Introduction to today's journey
Today's journey takes us to Cuzco Airport, where we catch a plane eastward into the Peruvian Amazon, landing in the jungle town of Puerto Maldonado. From there a van takes us along a rough road deep into the jungle until we reach the Tambopata River. From there we catch a longboat upstream to a remote ecolodge deep in the jungle.
Today's Journey
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Catching a plane in Cusco to head eastward down out of the mountains into the Amazon Basin. Dangerous gangs in the jungle make travelling overland too dangerous, so we fly across. |
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Arriving at Puerto Maldonado airport in a clearing deep in the jungle. The humid air feels very thick after a week breathing very thin air at high altitude. |
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Heading through farmland on the outskirts of Puerto Maldonado towards the river. |
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Climbing into the longboats which will take us along the Tambopata River. This flows into the Rio Madre Die Dios about two kilometres downstream in the town. It flows into the Mamore River to become the Madeira River which eventually drains into the Amazon River a little downstream from Manaus. This relatively remote area of the Amazon makes the rainforests here amongst the best preserved in the world. |
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Following the river with the forest towering high on the bank which has been stripped away with flooding. |
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One of several capybara we see along the riverbank. These are the world's largest rodents. |
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Following the brown river upstream for a long time going deeper into the pristine jungle. |
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Eventually we land from where we follow a walkway through the dense jungle towards an ecolodge. |
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Once settled at the ecolodge, we hike through the jungle for a while before reaching a 35 metre high tower. We climb to the top of the tower to get a view of the river looking over the tree tops. In the opposite direction we can just make out the Andes towering high above the endless jungle as the sun sets. |
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From the tower we hike back to the ecolodge through the darkening forest before all the nocturnal creatures come out. |
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