We had researched quite a bit on the best place to see wildlife in Amazon. There were many options at hand like the Brazilian Pantanal for Jaguars, Iquitos for pink dolphins, Manu National Park for birds like cock of the rock, and at some point Galapagos as well! We had already spent a fortune visiting Kenya and Tanzania, spotting large mammals. The chances of Jaguar spotting comes in only if you have enough time in hand, like a week. Manu National Park is also worth it if you have more than a week and can reach the core zone. The reviews seem to mention Tambopata has equally good wildlife, but is just a tad more commercialized with human settlements, many tourists given the accessibility. The sure shot of seeing hundreds of macaws helped zero in the location choice for us to Tambopata- the Amazon wonder. We finalized Tambopata given the accessibility, costs, number of days at hand and the probability to spot equally good wildlife
Tambopata rose to popularity after featuring on National Geographic magazine in the 1990s. We chose a 4 day tour since we wanted to cover both the Macaw clay lick, mammal clay lick and Sandoval lake. Sandoval is an oxbow lake where you can spot giant river otters. Oxbow lakes are lakes cut off from rivers traversing bends. Ensure you ask for macaw clay lick since there are many other parrot clay licks where macaws don’t come in large numbers. There is a mammal clay lick about an hour away from macaw clay lick where chances of seeing tapirs and peccaries is high
Amazon is in similar Köppen climate zone as Western Ghats in India where we live. The ‘Nagabana’ or protected forests for snake gods have similar trees and density, although wildlife is very different. Some trees are also native only to Amazon which you can’t find elsewhere
We didn’t end up spotting any mammal at the clay lick or otters at Sandoval. However, the jungle trail to the clay lick was pretty awesome and we ended up spotting some monkeys close to the lodge on that day. If you are short of time, you can skip the mammal clay lick. Sandoval area has many other species which you can definitely spot, making it still worthwhile beyond the giant otters
What we actually saw:
Within Tambopata forest on walking trails and river cruises
- Titi monkeys on walking trail towards the canopy tower
- Tamarin monkeys
- Spider monkeys behind the lodge
- Macaws in the clay lick and in general around
- Capybaras in the lake diversion on the way back from macaw clay lick
- Turtles in the river
- Caimans at night
- Leaf cutter ants in the forest and near our rooms
- Tarantulas
- Different varieties of spiders
- Cicada house holes
- Many colorful birds near the room whose names we are unaware of
- Cute, colorful lizard inside our room!
Sandoval trail
- Howler monkeys
- Capuchin monkeys
- Giant Anteater: Yup! This was out of the blue, close to the walking trail, quite unexpected
Sandoval canoe ride
- Hoatzins- They are quite vocal and easy to spot
- Caimans
- Viper snake
- Tiger Heron
- Snake bird/ Anhinga
- Nun bird
The canopy tower is probably the highest in the area, giving a good view of the forest. Sunsets are really good up there. I didn’t end up climbing due to fear of heights and wobbly looking structure. The climb is not too tough. The walk to the tower provided a very good orientation of the forest with views of cicadas, spiders, leaf cutter ants and monkeys
The Macaw clay lick is a real spectacle. Pictures and videos do not do justice to the show, since it is at a distance, on the opposite side of the river. You can hear the ruckus as soon as you get out of the boat during sunrise. There were hundreds or probably thousands of them- parrots and macaws of different colors hovering, chatting and moving in groups, waiting to come down to the clay licks. We spent an hour watching them, followed by breakfast there. It was definitely one of the best wildlife spots in the world!
Another group spotted a Puma during kayaking, so we had our hopes high up for evening activities. However, they were more of time-pass so that you didn’t have to stay in the heat within the rooms. No one was able to catch any fish during fishing activity except the guide, and the wildlife spotting was close to zero during kayaking. The wind on the boat was refreshing enough for us to make up our mind to get out.
There are 3 macaws that stay near the central area all the time- Pablo, Paulo, Pakeeto. They are unable to fly and under rescue (hoping the story is true). They are camera friendly, but be careful while feeding them. My dad was bitten by mistake. There is another parakeet that comes during the night and goes out in the day
There is electricity only from 5:30-6 PM to 9:30 PM. Wifi is only in the central area. Rooms have no locks and there are no hot showers. None of these mattered given the awesome wildlife and we were able to enjoy our time here fully thanks to no network!
Carry enough bug spray with 20-30% DEET. You cannt survive without that. We still got some insect bites, so reapply every few hours as you sweat and wash them out. We bought Bug off from Amazon that was priced at Indian rates Rs 240 per bottle. One bottle was enough for 3 people for 3-4 days
We paid $305 person and used quote by official lodge site to lower costs from Tambopata Hostel. We could get cheaper tours after arriving on spot, but weren’t brave enough to bet on it in peak season and we didn’t have an extra day to shop around. We didn’t pay any deposit upfront, so were ok to confirm in advance.
The tour included pickup, meals, guide services and accommodation. There was no pressure to tip any guide we met. They rotated guides everyday, which was good.
The food was really good even for vegetarians with salad, rice, lentils/ beans, juice, vegetable main course, dessert. The lentils were our favorite! Sandoval lake tour had boxed traditional lunch with rice and avacados
Funnily, we were charged for taxi drop from hostel to bus station on the last day, although it was supposed to be included. The driver asked us to pay at the bus stop and we couldn’t reason with him since the hostel SPOC was not there If you want to spot sloths and monkeys, head to Cacao centre café near riverside at Puerto Maldonado. They have these animal visitors at evening and night time. We specially went there and spotted a sloth