Our flight to Puerto Maldonado was not until 11:30am so there was no need for an early start for a change. As we were checking out we met an Aussie couple on their honeymoon who were catching the same flights to and from Puerto Maldonado so we arranged to share a taxi back from the airport (since they had to dash off to get some cash before heading off to the airport this morning).
Otherwise the whole flight and transfer process went quite smoothly. We didn't score a window seat but we found ourselves next to a wildlife photographer from Denver, Colorado, who has lived and worked in Peru for about 10 years - mostly leading photography tours in the Amazon Basin for the "seriously rich".
After being met at the airport by representatives from G-Adventure Tours, a group of 11 of us went to their office to repack our gear into duffle bags. Our group consisted of three Norwegian girls on a whirlwind three-month round the world trip, a young couple from Vancouver on their honeymoon, two older woman from Vancouver and a couple from Denver Colorado who were looking forward to being home with their grandkids next week. Once repacked we scrambled back aboard our minibus for the 45 minute drive down what passes as the road (aka a bumpy track) to the "commercial port". Apparently money to upgrade this road was allocated some time ago but corruption and graft siphoned off many of the funds and the series of unfinished bridges we passed bear testimony to what might have been. After alighting from the bone shaker we boarded our long boat that was to take us and our guide Ricardo to our lodge. This was a two and a half our trip up the Tampopata river. Towards the latter stages the trip was punctuated by stops to see white caimans, a capybara and an anteater on the banks of the river, as well as vultures circling in the sky above (not above our tour party thankfully!).
After arriving at the Tambopata Lodge and checking in, we started the evening with an introductory slide show about the Tambopata National Park and the fauna and floral found within it. After dinner we were off on our first excursion - a night walk along one of the walking tracks around the lodge. With Ricardo leading the way and torches in hand we managed to see jumping spiders, web building spiders, a stick insect, cicadas, a tree frog, a lizard, leaf cutter ants and a range of different beetles. Not bad for a 20 minute stroll in the dark on our first night.
Then it was just a matter of retiring to our bungalow to wash off the layers of insect repellent before climbing under the mosquito nets for our first night in the Peruvian jungle.
Day two was a 6:00am start for breakfast before heading a bit further up river for a walk to the Condenado Lakes, an old ox bow lake that is gradually shrinking and being taken over by the surrounding jungle. Before we even started down to the boat we were treated to the sight of a recently-rescued baby monkey, that now hangs around the breakfast room to feed on bananas. An agouti also wandered past as a couple of colourful parrots squarked from nearby.
The walk to the lake was only about 90 minutes, but we stopped from time to time as Ricardo or members of our group spotted different insects. Some were brave enough to let millipedes walk along their arms. Ricardo was also pretty good at teasing tarantulas from their holes in the ground. We also spotted a small green snake in the branches next to the trail. At the lake we transferred to twin-hulled raft, which Ricardo propelled around with a single oar as we saw dragon flies, "stinky" birds (so called because their diet of a particular kind of leaf gives them a smell unattractive to predators) and piranhas. We fed the latter with some crumbs from our morning tea biscuit supply, which stirred up the water a little.
We were back at the lodge in time for lunch. After eating we were presented with a range of options for the afternoon. A few of us chose the option of the tree climb - which involved scaling a rope net to a viewing platform high in a tree behind our bungalow, before abseiling down. This was scheduled for 3:30pm, which gave us a bit of time to relax before our climb. Alas, when the appointed time came Ricardo announced that there were not enough qualified staff available to actually conduct the activity (due to the need to check harnesses etc). This sounded very much like either incompetent scheduling or a cop-out because he was actually too lazy to run the activity, and would have preferred everyone chose the plantation tour that he had seemed to be pushing. Ricardo said he would try and organise it for tomorrow afternoon instead (but in fact it was never mentioned again).
Anyway with plenty of free time Laura and I decided to do the 2km walking track ourselves. We were rewarded with the sighting of a group of howler monkeys in the trees overhead, which was a bonus because Laura had been looking forward to seeing some monkeys. The end of the walk brought us to the other end of the lodge compound where we followed the track down to the designated swimming hole in the Gallocunca Stream. Despite the steamy jungle conditions the water itself was quite cool, which was pretty refreshing after the hot walk.
