Amazon Rainforest Tours and Travel | Visiting the Tambopata Area of the Peru Amazon
A popular destination for Peru Amazon tours is the Tambopata area along the border with Bolivia, 300 miles northeast of Cusco, Peru. The area's entry point is the port town of Puerto Maldonado, a city of 92,000 located at the confluence of the Madre de Dios and the Tambopata rivers. This bustling frontier town in the heart of the Peru Amazon is a ninety-minute flight from Lima, Peru and a thirty-minute flight from Cusco. Close by, visitors will find the 679,000-acre Tambopata National Reserve and 2.7 million-acre Bahuaja-Sonene National Park which borders Bolivia's 4.6 million-acre Madidi National Park. The Madre de Dios River forms the northern border of the Reserve. This is an area of oxbow lakes and seven types of flood forests, making it an ideal wildlife-viewing area. Both the Madre de Dios and the Tambopata are whiterivers.
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Of the eleven Amazon Rainforest tours Southern Explorations offers to Peru, nine travel to the Tambopata River region. Depending on which of our Peru tours you take and room availability, you'll have your choice of three eco-lodges and stays ranging from two to four nights. Five of our nine to eighteen-day Peru tours that combine the Amazon with visits to other of Peru's attractions spend two nights at Posada Amazonas or the Sandoval Lake Lodge.
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The country's size and the location of its top sights make an Amazon tour a perfect time to also visit Machu Picchu. From any of our Amazon tours destinations, Cusco, the center of the Inca Empire, is only a short plane ride from the rainforest's airstrips. Ranging from nine to eighteen days, seven of our Peru Amazon tours to the Tambopata also visit Machu Picchu. Three of these visit Lake Titicaca and one the Galapagos Islands as well. Two take you to Peru's "grand canyon," the Colca Canyon, along with either Machu Picchu or Lake Titicaca or both. We also offer three tour extensions of two to four nights in the Tambopata Amazon that may be added to any of our Peru tours, staying at the eco-lodge of your choice.
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The twenty-five room Sandoval Lake Lodge is built of driftwood mahogany and located on the oxbow lake of the same name. It is twenty-five minutes east of Puerto Maldonado by motor canoe along the Madre de Dios River followed by an easy two-mile hike, or travel by rickshaw if you prefer, through the rainforest to the lodge. The area attracts parrots and macaws as well as five monkey species that live in nearby forests; kingfishers, herons, the hoatzin and black caiman may be seen as well as the rare giant river otters that come to feed. Rooms are screened and have hot showers. Electricity is provided by generator. It is owned and operated by a non-profit conservation organization in partnership with five local families who grow Brazil nuts.
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The thirty-room Posada Amazonas eco-lodge is owned by the indigenous Ese' eja community and is set in its own private reserve near the Tambopata River. A nearby 115-ft canopy and excursions to a macaw clay lick and oxbow lake maximize the wildlife-viewing opportunities
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Our top-of-the-line ten day Luxury Peru and Amazon tour spends two nights at the Reserva Amazonica Lodge, and we also offer a tour extension for the lodge. Easiest of the eco-lodges to reach from Puerto Maldonado, Reserva Amazonica has an idyllic setting along the Madre de Dios River. The comfortable accommodations consist of separate bungalows. Amenities include a nearby 100-ft canopy tower and butterfly farm, optional excursions to nearby Lake Sandoval and education programs for children. Electricity is by generator.
