DISCOVER THE MAGIC OF TAMBOPATA RAINFOREST

These vacations, I went with my family to Tambopata National Reserve, where we wanted to be in touch with nature, explore and learn about the incredible biodiversity of the Peruvian Rainforest.

When we told our little girl that we were going to the Rainforest, she immediately ask me which animals we were going to see, so I told her what I always say to my clients, that we are not going to a ZOO, we had to be lucky and also very quiet to get to see them in their natural environment. Actually, we were very lucky because we saw two beautiful Jaguars, one Crocodile and a family of Ronsocos (the biggest rodent in the world) on the shore of the Tambopata River.

We choose to make this trip with Rainforest Expeditions and stay in one of their lodges, the “Refugio Amazonas”, which is located 3 hours from Puerto Maldonado city; you get there with a boat through the Tambopata River. That’s how our adventure started

When we arrived to Refugio Amazonas, our guide Alfredo introduced himself and had dinner with us in order to organize our itinerary for the next day; by the way, I must say that the lodge was amazing and it really makes you feel that you are in the middle of the Rainforest. We pass through different experiences that for sure we will never forget.

We trek through the rainforest and saw some huge trees with the size of a building, different kind of insects, birds and medicinal plants. We were searching for snakes but thanks god we didn’t saw them; I don’t like them very much!

The next day, we woke up very early in the morning because we wanted to see the sunrise from a Canopy Tower of 30 meters high that gives you a spectacular view of the vast expanses of standing forest. We had the chance to see how the Rainforest wakes up with the flight of incredible birds like Toucans, Macaws, Parrots, etc.

After a delicious breakfast we did a little trek to get to Condenado Lake, where we got in a boat through this beautiful Lake, full of Piranhas, looking for Hoatzins, Caimans and Horned screamers. On the evening after dinner, Alfredo took us for a night excursion to search for black scorpions, who get out during the night and you can see them with a special ultraviolet (UV) light because they glow in the dark and is easy to find them.

We done also adventure experiences, like kayaking through the river and we arrived to one of the beautiful beaches (that you can see on dry season, when the river is low) with white sand and a lot of vegetation; it felt like we were on a Caribbean island, we had so much fun. After a nice lunch we decided to bike through the rainforest, that honestly, it was difficult for me, but not for my family, they enjoyed it very much.

That evening we had a very interesting presentation with a biologist that explained us about the new species that they discovered at the Wired Amazon at Refugio Amazonas Lodge and the techniques that they use to investigate more about species and their behaviors without damaging or capturing them. They have a very interesting program with special cameras on the trees and in the ground to monitoring them constantly.

The lodge offers you natural construction rooms, bedrooms open out onto the surrounding rainforest, allowing you to enjoy this diverse ecosystem, with wild animals. I saw a monkey family that was on the tree in front of my room and the Agouti (rodent specie) that every day use to came to the lodge searching for chestnuts, they love them and they eat them with their hands like squirrels, my girl felt in love with them. The dining room is a huge open building with a loft on the second story for an eye level view of the surrounding rainforest canopy.

This was one of the best family vacations we had, we learn about different species, we had a lot fun, we did adventure activities and we saw incredible animals.

If you want to be in contact with nature, this is the experience you must do. I definitely recommend Refugio Amazonas, not only because is located in the middle of the Tambopata National Reserve, but also because they offer great services, delicious food, comfortable rooms and they really take care of the ecosystem helping to preserve it.