Lodge to Lodge

Detailed Itinerary

Day One – Arrival in Lima

Your Amazon rainforest holiday in Peru will begin today with your arrival in Lima. We will meet you at the airport and drive you to your hotel in the stylish Miraflores area of the city for you to check in. Depending on your arrival time, you may just want to rest, but if you’re feeling up to it then we’d highly recommend taking a walk around the lovely Parque Kennedy and perhaps to one of our recommended restaurants to sample some of Lima’s world-famous cuisine.

Day Two – Into the Jungle

This morning we’ll take you back to the airport for a flight over the Andes and down into the Amazon basin. You’ll touch down in the town of Puerto Maldonado and we will drive you the ten minutes to our Puerto Maldonado headquarters for a briefing session before we take you on to the town’s river port for the boat ride along the Madre de Dios river, passing through the indigenous community of the Infierno and the Tambopata National Reserve´s checkpoint and into the buffer zone of this 1.3 million hectare conservation area before we reach the lovely Refugio Amazonas lodge. After dinner we will head out to the river’s edge in the evening, scanning the shores with headlamps and flashlights to catch the red gleams of reflection from caiman eyes. (B/L/D)

Day Three – Canopy Tower and on to the Tambopata Research Centre

After breakfast this morning, we will hike through the jungle to your Amazon lodge’s private canopy tower. This is 25m high and built on top of one of the few hills in the area, so that you have an amazing birds-eye view of the primary rainforest. From here views of mixed species canopy flocks as well as toucans, macaws and raptors are likely. After plenty of time here we will head back to the lodge, for a journey further downriver into the deep jungle and the Tambopata Research Centre. After around an hour and half boat travel, we will cross the confluence with the River Malinowski, and leave the last vestiges of human habitation behind us… From here on in, sightings of capybara, caiman, geese, macaws and other large species will become more frequent. On arrival at the TRC, we will have lunch and then the lodge manager will welcome us with a short briefing session to give us time to digest things. Once we’re well-briefed, we will leave the lodge and head out on a 3-5k hike (depending on conditions) which leads us to a look-out point over the River Tambopata. The forest on this trail is particularly good for sightings of Howler Monkeys and Dusky Titi Monkeys. After returning to the TRC for dinner, some of the Centre’s scientists will provide an in depth look at the biology of macaws, their feeding habits, the theories for clay lick use, their breeding and feeding ecology, population fluctuations and the threats to their conservation. (B)

Day Four – Tambopata Research Centre

On most clear mornings of the year dozens of large macaws and hundreds of parrots congregate on a high-sided river bank near the lodge in a raucous and colourful spectacle which inspired a National Geographic cover story. Discretely located fifty meters from the cliff, we will observe Green-winged, Scarlet and Blue-and-gold Macaws and several species of smaller parrots descend to ingest clay. Outings are at dawn when the lick is most active. We will then have breakfast, before heading out on the floodplain trail. This five kilometer trail covers some fantastic primary rain forest with immense trees criss-crossed by creeks and ponds. Amongst the figs, ceibas and shihuahuacos we will look for Squirrel, Brown Capuchin, and Spider Monkeys as well as peccaries. After lunch we will head ten minutes upriver from the lodge to a tiny pond with a platform in the middle. It is a great place to spot waterfowl such as Muscovy duck, sunbittern and hoatzin along with the woodpeckers, oropendolas, flycatchers and parakeets that call this pond their home, as well as many species of butterflies. After dinner you will have the option of a night trek, when a whole different set of mammals are active but rarely seen, from white caiman to Tambopata’s incredibly diverse range of frogs! (B/L/D)

Day Five - Terre Firme and a Palm Swamp

This morning we will explore a very different kind of habitat to that which we have been enjoying so far. A short boat ride followed by a brief hike will take us on to a Terra Firme trail, so-called because it is characterized by drier, slightly hilly ground, with smaller, thinner trees. We will hope to see Saddleback tamarins on this 5km walk, and it’s also worth keeping your eyes open for signs of the elusive tapir – one of the most difficult of all the jungle mammals to find. We will head back to the TRC for lunch, and then this afternoon we will walk to a nearby Palm Swamp, where dead aguaje palms are used as nests by red-bellied and blue-and-gold macaws. An elevated boardwalk and scaffolding tower allow for eye-level observation of the macaws as they fly in and out of their nests. (B/L/D)

Day Six - Canopy Tower and Creeks Trail

A thirty minute hike from TRC in the Terra Firme forest leads to a 17 meter scaffolding canopy tower. From the top you will obtain spectacular views of the vast expanses of standing forest. Toucans, parrots and macaws can be seen flying against the horizon. Flocks of mixed species of birds can also be seen flying and landing in the treetops next to you. After lunch, you’ll embark on the Creeks Trail, which is a different kind of Terra Firme forest crossed by a number of creeks that will eventually reach the Tambopata River. Walking in the opposite direction of the river, we will focus on forest and creek ecology. (B/L/D)

Day Seven – Oxbow Lake

You will have a free morning today so that you can relax and have a bit of a lie-in before breakfast. Then it’s time to say goodbye to the TRC as we head back upriver to the Refugio Amazonas lodge, where we’ll arrive in time for lunch. After lunch we’ll visit the nearby Oxbow Lake on a canoe or small catamaran so we can enjoy the varied wildlife which makes this lake its home. We’ll hope to see hoatzin, caiman and horned screamers, as well as the giant otters which are sometimes seen here. After dinner, there will be some nightly lectures prepared by the staff of Refugio Amazonas covering conservation threats, opportunities and projects in the Tambopata National Reserve. (B/L/D)

Day Eight – Back to Lima

Sadly, today will be your last in the jungle, as we take you back upriver to the airport in Puerto Maldonado for your flight back to Lima. We will pick you up from the airport and take you back to your hotel, so you can enjoy your last night here in Peru. (B)

Day Nine – Last Day on Holiday in Peru

We’re sad to say that today marks the end of your Amazon rainforest holiday. Most international flights leave Peru in the evening, so after a final free morning to say goodbye to Lima, we will take you to the airport where you’ll arrive in plenty of time to board your international flight home. (B)

What's Included?

Our standard price for this Amazon rainforest holiday is £2095 per person, which is based on two sharing a double or twin room in our standard hotels.

That price includes all your accommodation, internal transport, transfers, tours, guides, equipment and entrance fees. It also includes all your meals in the jungle, and breakfast every day.

We don't have any "local payments" or sneaky charges: everything you have read about on this itinerary is included in that price. And because everything we do is tailor-made, we don't have fixed departure dates or minimum numbers for our trips. Outside of national holidays or other special events, this price is valid for the whole of 2020.

International flights

So with the exception of a few meals, everything on your holiday is included. What we don't include as standard is your international flights, because with these you have a huge range of options depending on the date you want to travel, the route you want to fly, and your preferred departure airport in the UK.

We aren't tied to any particular airline, and we will be delighted to discuss all options with you, or you can even book the flights yourself if you prefer: it's totally up to you.