Birdwatcher's Paradise Peru Amazon Tour

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Sunday: Lima

Upon arrival in Lima, meet your local SouthAmerica.travel tour guide or representative at the airport and transfer to Hotel Boulevard**** centrally located in Miraflores, the modern center of the city, near restaurants, commercial centers, the Indian markets and parks. You will receive a briefing about your travel program and all documents for your trip.

Monday: Arrival in Cuzco

Transfer to the airport for the flight to Cuzco. Upon arrival in Cuzco, you'll transfer to the Novotel Cuzco**** a new hotel in a newly restored historic mansion in the city center, a few blocks from the Main Square. The rest of the morning is spent at leisure in order to get accustomed to the altitude. This afternoon, enjoy a visit to the city, the old capital of the Inca Empire, including the Cathedral and the Korikancha (the ancient temple of the Sun), as well as the nearby ruins of Sacsayhuaman, Tambomachay and Qenqo.

Tuesday: Pisac & the Sacred Valley Tour

Today's excursion brings you to the colorfull market of Pisak! After the included lunch you will continue on to Ollantaytambo at the end of the Sacred Valley. Learn what made this fertile valley the "sacred" one for this incredible culture!

Wednesday: Aguas Calientes & Machu Picchu

Early in the morning transfer to the station for the excursion to Machu Picchu. A 3 hour scenic train journey brings you to the town of Aguas Calientes, where you will take a shuttle bus up to the entrance of the ruins. Guided visit to Machu Picchu, the “Lost City of the Incas”, with its fabulous architecture and astonishing landscapes. After free time for lunch, return by shuttle bus to Aguas Calientes. Tonight overnight in Aguas Calientes at the Hatuchay Towers***.

Thursday: Free Day in Machu Picchu

Go back to the ruins on your own before the crowds arrive and enjoy the sun rise over the mountains or explore the Orchid garden. In the afternoon your train takes you back to Cuzco, where you stay another night in the Novotel Cuzco****.

Friday: Arrival in the Peru Amazon Rainforest

5 Days / 4 Nights:
Posada Amazonas & Tambopata Research Center

ITINERARY WHILE AT LODGE INCLUDES:

• Lodge accommodation.
• All scheduled land and river transportation.
• All transfers.
• All scheduled excursions with English-speaking guide services.
• Meals as specified in the itinerary.

Friday: PUERTO MALDONADO - POSADA AMAZONAS

Upon arrival at Puerto Maldonado airport, you'll be greeted by a travel representative and transferred to the Tambopata River Port. Puerto Maldonado is situated at the convergence of the mighty Madre de Dios and Tambopata Rivers and is a bustling, booming tropical frontier town. Its principal activities are gold mining, Brazil nut collecting, timber extraction, agriculture and ecotourism. Depart on a 2 hour boat trip to Posada Amazonas. During your voyage you may see many tropical bird such as Black Skimmer, Pied Lapwing, Capped Heron, Jabiru Stork, Roadside Hawk, and several species of kingfishers, swallows and flycatchers.

When you arrive at Posada Amazonas, you can unpack and unwind. Posada Amazonas is a comfortable Amazon lodge owned jointly by Rainforest Expeditions and the Local Community of Infierno. You will receive a short orientation on the lodge and its Ecotourism Project before your afternoon activity: the canopy tower. In this activity, we will visit a 35 meter scaffolding tower that is 15 minutes walking from the lodge. The scaffolding tower is built so that you safely climb using the internal staircase with verandahs on each side, and rest in platforms present every 2 meters. From the top you not only get spectacular views of the river and the surrounding forest but also excellent opportunities to observe birds from the canopy including parrots, toucans and macaws. A video about the forest of Tambopata will be displayed after dinner.

Saturday: POSADA AMAZONAS-TAMBOPATA RESEARCH CENTER

Wake at dawn for a visit to the Tres Chimbadas oxbow lake. After an early breakfast, you'll take a quick boat ride along the river and then a short hike to the oxbow lake. Enjoy an easy canoe ride around it. Look for giant river otters, turtles, hoatzin, and wading birds.

Continue by boat along the Tambopata River, going deep into the forest and reaching the northern boundary of the 700,000 hectare, completely uninhabited nucleus of the Tambopata National Reserve. You'll see beautiful macaws, herons, kingfishers and cormorants, and may even see capybaras, caiman, storks, ducks and other wildlife. Boxed lunch on the boat. Arrive at Tambopata Research Center in the early afternoon, where you'll be greeted by the Chicos, the friendly rescued macaws who live on the reserve.

