Tour
On this journey to the Heath River and Lake Sandoval, we encounter the best pristine rainforest and the most comfortable wilderness lodges that the upper Amazon Basin has to offer – an unbeatable combination of remoteness, and yet reachable distance by river from an airport with daily scheduled passenger flights.
The Tambopata-Madidi Reserve
Our two lodges lie within the Tambopata-Madidi reserve areas of Peru and Bolivia. Bolivia’s Madidi National Park totals 18,900 sq. km./7,297 sq. miles, while the adjacent reserves of Tambopata-Candamo and Bahuaja-Sonene across the border in Peru add up to more than 13,700 sq. km./5,290 sq. miles. Taken together, they form the second largest, and by far the most biologically diverse nature conservation area in all of South America.
At the Heath River Wildlife Center we witness one of nature’s most spectacular displays -- a tumultuous gathering of brightly-colored macaws and parrots at the nearby Heath River macaw claylick.
The lodge offers an array of options too numerous and varied to be taken on one visit. We may spot wildlife along the lightly-used trails of this remote forest, and perhaps stake out one of the lodge’s mammal clay licks, in hopes of sighting an elusive tapir, the Amazon’s largest mammal. We can visit the abundant birds and monkeys of a secluded oxbow lake, travel upriver and float stealthily downstream with the engine off, and walk or bicycle through the astonishing change of environments to be experienced on the short journey from the river to the Pampas del Heath – an excursion that also takes in a rare nesting site of the Red-bellied and Blue-and-yellow Macaws. We may also pay a visit to the village of Sonene, one of the surviving communities of the Ese’Eja indigenous people.
Lake Sandoval
At Lake Sandoval we enjoy a more relaxing experience, with some light trail walking a lot of easy boating around the forested fringes of this extraordinarily beautiful and wildlife-rich lake. Sandoval is a large body of water that is home to a family of Giant Otters, and we should spot them during our stay, along with numerous troupes of monkeys and a huge variety of colorful birds.
