Posada Amazonas Eco-lodge

Upon arrival from Lima or Cusco (we can look for these flights), we welcome you at the airport and drive ten minutes to the Puerto Maldonado headquarters.

Note: You must arrive in Maldonaldo before 13.00.

While enjoying your first taste of the forest in our gardens we ask you to pack only the necessary gear for your next few days, and leave the rest in our safe deposit in Maldonaldo. This helps us keep the boats and cargo light.

Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometres to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno. Boxed Lunch.

The forty five minute boat ride from the Tambopata Port to Posada Amazonas takes us into the Community’s Primary Forest Private Reserve, and you can enjoy a boxed lunch en route.

Upon arrival, the lodge manager welcomes you and briefs you with important navigation and security tips for the lodge and rainforest as you settle into your rooms.

We then head to the canopy tower.

Canopy tower: A twenty minute walk from the lodge leads to the 30-metre scaffolding canopy tower. A staircase, with banisters, provides safe access to the platforms above. From atop you obtain spectacular views of the vast expanses of standing forest cut by the Tambopata River winding through the middle. Now and then toucans, parrots or macaws are seen flying against the horizon, or mixed species canopy flocks land in the treetop next to you.

We return to the lodge for dinner after which there is a presentation on the Infierno ecotourism project, available every night from a staff member. Here are other activities available—please ask for availability.

Night Walk: Experience the sounds of frogs, insects, and other nocturnal animals. 

Piranha fishing: Catch and release of this symbolic species while looking out for otters and caiman.

Build a Jungle Raft: Use traditional techniques to create a working raft.

Giant Otter Search: We look for a family of these adorable creatures in a nearby lake, as well as monkeys, caiman, and birds.

Canopy Tower:  An opportunity to view the rainforest from the heights of the 25 meter scaffolding canopy tower. 

Parakeet clay lick: A dawn visit to a clay lick attracting both parrots and parakeets.

Ese Eja Day: (opening 2023) Learn local traditions, cultures, and history.

Oxbow Lake Visit: We will visit an oxbow lake, observing wildlife from a traditional canoe. 

Birdwatching: More than 600 bird species await on this birdwatching-specific tour.

Ethnobotanical Tour:  On a rainforest trail we will learn about the traditional and medicinal use of local plants.

Children’s Trail: Expert guides bring the forest to life with scavenger hunts and gripping stories.

Farm Visit: We visit a family owned farm growing popular and little known Amazonian crops.

Sunset Cruise: Enjoy the river and its surroundings at sunset.

Circle of Fire: Fireside stories to connect children with nature and the environment.

Rainforest tattoo: A beautiful, artistic, and temporary reminder of your time in the Amazon.

Brazil Trail Nut Trail:  A chance to learn about the harvesting of Brazil nuts.

Ceiba Walk: Hike to some of the forest’s largest Brazil nut trees, some of them jaw-dropping in size.

Night lectures: Listen to the experts explain the rainforest’s secrets.

Tambopata National Reserve Lecture: Nightly lectures on conservation, threats, opportunities, and projects in the Tambopata National Reserve.

After breakfast, we head to the Tres Chimbadas Oxbow Lake. It takes thirty minutes by boat and forty five minutes to hike there from the lodge.

Once there, you paddle around the lake in a catamaran, searching for the resident family of nine giant river otters (seen by 60% of our lake visitors) and other lakeside wildlife such as caiman, hoatzin and horned screamers.

Following a boxed lunch, we take a botanical tour, to learn all about the uses for the rainforest’s plants. A twenty minute boat drive downriver leads you to a trail designed by the staff of the Centro Ñape. The Centro Ñape is a communal organization that produces medicines out of forest plants and administers them to patients who visit their small clinic. They have produced a trail, which you can follow, which explains the different medicinal (and other) uses of selected plants.

We return to the lodge for a sumptuous dinner.

Afterwards, there is an option for a hike in the rainforest at night, a great experience. It’s when most of the mammals are active but rarely seen. It’s much easier to find the frogs with shapes and sounds as bizarre as their natural histories.

Note: You can design your own tour from the activities listed in day 1.

