Itinerary

DAY 1

 

Arrival & Reception by Sustainable Development Instructors
Most lecturers for our Sustainable Development Seminars are charismatic local people who work in the relevant industry, often leading some sort of industry association. We also use RFE instructors with a specialization in the relevant fields.

Transfer Airport to Puerto Maldonado Headquarters
Upon arrival from Lima or Cusco, we will welcome you at the airport and  drive you ten minutes to our Puerto Maldonado headquarters.  While enjoying your first taste of the forest in our gardens we will ask you to pack only the necessary gear for your next few days, and leave the rest at our safe deposit. This helps us keep the boats and cargo light.   

Transfer Pto Maldonado Headquarters to Tambopata River Port
Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometers to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno.  The port is a communal business.

Boxed Lunch

Transfer Boat - Tambopata River Port to Posada Amazonas
The forty five minute boat ride from the Tambopata Port to Posada Amazonas will take us into the Community´s Primary Forest Private Reserve.

Orientation
Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips.

Canopy Tower
A twenty minute walk from Posada Amazonas leads to the 30 meter scaffolding canopy tower. A bannistered staircase running through the middle provides safe access to the platforms above. From atop you obtain spectacular views of the vast expanses of standing forest cut by the Tambopata River winding through the middle. Now and then toucans, parrots or macaws are seen flying against the horizon, or mixed species canopy flocks land in the treetop next to you.

Dinner

Ecotourism Lecture
A daily presentation on the Infierno ecotourism project is available every night from a staff member.

Overnight at Posada Amazonas

 
DAY 2

 

Breakfast

Communities 1 - A community profile
Research on Infierno and a site visit are used to learn techniques to characterize agricultural systems, gender differentiation of roles, family health care and education, traditional values and ceremonies, government, and attitudes towards development and ecotourism. Results from past research are analyzed and discussed.

Lunch

Introduction to tropical ecology
Rather than a workshop this is a comprehensive lecture describing the basics of rain forest structure and function. Topics include the structure of the forest (ground, understory, canopy), adaptations of plants (aerial palms, epiphytes, tabular roots), ecology of gaps (succession of fallen trees), interrelations between plants and animals (Strangler figs, tangarana ants,  spiders consumed by fungi), interrelations between animals (mixed troops of brown capuchin and squirrel monkeys). Props are common floodplain forest trail sightings.

Dinner

Communities 2-The RFE-Community of Infierno partnership
A long session divided into two – the project director will go over the environmental, social, and economic impacts of Posada Amazonas at a communal level. Afterwards a panel of two Infierno community leaders will join the project director in an informal question and answer discussion as to what went right and what went wrong with the Posada Amazonas project, as well as their vision of the future.

Overnight at Posada Amazonas

 
DAY 3

 

Breakfast

Tres Chimbadas Oxbow Lake
Tres Chimbadas is thirty minutes by boat and forty five minutes hiking from Posada Amazonas. Once there you will paddle around the lake in a catamaran, searching for the resident family of nine giant river otters (seen by 60% of our lake visitors) and other lakeside wildlife such as caiman, hoatzin and horned screamers. Otters are most active from dawn to eight or nine AM.

Parrot Clay Lick
This clay lick is only a twenty minute walk from Posada Amazonas.  From a blind located about twenty meters away you will see dozens of parrots and parakeets descend on most clear mornings to ingest the clay on a river bank. Species such as Mealy and Yellow- headed Amazon, Blue-headed Parrot and Dusky headed Parakeet descend at this clay lick. The clay lick is active at dawn, during the late mornings and mid-afternoons.

Lunch

Ethnobotanical Tour
A twenty minute boat drive downriver leads you to a trail designed by the staff of the Centro Ñape. The Centro Ñape is a communal organization that produces medicines out of forest plants and administers them to patients who choose their little clinic. They have produced a trail which explains the different medicinal (and other) uses of selected plants.  

