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 Tour
Description: Join
us on our Amazon Bird-watching program. During this
one week trip we will explore four distinct areas of the
forest while staying at comfortable Jungle Lodges. The main
focus of the program is to find and identify as many species
of birds as possible. All daily excursions will be led by native Amazonian Naturalist Guides and feature
bird-watching from the spectacular Amazon Canopy Walkway, the longest walkway of its type in the world. Other habitats that will be visited range from the
edge of the Amazon River to interior black water lakes and from pastures and small open fields to environments deep within the Primary Rainforest.
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Day 1
- Saturday - IQUITOS - at
leisure
AM or PM -
Services will begin upon arrival at the
airport of
Iquitos
where you will be met and transferred to
the
Hotel Dorado Plaza, a 5 star hotel in the very center of
the city. Check in.
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Contact us for International and Domestic airfares
in Peru and
additional services in Peru |
EVE - For early
arrivals there will be time to walk to the banks of the Amazon River
to see your first Amazonian birds. In addition to the ubiquitous
Greater Kiskadee and Black Vultures you are likely to see
several of the more common seed finches. In the evening both the Plaza de Armas and
the "Boulevard" are great places to watch people strolling along and imagine yourself as
a great rubber baron.
(L - if arrival flight permits - D.)
Day 2 -
Sunday
- IQUITOS / AMAZON
RIVER / EXPLORAMA LODGE
 AM -
After breakfast a short bus ride takes you to the docks
from where we board a transfer boat for the 80 kilometer (50 miles)
voyage down the Amazon River. In about 1½ hour we will arrive
at
Explorama Lodge. Check into your room and
explore the grounds. At the lodge you will get your first exposure to Amazonian forest birds as you search the camp grounds for the Black-fronted
Nun bird and the Thrush-like Wren. Near the stream where the "La Tahuampa" Bar is located you will likely see habituated Sun Bittern. Scarlet and Blue and Gold Macaws, some of which have been coming to the feeding station near the dining room for the Lodge's 40 year existence, will provide some spectacular shots as they fly screaming along the Yanamono and Yanacaño Streams which pass through the Lodge grounds.
PM -
After lunch you will hike along the "Lake
Trail" looking for Varzea (flood plain) specialists like the Silvered
Ant bird and Pale-legged Hornero.
EVE - Dinner and overnight at the Lodge.
(B, L, D.)
Day 3 -
Monday - EXPLORAMA
LODGE
AM -
Before sunrise we take an early morning walk on the Bushmaster Trail in terra firma forest where the highest diversity of tree species of any location in the world has been discovered. With luck, a mixed flock of birds feeding over an army ant column will be found. At times these flocks have over 40 species of birds. After breakfast, you will return to the Bushmaster to hopefully observe Golden-headed and Bearded Manakins on their display leks.
PM -
After lunch there will be an open
boat trip on the Amazon looking for river edge species like the
Black-collared Hawk, Capped Heron and three species of Kingfishers.
We will also search for both pink and gray freshwater river dolphins
commonly found where tributaries of the river meet.
EVE - Dinner and overnight at the Lodge.
(B, L, D.)
Day 4 -
Tuesday -
EXPLORAMA LODGE / EXPLORNAPO LODGE
AM -
After breakfast, you will board a boat for a 1½ hour trip on the Amazon and Napo Rivers (some 80
kilometers / 50 miles) to
ExplorNapo Lodge where we check in.
PM -
The trails in the 250,000-acre reserve
surrounding ExplorNapo are innumerable and offer an opportunity for bird-watching in almost every rainforest habitat. This is the best location in the world to see rarities like Nocturnal
Curassow and the Black-necked Red Cotinga.
EVE - This evening you will enjoy an
open boat ride in search of caiman and frogs while listening to the
night sounds and, if it is a clear night, viewing the overwhelming
number of stars of the Southern sky. Dinner and overnight at the
Lodge.
(B, L, D.)
Day 5 -
Wednesday
- EXPLORNAPO LODGE
AM -
Early morning birding. After
breakfast morning excursion in open boat and hiking to a black water oxbow lake formed when water from the Napo River became separated from the main flow of the river. These lakes are often covered with giant Victoria Regia water lilies and sometimes offer a glimpse of the elusive Hoatzin bird.
PM -
Afternoon boating excursion
along one of the Napo tributaries spotting for sloth, birding and
having a try at fishing for piranha.
EVE - Dinner and overnight at the Lodge.
(B, L, D.)
 Day 6 -
Thursday -
EXPLORNAPO LODGE / ACTS FIELD STATION / CANOPY WALKWAY
AM -
Early morning birding walk
followed by breakfast. Morning hike to Amazon Conservatory Field Station, and the Canopy Walkway, a suspended bridge spanning 500 meters (one-third of a mile), connected by tree platforms and reaching a height of over 35 meters (115 feet) above the ground. Here there is time to observe a part of the rainforest rarely seen by man.
PM -
Afternoon excursion along the
Medicinal and Useful Plants Trail where your guide will explain the
uses of many of the rainforest plants. In the late afternoon you
will be up at canopy level when the birds return to roost and to
watch the sunset from the treetops.
EVE -
After dark there is the
opportunity to rediscover the canopy dwellers at night. Dinner and
overnight at the Lodge.
(B, L, D.)
Day 7 -
Friday
- ACTS FIELD
STATION / CANOPY WALKWAY / CEIBA TOPS
AM -
Departure to the Canopy Walkway in time to welcome the day from high in the treetops, an unforgettable natural history experience, as mixed species flocks form and their morning chorus begins. Motmots,
Wood creepers, Ant birds, Flycatchers, Barbets, Toucans and even Red-Throated Caracara add to the cacophony. After breakfast you hike out to the Sucusari Stream and board the boat to
Ceiba Tops, some 120 kilometers / 75 miles
away. After a 2¼ hours boat trip we arrive at the Lodge where private air conditioned rooms and hot water showers gently ease your way back to civilization. At Ceiba Tops you may see a Great Potoo on the short walk between the boat dock and the main Ceiba Tops building.
PM - After lunch, you will visit
islands that were formed at different times by the meandering Amazon
River forming unique habitats where some species of birds spend
their entire lives. Returning to Ceiba Tops you will travel close to
the shore where both gray and pink dolphins are often seen, and,
with luck, there will be a colorful sunset on the Amazon River.
EVE - Dinner and overnight at the Lodge
(B, L, D.)
Day 8 -
Saturday -
CEIBA TOPS / IQUITOS
AM / PM -
Early morning bird-watching on a short walk to the huge Ceiba Tree for which the lodge is named. Many organisms spend their entire lives in this single rainforest giant. Depending on your departure flight from Iquitos, there may be time for an open boat ride on the channels of the Amazon in front of Ceiba Tops before lunch. Whatever your departure flight, a boat ride will return you to Iquitos
in 45 minutes (40 kilometers / 25 miles) and then by bus you'll be at the airport in time for your departure flight to Lima.
(B, - Lunch depending on departure flight)
END OF SERVICES
Additional nights at any of the Lodges are
available upon request |
