Destination Amazonia - The Inkaterra Amazonica Experience
​(Tour Report June 2011)
​Tour to Tambopata National Park, Peru.  When traveling to the Amazon in Peru, it may be a good thing not to know what to expect out there.  With neither of us having been anywhere remotely similar to the Peruvian rain forest, the southern part of the Peruvian Amazon was a revelation.  And just as well - I simply love surprises! The journey to Lima is quite conventional.  International airports resemble each other and we are there to change planes only.  Time elapses quickly and we board our flight. The flight to Puerto Maldonado takes a little over 2 and a half hours with a stop over in Cusco. I will come back to our impressions on the capital of the Incas when we fly in from Puerto Maldonado; for now, let’s focus on the rain forest.  After about 40 minutes of flying, the pilot announces we will start our descent into Puerto Maldonado.  One wonders where it is, for looking out the windows on either side of the plane, you only see green, and more green and no town, runway, control tower, or airport, and we are flying low, and getting lower! 
​Then, if you look back, you can see a very thin brown stripe…. a road!  But still no runway and the plane is getting very close to the trees, which all of a sudden seem very big and tall!  All you can do is hope that the pilot knows what he is doing.  Unexpectedly, out of the blue (pardon me, the green) you see the airport, people, a control tower, and the runway.  Great pilot!  As you step out of the plane, the humidity hits you.  Warm and wet. Only 33ºC today and 100% humidity. Butterflies abound.  We are finally here, the Peruvian Amazon!
A very friendly and welcoming Inkaterra crew greets us. Not to worry about our luggage, they will take care of it and we are rushed to the van where we are served a cool mineral water and feel relieved inside the air-conditioned vehicle.
We wait briefly for other passengers that are going to Reserva Amazonica Inkaterra and then we are off to our first stop, the Butterfly House, where we are greeted with cool face cloths and chilled tropical fruit juices.  After a short visit here, it is off again on our journey towards the lodge.   Puerto Maldonado is very picturesque.   Hardly any cars or 4 wheel vehicles move around here; the main means of transport is the motorcycle – even the taxis are motorbikes!  One flags down a “cab” and gets on the motorcycle behind the driver, then you hold on for dear life by wrapping your arms around the driver’s waist.  Very romantic!  There are bigger and more comfortable “cabs”; these are big tricycles with two seats at the back (no need to hold your driver!).  Larger vehicles are less common in Puerto Maldonado owing to fuel costs in this frontier town.
As soon as we have crossed the town of Puerto Maldonado, we get to the dock where our boat is waiting. We embark on a one-hour ride downstream on the Madre de Dios River, one of the estuaries that feeds the mighty Amazon River, nearly two thousand kilometres away.  One can breathe Indiana Jones moments up ahead…  After less than an hour we get to Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica.  From the river almost nothing reveals the presence of the Lodge, except that there are a number of people glad to see us, who greet us very warmly upon our arrival. Then, after climbing a few steps up the riverbank, the Reserva Amazonica opens up among the vegetation before us.  ​We are guided to the dining room where we are served a welcome drink and then invited to take a table in the restaurant.  It's 4 o’clock in the afternoon and it has been a long day. We are served a delicious lunch.  In the meantime, our luggage is taken care of, and waits for us in our rooms.
Reserva Amazonica is a series of bungalows on stilts, with walkways marked by thickly cut tree trunks neatly laid on the ground, and bridges.  We are here at the start of the dry season, but I can imagine that in the middle of the wet season you really need some separation between you and the ground.   Accommodation chalets differ in size, but are all very comfortable, fully screened, and the beds have their own mosquito netting. There are Peruvian cotton bed sheets and pillow cases, bathrooms with all things necessary for your comfort, and you have a couple of hammocks on your screened in front porch!  Electricity is limited but available, between 6am and 11am and then again between 6pm and 11pm.  You certainly will not need it more than that, but is essential for recharging camera batteries. 
At Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica you are truly pampered; there are bathrobes of the finest Peruvian cotton, flip flops of recycled rubber, organic toiletries and a refreshing eau de toilette which allegedly acts as a mosquito repellent.  Nevertheless, it is strongly advised  you bring a 95-100% Deet with you in order to avoid insect discomfort.  Mosquitoes thrive on “fresh” subjects!  During our visit in May, however, there were relatively few. My partner wasn't sure if he had any bites, and I only had a few, thanks to Deet and the time of year! 
After a great lunch – you can choose one of 7 appetizers, one of 7 main courses and one of 3 or 4 desserts – we go to our bungalow to rest and get organized for our very first excursion that night. We are going to sail along the river with our flashlights (there’s a flashlight in each bungalow). We hope to see a white caiman.   At 6:30 we meet at the “eco center” and we are the same group that flew in that day; two Peruvian families with kids, a young British couple on their honeymoon, a group of 3 British couples and us two. We did see a white caiman, about one and a half meters long, on the riverbank and you can see his picture here… scary! After this great introduction to the Peruvian jungle, we get back “home”. The kids are still talking about the caiman very excitedly. We are served a very nice dinner at around 8:30pm and then off to bed, exhausted but glad.