Before dinner we embarked on a night safari on the river to see what we could spot along the river banks. We saw a few more white caimans and lots of glow worms, but nothing else. So it was back to the lodge for dinner and then a relatively early night.
Day Three began with a slightly later breakfast (6:30am) before setting off down-river, this time for an even longer hike than yesterday - seven kilometres each way to the Sachavacayoc Lake. This is a younger and hence larger ox bow lake than yesterday's. Along the way we saw more local wildlife, including a poison dart frog, whose toxin was used by the locals to poison the tips of their arrows (we made sure we didn't get too close to this specimen!).
The lake itself was quite pretty but the heat by this time was stifling and Ricardo tried to keep our uncovered canoe in the shade near the shore as much as possible. Finally, as we moored in the shade we ate our packed lunch of chicken and rice cooked inside a wrapped palm leaf. Quite tasty, and the container was biodegradeable!
On the walk back we saw two black weasels descending from the trees. One of them ran across the path in front of us, showing just how quick they are. We also saw quite a few smaller variety of black monkeys being very playful amongst the branches. We arrived back at the lodge satisfied with our rambling but covered in insect repellent, sunscreen and sweat. We had time to relax and unwind before heading down to have another refreshing dip in the water hole. Although the water did seem a whole lot more "refreshing" than yesterday (judging from Laura's squeals as she inched into the water), perhaps because we hadn't come fresh from a hot walk.
Later, as we made our way to dinner, Laura learned the folly of walking barefoot in the jungle, even within the confines of the lodge grounds, when she trod on a bullet ant and was rewarded with a searing pain in her foot. (Fortunately after a couple of pain killers and a night's sleep everything was fine by the morning).
Our last day started with a relatively late breakfast at 7:00am. Thereafter it was back in the boat for the faster downsteam trip back to the "commercial port" and then the 45 minute bus ride back over the same goat track to Puerto Maldonado. After calling in at the office to repack our bags we made it to the airport by 11:00am - just in time for our 1:20pm flight! Still it could have been worse, some in our group were not due to fly out until 3:15pm. And let me tell you, there isn't much to do at the small, regional Puerto Maldonado airport.
We enjoyed our time in the Peruvian rainforest, it was a very interesting place to visit. However we couldn't imagine having to live here, not so much because of the heat and humidity, but because of the need to constantly slather yourself with sunscreen and insect repellent, the latter needing to contain fairly high levels of DEET to be effective here.
Once back on the ground at Cusco we met the Aussie honeymooners who were also heading back to the Amaru lodge, so we shared the taxi booked in our name. The driver seemed to be a bit worried that we would all fit in his car and tried to get a bigger van, but we assured him that we could all fit in the car he had. However, it turned out that space wasn't his primary concern. On one of the steep streets enroute to our hostel the car slowed to a crawl and I seriously thought one of us was going to have to get out and push as the poor little machine appeared on the verge of internally haemorrhaging. However it just managed to get us up the hill and complete the rest of the trip safely.
After we had checked in I had to unpack our sweaty (and quite frankly, rank) clothes, made so by our jungle hikes. They had just refused to dry in the Amazon humidity so I hung them out the upstairs window of our room to dry - as there was no time to get them washed before our early departure for Puno the next day. At least that enabled us to repack them dry - inside a double layer of plastic bags!
As this evening was my last chance to do so I went out and took some night photos of Cusco, mostly featuring the stonework in the old walls and laneways. Cusco is a nice town and it seems quite safe. There are certainly some places on this trip where I would think twice about venturing out on the streets at night and drawing attention to myself with a tripod and an expensive camera.
Otherwise the whole flight and transfer process went quite smoothly. We didn't score a window seat but we found ourselves next to a wildlife photographer from Denver, Colorado, who has lived and worked in Peru for about 10 years - mostly leading photography tours in the Amazon Basin for the "seriously rich".
