B)
Please note that the program may vary slightly so as to maximize your
wildlife sightings, depending on the reports of our researchers and
experienced naturalist guides based at the lodge.
END OF OUR SEVICES
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