We left the dry, dusty, mountainous region of Peru for a sweaty week in the Amazon at a unique eco jungle lodge on the Tambopata River.
From Lima we flew to Puerto Maldonado, took a mini van for 1.5hrs along rutted tracks through tropical villages surrounded by banana and paw paw plantations. Next we jumped in a traditional, long, wooden hulled boat and tripped down the wide, muddy rainforest-lined river. At dusk we arrived at steep, timber stairs on a muddy bank, disembarked and followed a boardwalk that disappeared into the dense, chirping rainforest and landed us at a secluded candle-lit jungle lodge.
We loved the Inotawa Expedition Lodge for it’s authenticity. Our guides were genuinely passionate and knowledgeable about the forest, the river and the myriad of life-forms that dwell within both. There is a massive difference between being read a well-worn tourist script and experiencing an environment under the guidance of an engaging local who is quite obviously relishing the chance to impart knowledge and answer all questions with enthusiasm!
The activities were educational and fun and mostly involved getting out of bed in the dark at 4am! The power at the lodge was only operational for a few hours at a time (this didn’t include 4am) so getting up and ready by the light of head torches only added to the excitement and adventure of entering the jungle pre-dawn. Every early morning or evening trip was made even more magical by the mesmerising glow of fire flies and the racket of nocturnal creatures.
We learnt about medicinal plants that the locals use to treat ills such as poorly functioning livers, hormonal imbalances, snake bites and even hangovers!! The kids loved the lesson about the symbiotic relationship between a certain tree and the ants that live in it. The tree offers a home to the ants and in turn, the ants clear the undergrowth around it’s roots. Every time we saw one of these plants, we found a perfectly cleared patch around its stem and a colony of ants in it’s foliage.
The lodge itself teamed with life. On our first night as we walked back to our cabin Jaiya saw something running into a hole in the ground- we shone our head torches into the burrow to find a massive black tarantula with a little frog in its fangs staring back at us. The kids named him Bob (we think it was a male) and we looked in on him every night thereafter. Mostly he was out hunting but he was never too far from his hole and went scurrying back into it whenever we approached. We learnt to walk very slowly so as not to scare him off and got to appreciate him up close almost every night.
We saw several little snakes and spent an afternoon watching the antics of a group of gorgeous Tamarin monkeys launching themselves from one tree to another in order to crawl into the roof space of the lodge and hang out on the rafters cheekily peering into the kitchen.
Left: Bob the Tarantula
Our guide showed us a plant with perfectly normal looking green leaves, that turned to a bright red dye (used as traditional face and body colour for celebrations and ceremonies) simply by rubbing the leaves together. The kids memorised the location of the tree and made me sneak back into the jungle later that day (guests were not allowed to wonder into the forest by themselves in case of the unlikely event of a Puma hanging around- but we were prepared to risk it for Jungle-paint!)
It was well worth it as I got to spend an entire afternoon in a hammock reading my book as the kids industriously crushed leaves, produced a cup full of dye, coloured some cotton-like fluff they had also found on the rainforest floor and generally had a fun afternoon with bright red hands 
One day, the guides were acting a little mischievously and there seemed to be some confusion amongst the other guests about exactly what our afternoon activity entailed…we heard rumours of fishing and others told us swimming in the lake but the guides were being elusive and vague so we packed bathers and went with the flow (a little suspicious of the stifled smiles and knowing looks we kept glimpsing on the guides’ faces)
It was a brilliant ‘fool-the-tourist trick’…take them into the middle of a lake on a raft and get them all swimming and splashing around….then bring out the rods and announce that we are now fishing for Piranhas Apparently the Hollywood version of piranhas-as-flesh-eating killers isn’t quite accurate Although their teeth are impressive, they are actually small, cute and surprisingly easy to catch…
The river trips were stunning and the copious wildlife kept us on the edge of our seats- we watched in silence, drifting slowly with the current as a family of orange howler monkeys frolicked in the canopy of an enormous tree above our heads…
A curious grunting/squawking sound revealed some crazy looking prehistoric chicken-like birds with blue faces and bright orange mohawks…the Hoatzin or ‘Stinky bird’ (they have a very unpleasant odour) would have to be the most flamboyant creature we came across in the Amazon…
One one evening trip we got up close to a family of Capybaras bathing on a beach of muddy clay…Capybaras look like a cross between a pig and a rodent (in fact they are the largest rodents in the world) and they looked at us as if indignant at the interruption as we glided passed snapping photographs.
On one of our many forays into the jungle, Jose our guide pointed out some animal tracks; a bamboo rat and a peccary (jungle pig) in the mud. He then proceeded to set up a little camp stove, heat wax and pour it into the tracks to produce perfect little wax moulds for the kids to take with them. We spent hours squatting in this little mud patch- totally absorbed in producing a perfect mould and listening to Jose’s endless stories about the jungle and the animals whose prints we were now intimately familiar…
The trees: straight out of Avatar below. And a highway of leaf-carrying ants we carefully stepped over as we trekked through the jungle
We were also in awe of the ‘walking’ stilt palm trees. Apparently the plant sends out new shoots in a desired direction (towards sunlight, away from fallen trees stifling growth etc.) and lets go of roots on the opposite side and so over a period of time is able to move. We researched this phenomenon later on when we found some internet and it seems that there is debate over whether these trees really do move, how far and for what reason but they certainly LOOK capable of moving (walking even) with their tall, thick, above ground, spiny roots reaching down and out into the jungle floor.
Fungi on the jungle floor and a community cocoon of caterpillars.
One sunrise we found ourselves in a little thatched viewing hut- watching noisy parrots licking at a clay cliff that dropped rapidly down from the rainforests to the river. Apparently the minerals from the clay are good for the bird’s digestive system. The hut was perfectly situated and conspicuous and the viewing was superb. I also loved watching a yellow tailed bird as it fussed around the most beautiful tear-drop shaped nest hanging from a tree only meters from the viewing hut.
We did a breath-taking night-time river trip to look for Caiman crocodiles. There are 3 varieties of this species- the largest, the black Caiman grow to 5-6 metres long and prefer to live in the peaceful waters of lakes. The smaller white Caiman and the dwarf Caiman are to be found in the river and generally only grow to around 1 meter long. As we cruised along the river the darkness was interrupted only by the fireflies buzzing in the dense forest and the intermittent flash of the spotlight as our guide searched the banks for Caimans.
We saw a few submerged nostrils and the eyes of the white Caiman and then finally, two exposed crocodiles sitting out of the water on the shiny clay bank. It was beautiful to watch them turn and slide gracefully back into the water with the spotlight reflecting off yellow white bodies. On the way back down stream our guide killed the light and we did a type of silence meditation as we drifted down the river. The Peruvian amazon is deafening alive with the vibrant cackles, squawks, growls, whistles and chirps of mammals, insects and nocturnal birds. Sitting in black silence engrossed in these sounds is an experience I will never forget.
Above: Our first ever successful fly of the drone from a moving boat! Below: We celebrated Russ’s birthday at the lodge- the kitchen whipped him up a surprise cake and the gorgeous staff all came out to sing ‘feliz cumpleanos!’
This was a unique, rich, once in a lifetime experience and we are left with memories of giant trees, creatures we had not previously known existed and of people who live and breathe their river, their jungle and all the creatures within. Feeling blessed!
Next post: hiking in the Cordillera Blanc Mountains
This entry was posted in The Sail.
Love it ! Thank you for sharing this adventure….
What a memory to treasure ! x