Manu National Park

<p>We pick you up from the airport or coach station of Puerto Maldonado, Then you get on our private vehicle to take you for an hour ride following a dirt road watching changeable nature along the way such as diverse forest, traditional farms cultivating bananas and citruses, cattle farms, streams, etc.</p><p></p><p>Then, we get to the Native Community of Infierno where the port of Puerto Nuevo is situated. We board a motorboat there and navigate for about 2 hours observing wildlife around the river banks, especially birds such as herons, a jabiru, a macaw, a kingfisher as well as some mammals, e.g. a capybara and a tapir. We can also spot white caimans and turtles resting on the banks. Then, we get to the Inotawa Lodge when we accommodate ourselves, have lunch and a short rest as well.</p><p></p><p>The lodge is located on the banks of the river, in the beginning of the Tambopata National Reserve, which is rich in fauna and flora; that we explore just after the rest. So we are given an opportunity to see a lizard or a colourful butterfly, birds such as a quail, a toucan or a wild turkey as well as thousand year old trees such as almendrillos (Dipteryx Odorata; reaching up to 50 metres), chiguaguacos or lapunas! We return to the lodge for dinner.</p><p></p><p>Optional: A night walk in a company of our Tour Guide who shows us some nocturnal animals, for example, nocturnal monkeys, frogs or insects.</p>

<p>We leave the lodge very early in the morning to sail the Tambopata River with a direction of the mouth of the Malinowski River, a place of next checkpoint. After we have passed it, we are given a chance to visit a local interpretative centre too. Then, we continue the ride while we can notice a change of landscapes as the Tambopata River flows faster now and fans into many branches which create islands covered by floodplain forests, lined with large pebble beaches.</p><p></p><p>This is a perfect place to watch capybaras, Orinoco geese, cormorants or alligators. After 3 hours of navigation, we reach today´s destination – the famous Chuncho´s Clay-Lick! There, we find a good viewpoint to be able to better observe this special and unforgettable spectacle full of colours and sounds as flocks of parrots, macaws, parakeets and other animals gather every morning to eat clay helping them to digest and get off toxins contained in jungle´s trees and plants.</p><p></p><p>The birds come there between 5 and 9 am before they fly to look for seeds and fruits into the jungle. First visitors are usually smaller species such as parrotlets and parakeets, and then parrots occur to be later followed by significantly bigger macaws representing an explosion of colours and sounds! When the spectacle is finished, we re-board the boat navigating downstream for 3 hours until we get back to the Inotawa Lodge. We are served lunch there and get ready for our next excursion, this time to the splendid El Gato Waterfall! So we get on the boat to sail upstream the Tambopata River for about two hours until we reach the Gato Creek. There, the astonishing Gato Waterfall is placed, inviting us to take its photos as well as to enjoy an unforgettable swim! For dinner, we get back to the lodge.</p><p></p><p>Optional: A night caiman observation in the Tambopata River.</p>

<p>After breakfast, we get on the boat to sail for 10 minutes and then change for land transportation riding for two hours until the Capitania Port in Puerto Maldonado. There, we board a motorboat again and navigate down the Madre de Dios River watching animals such as turtles, caimans, lizards and others around its shores. After about half an hour, we get to a checkpoint of the Sandoval Lake Reserve.</p><p></p><p>We pass a check and start walking for 5 km to reach Sandoval Lake where we take a canoe bringing us to the Sandoval Lake Lodge. There, we accommodate ourselves and after lunch we return sailing the lake to see its typical inhabitants – giant river otters, black caimans, a prehistoric bird shansho, herons, cormorants, kingfisher, etc. For dinner, we return to the lodge to later get back to the lake again, this time to undertake an evening caiman observation because caimans are nocturnal animals. Our professional naturalist Tour Guide shows and explains us about these animals. We overnight in the lodge.</p>

<p>Another early wake up expects us today as we go to the surroundings of the Sandoval Lake where a huge number of various palms grow in its water creating an area of marsh. This place is called Collpa de Palmeras and it attracts various macaw species and other parrots to eat sawdust of its palms as it contains sodium, calcium, potassium and other minerals helping them to digest. Then, we go back to the lodge to be given breakfast. Later, we take next trip going to observe stunning flora and fauna of the Sandoval Lake Reserve.</p><p></p><p>We can appreciate monkeys, deer, wild boars, tapirs or spectacled bears, just to name a few. For lunch, we get back to the lodge. Afterwards, we have given some time off to rest or enjoy a bath in the Sandoval Lake (no worries, there are no piranhas or other dangerous animals during the day). Then, we board a canoe to cross the lake to a place where we can better appreciate a beautiful sunset above the lake! At 7 pm, we return to the lodge for dinner. Then while waiting for the moonlight, a suitable time occurs to go watching caimans again! An overnight is in the lodge.</p>

<p>After breakfast, we first board a canoe to sail over the Sandoval Lake and then we walk back to the checkpoint and from there, we continue sailing the Madre de Dios River by a motorboat towards Puerto Maldonado. We pick our baggage up in our office and then, we are transferred either to the airport or the coach terminal.</p>