Night in the jungle is full of new noises, and dawn is early; at 5.30 the sky is reddish orange and then a sudden explosion of light heralds the new day!  A beautiful day, with bright blue sky, scattered white clouds, and promising high temperatures and accompanying humidity for later that morning.  We hurry through a delicious breakfast where tropical fruit and hot chocolate are the stars.  At 6:30 we board the boat for a 25 minute ride up the Madre de Dios and then a one-hour hike through the rain forest to Lake Sandoval.  Another group heads towards Bolivia.  A two-hour boat ride will take them to piranha heaven… where they may swim with them, fish for them and then have them prepared as a delicious lunch!
We arrive at our start point for the hike and boating on Lake Sandoval. Our guide, Jesus, tells the “captain” that we’ll be back in about 3 to 4 hours, and we are off.  A couple of us lag behind; the trail is full of surprises: we see macaws, capuchin monkeys, green parrots, a distant toucan, a few golden spiders, termite nests on trees and leaf cutter ants… thousands of them at work!
We get to the entrance of the park after about 40 minutes, about half way to the lake. Some of us start thinking that the lake better be worth all the effort, which is getting harder as the temperature and humidity rises – and it's not even 9 in the morning. We are hiking on a gentle slope, glad now for the early start.  We reach the point where we take the boat.  We get in, carefully, and one at a time.  It wobbles as you step in.  The water is murky and hides many surprises; stingrays, caimans, anacondas, piranhas, with all of which you would not want to shake hands!  Our guide, Jesus, starts paddling effortlessly along the narrow channel, and then… I see one!  A black juvenile caiman only a couple of metres in front of us! “Talk softly” Jesus told us, "otherwise you will scare all the animals around us". I whisper, "Caiman! Caiman!" , and point… most of us get a good view of it, beautiful! 
As we reach the entrance of the lake, I see that the hike was all worth it! Lake Sandoval opens up before us in all its majesty! The lake is calm and vast, like a mirror, reflecting the trees along its shore. Superb. We see a king isher, a woodpecker, bats, fireflies, butterflies, and then, out there in the distance, a black caiman. This time it is a big one! Given the distance at which we saw it, we calculated that it could easily be 3 to 4 meters long. Black caimans live up to 80 years of age and can reach 6 meters in length. It looked majestic, swimming slowly and steadily in one direction.  Everybody speculated on the length and age of the beast. Suddenly it went down. I asked how long a caiman could stay under water, and Jesus casually answered around 40 minutes. 40 minutes! What if it swims until it is right underneath us and tips the boat over! Scary thought, but, luckily, it is highly unlikely.
We were on the lake for about an hour, sailing near the shore,  covering not even a third of it.    The hike back to the boat on the Madre de Dios River was fast and quiet, each of us trying to digest  what we had seen.  In the afternoon, after another delicious lunch, we visited Inkaterra’s unique Canopy Trail.   Two tall towers connected by a series of bridges high amongst the trees, some 30m above the forest floor! 
Our group ranged in ages from early 20’s to lat e 70’s.  I think I can make it, being roughly in the middle of that range, but I am afraid of heights.   And as we get closer to the first tower, my fears rise!  However, I get myself together and climb the tower like everybody  else in the group, with assistance from Jesus, our guide.   It is an exhilarating experience.
The rain forest at this height is airy and light, and many species make their homes only here, far above the forest floor below.  Inkaterra offers their guests other excursions which we can highly recommend, such as a visit to Gamitana Creek and a nearby farm, or the small lake near Hacienda Constance where we saw the amazing hoatzin birds, sometimes known as “punk chickens” for their bizarre plumage and fantastic colours. There are also walks through the rain forest at night, a guided walk through a forest garden for medicinal plants, and spa treatments are available. 
Have you read The Testament, by John Grisham? You can read it again after visiting Puerto Maldonado. Visiting Reserva Amazonica will give you a whole new perspective on the Amazon rain forest. 

​​Some practical considerations: travellers to the Peruvian Amazon region should consult their medical sources regarding necessary vaccines or preventative medicines.  We had no particular difficulties, but following advice from our doctor we took a couple of vaccines and anti-malarial medication for our visit. For photographers, a fast telephoto lens is very useful as the lighting is very dim on the forest floor.  So high ISO settings are required.  If you want to take photos at night – good luck! A flash or bright flash light will be needed.  All of the photos shown here were taken by us during our visit; we were lucky with the weather and the critters!