Fiesta Tours Peru

Science

• Discover a new species: Help us reveal nature’s wonders, become a scientist and get the chance to discover a new species! There is an amazing world of diversity awaiting exploration! We will meet the resident researcher team at the lobby for a brief explanation on the types of specimens we will be looking for, and how to identify them. They will give us tools needed for collecting, and we will walk around 15 minutes from the lodge to the light trap where an incredible variety of insects will be waiting for us. We will look for and collect certain types of insects, and, if we are lucky, we may even discover a new species!

• AmazonCam Tambopata: We are building a Big Grid to answer Big Questions. Become a researcher and explore the world of camera traps and the amazing wildlife they reveal’ it’s a Big Neighborhood! We will walk for about 20 minutes near the mammal clay lick, a favorite spot for many animals! We will help researchers collect the data from the camera traps and install some new ones! We will try them and make sure they are working correctly, and on the way back to the lodge, will get to see what we got on the cameras!

• Tambopata Aerobotany: Why point to the stars when you can reach the canopy! Experience the incredible diversity of Amazon Trees and Plants from the Air! Throw a Drone from a 35-meter-tall scaffolding

tower and get an incomparable view of the canopy, feel like a star! This canopy tower experience is a quick 20-minute walk from the lodge and provides access to the tops of huge rainforest trees. We will get the chance to observe the researchers programming the drones for their daily route, and we will get unique and amazing pictures and videos of the canopy from the air!

Adventure

• Mountain biking: If you like action, this is a great way to explore and experience the beauty and excitement of the rainforest along ten kilometers of trails. We provide a GT mountain bike, helmet and cycling gear, water bottle, and your very own mountain bike guide.

Nature

• Chuncho Macaw Claylick: Since Tambopata is the world’s best hot spot for macaws, this is a “must-do” on every itinerary. Take a morning trip into the Tambopata national reserve to one of the famous macaw clay licks. The two-hour boat ride from the lodge and into the national reserve also offers outstanding opportunities for seeing wildlife. This clay lick is often visited by three species of large colorful macaws, and many other parrots, and parakeets. Your guide will help you identify the birds seen at the clay lick, as well as other wildlife there and along the river. Binoculars and a provided spotting scope will take you that much closer to wildlife.

• Sunset Cruise: Sunsets in the jungle are one of nature’s most beautiful spectacles, and one of the best places to enjoy them is from a boat on the Tambopata River. In the afternoon, your guide will take you to a boat for an easy-going, two-hour ride on the Tambopata. Your guide will talk about the dynamics of this Amazonian river as you watch for rainforest wildlife and see macaws fly overhead before enjoying the jungle sunset.

• Oxbow Lake Visit: A 45-minute hike through terra firme rainforest brings us to an aguaje palm swamp and the Condenado oxbow lake. Oxbow lakes are amazing habitats, and we’ll have the opportunity to experience one while paddling a traditional canoe or catamaran on Condenado Lake. We will look for lakeside wildlife such as big fish, lots of birds, colorful butterflies, and more, while also hoping to see rare Giant Otters. You will also be rewarded with overhead sightings of macaws and beautiful jungle skies.

• Canopy Tower: Let’s get to the top and have an eagle’s view of the forest. A thirty-minute hike from Refugio Amazonas leads to a 25-meter scaffolding canopy tower. A banister staircase running through the middle provides safe access to the platforms above, and the tower has been built upon high ground, therefore increasing your horizon of continuous primary forest that extends towards the Tambopata National Reserve. From here, views of mixed species canopy flocks as well as toucans, macaws and raptors are likely.

• Parakeet clay lick: A fifteen minutes boat ride and sixty minutes hike from Refugio Amazonas will take us to a completely different clay lick used both by parrots and parakeets. We will watch from a blind as parrots and parakeets descend to ingest the clay on a bank. Species such as Dusky headed and Cobalt winged Parakeets come to this clay lick. With luck we will also see some or all the following species in the early morning rush: Mealy and Yellow-crowned Amazons, Blue-headed Pionus, Chestnutfronted (Severa’s) Macaw, and Orange-cheeked (Barraband`s) Parrot. We visit the lick at dawn, when parrots are most active, or in midmorning or early afternoon.

