Things to do
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Lago Sandoval
An oxbow lake inside the reserve, reached by a three kilometre walk in from the Madre de Dios and then a paddled canoe. Giant otters live on it and are seen often in the early morning, along with hoatzin and black caiman in the flooded palm edge.
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Chuncho Macaw Clay Lick
A bank of exposed clay on the Tambopata where scarlet, red and green and blue and yellow macaws gather at first light to eat mineral rich earth. Numbers are highest in the drier months, and the birds do not come down at all on wet mornings.
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Inkaterra Reserva Amazónica
A lodge of thatched cabanas on the Madre de Dios, forty five minutes downstream from the town, run by the company that pioneered conservation tourism in Peru. It holds a canopy walkway of seven bridges strung thirty metres up through the crowns behind the grounds.
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Lago Sachavacayoc
A large oxbow lake deep inside the Tambopata reserve, quieter than Sandoval and worked by far fewer boats. The approach is a long walk on boardwalk and forest trail up from the river, which is why almost everyone who reaches it is staying at a lodge.
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Posada Amazonas
The closest of the Rainforest Expeditions lodges, two hours from the town on Infierno community land, jointly owned and largely staffed by the community itself. A thirty metre canopy tower and an oxbow lake with giant otters are both within walking distance of the rooms.
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Puente Continental
The 722 metre cable stayed bridge that carries the Interoceanic Highway over the Madre de Dios, opened in 2011 and the largest structure of its kind in the Peruvian Amazon. It replaced the ferry and put Brazil within a day's drive, which changed the town.
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Refugio Amazonas
A lodge four hours upstream on the Tambopata, inside the reserve's buffer zone and part owned by the Infierno community. It is the usual overnight stop for anyone continuing to the Tambopata Research Centre, and the clay lick trips leave from its landing.
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Reserva nacional Tambopata
Nearly 275,000 hectares of lowland rainforest between the Tambopata and the Heath, holding one of the highest recorded bird counts of any protected area on earth. Access is by boat from Puerto Maldonado and every visit runs through a lodge, since independent entry is not permitted.
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Río Madre de Dios
The river the town sits on, running from the Andes east into Bolivia and carrying almost all traffic into the forest around it. Boats leave the port for the lodges and for Lago Sandoval, and the crossing is the first sight most arrivals get of the basin.
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Río Tambopata
The clearer, faster river that joins the Madre de Dios at the town, and the route into the reserve that carries its name. The run upstream to the lodges takes three to five hours and passes the Infierno community, which co-owns two of them.