Tambopata Lodge



There was quite the storm in the night, lots of rain with thunder and lightening. Everyone woke early, as it starts getting light just after 5am. Lots of bird calls in the early morning. There is one that sounds just like drops of water! Breakfast is at 6am. Fruit, bread, plantain, eggs and bacon. Extremely strong coffee!
At 6:50am we head out for our excursion. About a 15min boat ride, then several km through jungle paths. Our guide Delford was fantastic, showing us so many plants used by the native people, both for food and for medication. An odd stinky fruit called cannon fruit. Many different trees, including a rubber trees and figs. So many are covered by the strangler vine. Lots of older trees are hollow inside, eaten by termites.  Also leaves that make a natural red dye that was used for face painting. It started to rain but took a long time before it got down to the jungle floor. After a while we came to the Ox-bow lake, but waited a bit for the rain to subside. From out on the lake we could see some beautiful birds including macaws, houtzin. Also monkeys high in the trees.
The lake has piranhas, and we fed them soda crackers to bring them to the surface. Not like Hollywood! Some more rain, but it doesn’t last long. Back to the lodge for a bit of a rest before lunch.
After lunch we saw how to open brazil nuts; they look like a coconut and are very hard.
Another rest, then a visit to a local farm at 3:30pm. They have chicken and pigs, and grow many kinds of fruit including oranges, lemons, papaya, bananas, pineapple, star fruit, noni, avocado and peppers. This is all for local use, not for export. Then back to the lodge for a rest and a drink before dinner. Delford gives us a talk about caimans, and how they differ from crocs and alligators (usually smaller and not dangerous to humans. After dinner we went out in the boat to look for caimans. We see quite a few, but it’s hard to take pictures of them. It’s lovely out on the river at night! At one point Delford stopped the motor and we listened for the sounds of the river.









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