Six days of rafting down Class III and IV rapids in the high Tambopata River, as well as a visit to the Macaw clay lick featured in the January 1994 National Geographic and time to acquaint ourselves with the wildlife and indigenous life. PromPeru, the government tourism agency, rates the Tambopata as Peru's finest white water rafting for its isolation in the warm forests and rich wildlife as well as the technical rafting encountered. We descend from highlands above 4500 meters, through elfin and cloud forest, into the Amazon Jungle at 250 meters. The various forests contain 13 species of monkey, ocelots and pumas, the capybara and tapir, and armadillos. We may see rare crocodiles or otters, who eat one another, and whose food caches and garbage ponds are among the most important sources of nutrition in the river. We will camp on the beaches along the river, visit the Tambopata Research Center and stay at the Posada Amazonas, a wonderfully designed jungle lodge.
We leave Juliaca, a high plain city at 3,800, in our company bus, to rise to the more fertile and inhabited highlands. We cross the Carabaya River and mountain range, where the pass is nearly five thousand meters high.
We may observe rare Andean wildlife in the high wilderness, such as vicuña, vizcacha, condors, flamingos, Andean goose, and ibises. We put in at Putina Punko. Here the guide will give a speech about safety and demonstrate the equipment. We will raft a bit today before camping.
We pass gold panners and pioneer farmers and will see wildlife rarely visited by man. We may see the cock of the rock, whose intricate mating dance was breathlessly described by Alex Humboldt. More recently, a few sites in South America have become famous where the male birds routinely display. Strange beetles and butterflies abound in and around the river. Flocks of parrots gather to scold overhead, then suddenly disappear, campsite in the afternoon.
Breakfast early in the morning, in one isolated forest there lies the Tambopata River, between the Lanza and Colorado tributaries, and is the border between Bolivia and Peru. We pass between San Ignacio, campsite in the afternoon.
These days, more or less, the itinerary is the same: Guides will prepare the breakfast early in the morning, then we’ll put all our equipment in the boats, and we’ll run the rapids, stoping at lunch time and continue doing rafting until 4 in the afternoon aproximatelly, then set up the campsite, dinner close a nice camp fire.
This day, we’ll do rafting just for few hours, then at the mouth of the Tavara River we deflate the rafts and take a motorized boat to the macaw lick, where ten species of parrots and parakeets have been observed, Camping in the afternoon.
This day, early in the morning, we’ll go to see the macaws, then after breakfast, we’ll begin our last trip in the river by our motorized canoe to Puerto Maldonado, arriving in afternoon after lunch time, once in Puerto Maldonado, transfer to the hotel, accommodations.
In the morning transfer to the airport, then we’ll take the plane back to Cusco.
Prices per person in American Dollars
