Tambopata – Sandoval Lake 4 days

Day 01: Puerto Maldonado – Trekking – Sandoval Lake – Ceiba Sandoval Lodge.

Our day will start with the pick up of our passengers in Puerto Maldonado either at the airport or at the bus station, one of our local guides will meet us and transfer us to the office of the agency which is located in the center of the city. There we will be able to repack and leave the luggage we will not need on the tour.
Our departure will be at the tourist port (Puerto Capitania) where we will board a motorized boat that will take us for 45 min. down river to Puerto Sandoval and to get to Sandoval Lake we will have to walk 3 km through a muddy road. Then we will arrive at a small port and here we will board a paddle canoe in which we will travel for half an hour until we reach our lodge.

Upon arrival at the lodge we will have a warm welcome with a tasty tropical juice and after a brief introduction we can rest in one of our comfortable rooms.
In the evening we will take a night walk through the forest in search of the night monkey (musmuqui), frogs, snakes and insects that are active during the night and finally return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 02: Sandoval Lake – Chestnut Trail – Alligator Hunt Night

Early in the morning we will paddle across Sandoval Lake in a wooden canoe trying to see the giant river otters (the largest in the world), one of the protected and important species of the lake, considered an emblematic species. Giant otters live in small, very territorial family groups and feed on fish around the lake early in the morning. They can eat up to 4 kilos of fish per day.

We will then return to the lodge for breakfast and a short rest.
Afterwards we will take a walk through the terra firme forest learning more about the medicinal plants and the diurnal mammalian animals such as monkeys, wild cats, peccaries, etc. We will also learn about the ecology of the chestnut tree, a species that helps protect the flora and fauna of the region. At the end of our visit we will return to the lodge for lunch and a siesta.

In the afternoon we will again board the canoe to Sandoval Lake, this time to look for capuchin monkeys, squirrels, howler monkeys, herons, kingfishers, cormorants and shanshos that live and feed in the forest around the lake. At sunset, on the way back to the lodge we will be able to see the reflection of the eyes of the black caimans that usually hunt at night along the shore of the lake. We will approach them to take pictures and talk about their natural history. Finally we will return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.

Day 03: Sandoval Lake – Collpa de Palmeras – Floodplain Forest – The Tower

We will wake up very early to cross the Sandoval Lake and walk for 20 minutes until we reach the palm lick. This is a special place where different species of macaws (blue and yellow, scarlet, red-bellied, chestnut-fronted) and parrots (yellow-crowned, mealy, white-bellied) gather to eat the dead wood of the palm trees which is rich in salts and minerals (calcium, sodium, potassium, aluminum, magnesium and iron). This is a very important mineral supplement that helps these birds with digestion and to counteract the bad effects of the toxins they ingest when feeding on unripe fruits.

After our visit we will return to the lodge for breakfast and then we will get ready to cross the Sandoval Lake by canoe to go to the flooded forest. We will walk for about 2 hours, on the way we will observe large trees over 200 years old, such as the Shihuahuaco (iron tree), Lupuna (ceiba tree) and oje (medicinal ficus tree); trees that grow only in this type of forest.

Then we will return to the lodge for lunch and in the afternoon we will explore the lake again by canoe, this time we will visit a tower of 12 meters high that is located between the limit of the tourist area (2 km) and a refuge area (1 km). From this tower we will contemplate the sunset. Finally we will return to the lodge for dinner and overnight.