The Tambopata Research Center

Operated by Rainforest Expeditions, the Tambopata Research Center (Lima tel. 01/421-8347, www.perunature.com [1], five days/four nights US$745–945 pp) offers five- to seven-day packages where guests will experience a huge range of biodiversity that is comparable to the Parque Nacional Manu [2] or Reserva Nacional Pacaya Samiria [3].

Compared to those areas, the seven-hour journey up the Río Tambopata is a relatively short trip with a one-night stop there and back in Posada Amazonas. It is the only lodge near the Parque Nacional Bahuaja Sonene, a rainforest wilderness the size of Connecticut. The lodge is also 500 meters away from the world’s largest clay lick, where dozens of species of macaws, parrots, and parakeets come to ingest detoxifying mud. The clay lick is amazing and well worth the long trip by river.

The newly renovated, and slightly relocated, lodge has 18 double bedrooms with shared bathrooms (no hot water). As at Posada Amazonas [4], one wall is completely open to the forest. Although more rustic than Posadas it has the added advantage of generally being quieter.