Dinner

Madre de Dios 1 - History and Geography
The history of Madre de Dios, the state where the Tambopata National Reserve is located, is studied from pre-Columbian times, past the rubber boom and oil explorations to the current conservation and ecotourism frenzy. A profile of the educational and health services is discussed  before looking into the future with the presence of the Transamazonic Highway.

Overnight at Posada Amazonas

 
DAY 4

 

Breakfast

Transfer Private Boat - Posada Amazonas to Refugio Amazonas
The one hour and forty five minute boat ride from Posada Amazonas to Refugio Amazonas will take us past the Community of Infierno and the Tambopata National Reserve´s checkpoint into the buffer zone of this 1.3 million hectare conservation unit.

Protected area management
After a boat ride to one of the park’s control points we will listen to a park officer speak of the threats to the Tambopata National Reserve, the structure of the budget and the mechanics of park financing and administration within the Peruvian national system of protected areas. An account of the daily incidents in the life of a park guard will let us peek into the difficulties of physically patrolling one and a half million hectares of tropical rain forest.

Gold Mining
After a boat outing, we will visit a gold miners dredge to observe how sand is sucked from the river and gold is extracted from the sand, understanding why this process pollutes the waters and how it can be mitigated. Our hosts stories will also gives us insight into the difficult life of river gold miners.

Orientation
Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips.

Lunch

Brazil Nut Gathering
Brazil nuts are the rain forests only non extractive commodity. A local Brazil nut concession manager will lead us through a stand of trees, analyzing the concession system, the role of the concession in the family economy and the future of the industry. Anecdotes and first hand accounts will complete the picture of life as a “castañeros”.

Dinner

Madre de Dios 2 - Conservation Challenges and Opportunities
An analysis of the numerous challenges to the sustainability of the Amazon in Madre de Dios including gold mining, agriculture and timber extraction is balanced with the opportunities presented by private and public protected areas, participatory conservation projects based on sustainable timber harvesting and wildlife management, ecotourism and non extractive resources.

Overnight at Refugio Amazonas

 
DAY 5

 

Breakfast

Transfer Private Boat - Posada Amazonas to Refugio Amazonas
The one hour and forty five minute boat ride from Posada Amazonas to Refugio Amazonas will take us past the Community of Infierno and the Tambopata National Reserve´s checkpoint into the buffer zone of this 1.3 million hectare conservation unit.

Protected area management
After a boat ride to one of the park’s control points we will listen to a park officer speak of the threats to the Tambopata National Reserve, the structure of the budget and the mechanics of park financing and administration within the Peruvian national system of protected areas. An account of the daily incidents in the life of a park guard will let us peek into the difficulties of physically patrolling one and a half million hectares of tropical rain forest.

Gold Mining
After a boat outing, we will visit a gold miners dredge to observe how sand is sucked from the river and gold is extracted from the sand, understanding why this process pollutes the waters and how it can be mitigated. Our hosts stories will also gives us insight into the difficult life of river gold miners.

Orientation
Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips.

Lunch

Brazil Nut Gathering
Brazil nuts are the rain forests only non extractive commodity. A local Brazil nut concession manager will lead us through a stand of trees, analyzing the concession system, the role of the concession in the family economy and the future of the industry. Anecdotes and first hand accounts will complete the picture of life as a “castañeros”.    

Dinner

Madre de Dios 2 - Conservation Challenges and Opportunities
An analysis of the numerous challenges to the sustainability of the Amazon in Madre de Dios including gold mining, agriculture and timber extraction is balanced with the opportunities presented by private and public protected areas, participatory conservation projects based on sustainable timber harvesting and wildlife management, ecotourism and non extractive resources.

Overnight at Refugio Amazonas

 
DAY 6

 

Breakfast

Transfer Boat - Refugio Amazonas to Tambopata River Port

Transfer Tambopata River Port to Pto Maldonado Headquarters

Transfer Puerto Maldonado Headquarters to Airport
We retrace our river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado, our office and the airport. Depending on airline schedules, this may require dawn departures.

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