• Mammal Clay Lick: Mammals feed on clay too and a peccary clay lick is just 20 minutes on foot from Refugio Amazonas. These wild rain forest pigs show up in herds of five to twenty individuals to eat clay in the late morning. Chances of spotting them are rare but well worth the short hike. Other wildlife also shows up sometimes, including deer, guans, and parakeets. This area has also sometimes featured the nest of the rare Harpy Eagle.

• Jungle Orchid Trail: During this activity you can learn about the Orchids in Peru and the project we conducted out in Refugio Amazonas, rescuing and relocating some species with the objective of investigating and conserving certain species.

You can visit the greenhouse and if you are lucky where you can observe the orchids in bloom (according to the season). After an appropriate introduction, you will be able to identify a wild orchid in the forest.

This experience will not only lead you to know more about the Amazonian orchids but also about their important ecological relationship.

• Overlook Trail: This 2 km trail will take us along the Tambopata River for a great overview. We will show you the differences of a terra firme forest and a secondary forest after passing through both habitats. We will also take breaks at benches that help us witness the Tambopata on its journey through the Amazonian lowlands.

• Night Walk: The rainforest comes alive again at night. This is the best time to see a bizarre and beautiful world of sounds, frogs, insects, night skies, and other nocturnal animals. Your guide will take you on a trail near the lodge for an hour and a half exciting hike into the night of the Amazon rainforest.

Local Culture

• Farm Visit: On the other side of the river from the lodge, we visit a family owned farm managed by charismatic Don Manuel from the neighboring community of Condenado. He grows a variety of popular and little-known Amazonian crops – just about every plant and tree you see has a story and serves a purpose.

• Medicinal Plants Trail: Most medicines come from a medicinal plant in the Amazon, along this trail we will find a diversity of plants and trees that are used by the local people for a ariety of purposes. We ‘ll learn about the medicinal (and other) uses of Ayahuasca, Ajo-Sacha, Yuca de Venado, Uña de Gato, Charcot-Sacha, and Para-Para among several others.

• Night Lectures: Nightly lectures prepared by the staff of Refugio Amazonas cover conservation threats, opportunities, and projects in the Tambopata National Reserve.

• Brazil Trail Nut and Camp: Refugio Amazonas is in a Brazil Nut forest. This hike is a beautiful old growth patch of Brazil Nut forest that has been harvested for decades (if not centuries) where the remains of a camp used two months a year by Brazil Nut gatherers can still be experienced. We will demonstrate the whole process of the rainforest's only sustainably harvested product from collection through transportation, drying, and on to the products we consume.

Children Activities

• Circle of fire: As a prelude to the Ania trail activities that will take place with our child specialist guide, we head towards the circle of fire. A series of lights will lead us on a path that goes through the forest and ends at the circle of fire. This is where the house of Tawa, the ancient healer, is located. The house is filled with magic potions and extracts prepared from plants of the forest. There, we learn about the story and characters from "Ania and the Voice of the World", as we sit and listen to our guide. This is also the starting point for the adventure that awaits us in our next child activity.

• The Children's Rainforest Trail: learn about the rainforest from a different perspective. Ania & The World´s Voice is an exciting journey designed for children, ages 4 to 10 years. We will travel with our guides on a short but challenging walk where we follow maps, solve riddles, and find clues that will lead to the "treasure of Ania.” The path includes a visit to the houses of Ania and Tawa, the grandfather of the woods. Searching for the “lost Brazil nut”, the city of ants, and other fun games teaches children how people live in the rainforest, why we need to preserve it, and leaves us with a valuable message: "A child born in the jungle fills our hearts with hope." The concept and history of this are all registered in the name of ANIA, a nonprofit organization with a mission to create 100,000 acres of "Lands of Children" – private, protected areas managed for children.

• Rainforest Tattoo: Getting tattooed in the Rainforest? No worries, we´ll prepare a paste from a fruit called “Huito”, and achiote or other natural dies to draw tattoos on ourselves. We can draw different shapes of animals or other patterns associated with the forest. They only last a few days.