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| A capybara on the river bank |
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| An anteater comes to the riverbank for water |
Then it was just a matter of retiring to our bungalow to wash off the layers of insect repellent before climbing under the mosquito nets for our first night in the Peruvian jungle.
 |
| A baby monkey enjoys a banana |
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| A tarantula teased from its burrow |
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| A "stinky" bird in flight |
We were back at the lodge in time for lunch. After eating we were presented with a range of options for the afternoon. A few of us chose the option of the tree climb - which involved scaling a rope net to a viewing platform high in a tree behind our bungalow, before abseiling down. This was scheduled for 3:30pm, which gave us a bit of time to relax before our climb. Alas, when the appointed time came Ricardo announced that there were not enough qualified staff available to actually conduct the activity (due to the need to check harnesses etc). This sounded very much like either incompetent scheduling or a cop-out because he was actually too lazy to run the activity, and would have preferred everyone chose the plantation tour that he had seemed to be pushing. Ricardo said he would try and organise it for tomorrow afternoon instead (but in fact it was never mentioned again).
 |
| A howler monkey in the tree tops |
Before dinner we embarked on a night safari on the river to see what we could spot along the river banks. We saw a few more white caimans and lots of glow worms, but nothing else. So it was back to the lodge for dinner and then a relatively early night.
Day Three began with a slightly later breakfast (6:30am) before setting off down-river, this time for an even longer hike than yesterday - seven kilometres each way to the Sachavacayoc Lake. This is a younger and hence larger ox bow lake than yesterday's. Along the way we saw more local wildlife, including a poison dart frog, whose toxin was used by the locals to poison the tips of their arrows (we made sure we didn't get too close to this specimen!).
The lake itself was quite pretty but the heat by this time was stifling and Ricardo tried to keep our uncovered canoe in the shade near the shore as much as possible. Finally, as we moored in the shade we ate our packed lunch of chicken and rice cooked inside a wrapped palm leaf. Quite tasty, and the container was biodegradeable!
On the walk back we saw two black weasels descending from the trees. One of them ran across the path in front of us, showing just how quick they are. We also saw quite a few smaller variety of black monkeys being very playful amongst the branches. We arrived back at the lodge satisfied with our rambling but covered in insect repellent, sunscreen and sweat. We had time to relax and unwind before heading down to have another refreshing dip in the water hole. Although the water did seem a whole lot more "refreshing" than yesterday (judging from Laura's squeals as she inched into the water), perhaps because we hadn't come fresh from a hot walk.
Later, as we made our way to dinner, Laura learned the folly of walking barefoot in the jungle, even within the confines of the lodge grounds, when she trod on a bullet ant and was rewarded with a searing pain in her foot. (Fortunately after a couple of pain killers and a night's sleep everything was fine by the morning).
Our last day started with a relatively late breakfast at 7:00am. Thereafter it was back in the boat for the faster downsteam trip back to the "commercial port" and then the 45 minute bus ride back over the same goat track to Puerto Maldonado. After calling in at the office to repack our bags we made it to the airport by 11:00am - just in time for our 1:20pm flight! Still it could have been worse, some in our group were not due to fly out until 3:15pm. And let me tell you, there isn't much to do at the small, regional Puerto Maldonado airport.
We enjoyed our time in the Peruvian rainforest, it was a very interesting place to visit. However we couldn't imagine having to live here, not so much because of the heat and humidity, but because of the need to constantly slather yourself with sunscreen and insect repellent, the latter needing to contain fairly high levels of DEET to be effective here.
Once back on the ground at Cusco we met the Aussie honeymooners who were also heading back to the Amaru lodge, so we shared the taxi booked in our name. The driver seemed to be a bit worried that we would all fit in his car and tried to get a bigger van, but we assured him that we could all fit in the car he had. However, it turned out that space wasn't his primary concern. On one of the steep streets enroute to our hostel the car slowed to a crawl and I seriously thought one of us was going to have to get out and push as the poor little machine appeared on the verge of internally haemorrhaging. However it just managed to get us up the hill and complete the rest of the trip safely.
After we had checked in I had to unpack our sweaty (and quite frankly, rank) clothes, made so by our jungle hikes. They had just refused to dry in the Amazon humidity so I hung them out the upstairs window of our room to dry - as there was no time to get them washed before our early departure for Puno the next day. At least that enabled us to repack them dry - inside a double layer of plastic bags!
As this evening was my last chance to do so I went out and took some night photos of Cusco, mostly featuring the stonework in the old walls and laneways. Cusco is a nice town and it seems quite safe. There are certainly some places on this trip where I would think twice about venturing out on the streets at night and drawing attention to myself with a tripod and an expensive camera.
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