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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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Otters
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