On arrival, you'll have a brief orinetation, and then will get to hike the 1.5 mile Bamboo Trail, famous for the abundance of rare birds that live exclusively in this habitat and are endemic to southern Peru. It is also the home of the frequently found Howler and Dusky titi monkeys. Enjoy incredible birdwatching opportunities along the trail, ending at an overlook. You might spot tanagers, jacamars, elaenias, guans, and oropendolas. Return to the Tambopata Research Center for dinner. After dinner, opt for an evening frog walk through the forest, spotting bullfrogs, horned frogs, tree frogs and an a variety of colorful insects.

Sunday: TAMBOPATA RESEARCH CENTER

At dawn, cross the river and enjoy the world's largest macaw clay lick where hundreds of parrots and macaws of up to 15 species congregate daily. The January 1994 issue of National Geographic features an article on Tambopata Research Center and the Tambopata Macaw Project. It begins with a description of the daily spectacle at the clay lick: "When the morning sun clears the Amazon tree line in southeastern Peru and strikes a gray-pink clay bank on the upper Tambopata River, one of the world's most dazzling wildlife gatherings is nearing its riotous peak. The steep bank has become a pulsing, 130-foot-high palette of red, blue, yellow and green as more than a thousand parrots squabble over choice perches to grab a beakful of clay, a vital but mysterious part of their diet. More than a dozen parrot species will visit the clay lick throughout the day, but this midmorning crush belongs to the giants of the parrot world, the macaws."

You can expect to see ten to twelve of the following members of the parrot family: Red-and-green, Blue-and-gold, Scarlet, Red-bellied, Chestnut-fronted and Blue-headed Macaws; Mealy and Yellow-crowned Amazons; Blue-headed, Orange-cheeked and White-bellied Parrots; Dusky-headed, White-eyed, Cobalt-winged and Tui Parakeets and Dusky-billed Parrotlets. Around mid-morning, when the most intense clay lick activity is over for the day, we will return to TRC for breakfast.

After breakfast we will hike the 1.5 mile Ocelot Trail, a trail which exemplifies the quintessential rainforest. Although at this time of day mammals and birds are not as active as in the early morning, we will concentrate on the forest itself and discuss general rain forest ecology. This forest, which is estimated to be 200 to 300 years old and includes truly huge Ceiba trees and Strangler figs is home to several mammals that are occsaionally encountered: Saddleback tamarins, Squirrel and Brown Capuchin Monkeys and Collared peccary. This trail is the one which most often sports ocelot, puma and jaguar tracks, although any one of these three large cats is extremely difficult to spot.

We will return to TRC for lunch and then embark on a 2 mile hike to the palm swamp, a nesting colony and preferred roost for Blue and Gold and Red-bellied Macaws. Although there are different degrees of macaw activity at the swamp year round, the most exciting time to visit it is from October to March, during the nesting season, when macaws will land on the nests and stand there for several minutes, interacting with other individuals at less then 20 feet from our observation tower. The scenes at the swamp, especially with late afternoon sun in our backs, make prized photo opportunities. After a lazy afternoon with the macaws we will hike back to the lodge for dinner.

Monday: TAMBOPATA RESEARCH CENTER - POSADA AMAZONAS

We will wake up at dawn once again to visit the macaw clay lick and then return for breakfast. After breakfast we will take a short five minute boat ride to a small, drying oxbow lake where we will spend the morning on a platform in the middle of the pond observing some of its birdlife, which may include hoatzin, duck, ibis, woodpeckers, chachalaca, parakeets, oropendolas and numerous flycatcher species. We will return to TRC and embark to Posada Amazonas, arriving at mid-afternoon. We will spend our last night in the rain forest in this wonderfully designed lodge enjoying its happy hour as we ponder over the exciting happenings of the past few days.

Tuesday: POSADA AMAZONAS-PUERTO MALDONADO

After an early breakfast we will return to Puerto Maldonado for our flight back to Lima. From there, return home or continue on another tour through South America..

Our Suggestion for Add-ons:

Tango, Samba & Waterfalls (+ 2 FREE Bonus Nights in Rio de Janeiro incl. Sightseeing & 1 Dinner!)

Argentina: Classic Patagonia Tour

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