TAMBOPATA CANDAMO
Tambopata-Candamo is a nature reserve in the Peruvian Amazon basin. It was created on January 26, 1990, to protect the adjacent forests to the rivers Heath and Tambopata that have two important ecosystems.From Puerto Maldonado, one can get to the preserve via the Tambopata River; there is a highway Port Maldonado - Cusco

 
sandoval programs / heath river programs / tambopata candamo expeditions
peruvian tours


HEATH RIVER PROGRAMS

Price per person based on double occupancy

TWO ECOSYSTEMS : Rainforest and SavannaH 4/3
Price per person
US$1042 based on double occupancy


HEATH RIVER: Sandoval Lake Lodge and Macaw Clay Lick Tambopata, Peru 5/4
Price per person
US$1438 based on double occupancy

Fixed departures: Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri Mon, Thu




TWO ECOSYSTEMS : Rainforest and Savannah 4 days/3 nights

Day 1 - Puerto Maldonado to 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, and arrive at 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. (L, D).

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 savanna in the Amazon. The contrast is striking as we emerge from the mature rainforest onto the grassland plain of the Pampas. (B, L, D)

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 native community 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 small mammal clay lick if it is active. (B,L,D)

Day 4 - Sandoval Lake to Cusco or Lima
Early morning departure to Puerto Maldonado. During the river 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. If time permits If time permits we will also Upon arrival, reception and transfer to the airport for the flight back to Cusco or Lima. (B)

Prices per person in double accommodation with private bath. Reduced rates available for bookings of 5 or more people. Ready to book




HEATH RIVER 5/4      
Sandoval Lake Lodge and Macaw Clay Lick Tambopata, Peru.
Day 1 - Puerto Maldonado to 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 five hours to the Heath River.

We then travel up this wild and intimate river, which forms the wilderness border between Peru and Bolivia, and arrive at 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.
After dinner we'll explore the forest by flashlight, including a visit to a small mammal clay lick if it is active. L, D

Day 2 - Heath River Wildlife Center
Today we make an early start to visit the 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 teemingly 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 lifeways 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 to Sandoval Lake Lodge
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 the boat landing near Lake Sandoval Lake Lodge.
We walk the 3km/2 mile trail to the narrow boat channel through flooded palm forest that leads to the open waters of this peaceful lake, stopping as we go to spot birds and butterflies. As our crew paddle us across to the lodge (motors are prohibited here), we may see the lake’s surface boken by a massive Paiche – an Amazon fish that can reach 100kg/220lbs. Or perhaps we will hear the strange and haunting calls, and see the heads bobbing above the lake’s surface, that will signal our first acquaintance with Pteronura brasiliensis, the Amazonian Giant Otter.
After lunch at the lodge and a brief rest to avoid the early afternoon heat, we once again set off by boat or catamaran to explore the entire west end of the lake. Here, in the flooded palm forest we drift to the sounds of hundreds of Red-Bellied and Blue-and-yellow Macaws as they return to the palm forest for the night. Our viewpoint from the canoe often allows closer and more extended encounters with birds and mammals than on a typical forest trail hike, and we may witness intimate feeding and mating behavior. On Lake Sandoval monkeys, in particular, have almost lost their fear of humans.
We return to the lodge around nightfall for dinner. After dinner we take to the boats once more, in search of black caimans, which today are extremely rare in the Amazon, but still common in this protected lake. They grow up to 4m in length, and compete with the Giant Otters for their share of the fishing. On clear nights we take our boat further out into the lake to get an unimpeded view of the vast southern sky, with its unfamiliar constellations and superb vistas of the Milky Way. B, L, D.

Day 5 - Sandoval Lake to Puerto Maldonado.
After a dawn breakfast we take a final, short paddle along the palm swamps of the west end of the lake in search of the resident Giant Otter family. From here, on clear mornings, we will see a glorious sunrise and its reflection in the open waters of the lake. Returning once more down the trail to the Madre de Dios River, we return to Puerto Maldonado to catch the flight to Cusco or Lima. B

Prices are per person and based on a minimum of two people traveling together. Trips depart daily. Rates include:

Roundtrip transportation Puerto Maldonado to Heath River Wildlife Center
Private bungalows with private bathrooms
All meals and snacks
Purified drinking water and juices
Native and bilingual guide services
Visits to macaw clay lick
Lake and rainforest excursions
All park entrance fees
Price does NOT include domestic flights within Peru or international flights.

Important note : please note that all macaw and parrot licks in southern Peru are less active in May, June and early July than in other months

UP



   
ARE YOU INTEREST ON BOOKING THIS TOUR? Ask for availability
   
   

 

Peru Travel Vacations SAC
www.perutravel-vacations.com
ventas@perutravel-vacations.com
reservas@perutravel-vacations.com
phone : 051-1-4365663 / 97690159
Los Tallanes 160 Salamanca de Monterrico - Lima - Perú

   

PERU TOURS - tambopata

Peru Travel Vacations Agency