We are up early, before breakfast, to visit the clay lick. The clay lick is only a twenty-minute walk from the lodge.

From a blind located about twenty metres away, we hope to see dozens of parrots and parakeets descend on most clear mornings to eat the clay from the river bank.

Species such as Mealy and Yellow- headed Amazon, Blue-headed Parrot and Dusky headed Parakeet descend at this clay lick. The clay lick is active at dawn, during the late mornings and mid-afternoons.

We head back to the lodge for breakfast.

Mid-morning we head off on a new trail, the Ceiba Trail Hike. It’s two hours, and as well as keeping an eye out for wildlife, the highlight is the largest tree in the vicinity: a giant ceiba tree. Your guide will also tell about the natural history of the rain forest en route, and then we return to the lodge for lunch.

In the afternoon, we hop back into the boats for half an hour to visit the most complete farm in the community of Infierno. The owner grows a diverse variety of popular and little known Amazon crops. In his garden, just about every plant and tree serves a purpose.

We return for our last night at the lodge (you can stay for 3, 4, 5 or more days) for our final dinner, with options night hikes and talks available.

Note: You can design your own tour from the activities listed in day 1.

Rise before dawn for an early breakfast and depart  to journey downriver connecting by car and boat again in order to catch the flight from Puerto Maldonado to Lima or Cusco.

Earliest flight departure time is 10.45am.

Note: The described itinerary many vary according to the weather, season, flight times or personal choice.

Peru is the perfect holiday destination for adventure travellers that want an amazing variety of activity, geography and cultural travel experiences.

The breadth of travel experiences in Peru is breathtaking – from trekking in the Andes to Machu Picchu to the tropical jungle of the Amazon, and plenty in between.

The people of Peru make it a special destination too, with its colourful and traditional street life and friendly locals.

Peru is made up of 3 distinct geographical areas: the coast, the mountains and the jungle.

The costa or coastal region is a narrow ribbon of desert 2,250 km long, crossed by fertile river valleys flowing from the Andes. It takes up 11% of the country and holds more than 40% of the population.

The cold Humboldt current gives rise to a blanket of mist – the garua – which hangs above coastal cities like the capital Lima from May to November.

Heading east, you’re soon climbing above the garua and into the Andes. The sierra, or mountainous region, covers some 25% of Peru’s territory and contains 50% of the population. The sierra inhabitants are mainly Indigenous or Mestizo, and many still speak Quechua or Aymara.

The sierra contains dozens of 6,000-metre snow peaks and volcanoes, including Huascaran (6,768m) the highest mountain in the tropics. The deep valley basins contain most of the towns and arable land; the terracing and canal systems of the Incas and pre-Incas are often still used today.

The eastern Andes are heavily forested up to 3,350m and sweep down into the Amazon Basin.

Peru’s selva or jungle makes up almost two thirds of the country’s area, but holds only about 6% of the population: the only towns with significant populations are Iquitos and Pucallpa.

The Amazon rainforest

Year-round, weather conditions are hot and humid and there is always the risk of rain

There is a ‘dry season’ in Tambopata and Manu between May and October. The average daytime high temperature is between 25°C and 34°C and the average nighttime low is between 16°C and 22°C. Heavy downpours typically occur every few days.

Around 80% of annual average rainfall – approx 2,000 mm in Manu and Tambopata and 1,400 mm in Iquitos – occurs in the wet season Nov-April.

On rare occasions, between May and September, cold fronts from Argentina – ‘friajes’ – can sweep into southwest Amazonia and push temperatures down to 9° C. (Friajes usually last between 1 and 3 days).

Good kit is vital for every trip.

Book with Andean Trails and get 15% off Páramo’s fantastic ethical and high performance outdoor gear.

You can also read our blog about a day in the Amazon rainforest of Peru.

Detailed kit list

• The original and a photocopy of your passport.
• Yellow fever inoculation certificate.
• Good binoculars.
• Tight-weave, light weight long trousers.
• Quick dry socks.
• Rain suit or long poncho (100% waterproof – test before you leave home).
• Long-sleeved tight-weave shirts.
• T-shirts.
• A bottle or canteen to carry water on outings (1-2 litres).
• Sunscreen (factor 30+) and lip salve.
• A broad-brimmed hat that will not come off on windy boat-rides.
• 1-2 pairs of shorts.
• Sunglasses with UV filter.
• A pair of trainers.
• Ankle high, hiking boots.
• Insect repellent.
• Towel & wash-kit.
• Wet Wipes/antiseptic hand-wash cream.
• Head-lamp (plus spare bulb and batteries).
• Personal first-aid kit to include: painkillers, plasters (band-aids), moleskin, anti-biotic cream, general antibiotics (ask your GP), after-bite (tiger balm), anti-diarrhoea tablets, throat lozenges, re-hydration salts & personal medication.
• Cash (small denomination bills) for souvenirs at the lodge, alcoholic beverages, etc.
• A small day pack, 30 litres.
• Camera and film / memory cards (take at least twice the amount you think you will need!).
• Book, e-book, mp3 player/ipod or other to help pass the time.
• Spanish/English phrasebook.
• Extra snacks i.e. cereal bars or favourite chocolate bars.

Please note: Guests should arrive in clothes which they do not mind getting slightly dirty or wet, and should wear footwear that is suitable to walk on a rainforest trail. Sun cream, insect repellent, hat and waterproof clothing should be carried in hand luggage and kept accessible for the journey to the lodge.

You may want to keep your binoculars and camera handy, too.

All bedding, toilet paper etc. is provided at the lodge (or camp, if camping).

Andean Trails has 25 years of experience of putting together the best South America holidays.

We pay a fee to the CAA for every licensable passenger we book since we hold an Air Travel Organiser’s Licence granted by the Civil Aviation Authority. In the unlikely event of our insolvency, the CAA will ensure that you are not stranded abroad and will arrange to refund any money you have paid to us for an advance booking.

We also offer ATOL (Civil Aviation Authority) protected holidays to give our customers peace of mind when booking and travelling.

When you buy an ATOL protected air holiday package from Andean Trails Ltd you will receive a Confirmation Invoice from us confirming your arrangements and your protection under our Air Travel Organiser’s Licence number 6275.

You can read more about ATOL, who is covered and what protections you have if not ATOL-covered, on our ATOL page.

What is ATOL?

The CAA’s ATOL scheme offers protection to your money and your holiday if you book with us. Not everybody is covered (see ‘Who is covered?’ for more), as you must purchase an ‘air package holiday’ with Andean Trails to be protected.

And  ‘air package holiday’ is defined as including a flight and some ground services (hotel, transfer, trek etc). This is also known as an ‘ATOL-protected holiday’.

Who is covered?

To be covered by ATOL, you must book a flight and some ground services with us and be from the UK. If you are from the UK and only book ground services and no flights, you are not covered by ATOL (see below for more on how non-ATOL clients are covered).

If you are outside the UK and buy flights with us, you will be ATOL protected IF any of the flights booked with Andean Trails touches/stops in the UK at any point during your holiday package booked with us.

If you buy your flights elsewhere, please check with that agent if you are ATOL protected. Be careful with online flight purchases and make sure you know what protection you have, if any, before paying for flights.

Not all holiday or travel services offered and sold by us will be protected by the ATOL scheme. Please ask us to confirm what protection may apply to your booking.

For land only holidays not involving any air travel, in accordance with “The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992”, all UK passengers booking with Andean Trails Ltd. are fully protected for the initial deposit and subsequently the balance of all money paid to us, arising from cancellation or curtailment of travel arrangements due to the insolvency of Andean Trails.

I’m not ATOL covered, what protection do I have?

If you are not ATOL covered, any payments you make to us go to a Trust account.

We can only access this money once your tour has been completed, meaning that if anything happens to Andean Trails Limited while you are on holiday, then your money is secure and you can either complete the trip or be able to make it home.

If you pay for your holiday with a credit card, some offer payment protection – please check with your cardholder.

You also should have cancellation protection written into your insurance (which we recommend you have at the time of booking) in case you need to cancel.