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Tambopata Research Centre |
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Tambopata Research Center is composed of four interconnected, thatch-roofed buildings designed after traditional low-impact native architecture providing the creature comforts necessary for enhancing your wilderness experience without compromising authenticity. All buildings and interconnecting passageways are raised on four-foot stilts built from palm trunks or hardwoods. The main building is a 33 foot by 100 foot platform divided into 13 double rooms. |
Each bedroom is furnished with two beds draped in mosquito netting, a chair, a night table with a kerosene windlamp, and a table for luggage and clothing. Each room is also designed to have a permanent, unobstacled view of the forest surrounding the clearing in order to maximize wildlife observation time: the wall looking out into the forest is a waist-high verandah. To the left of the main building a 20 foot-long, roofed passageway connects to the bathrooms containing 4 flush toilets and 4 shower stalls, offering cold water only. To the right of the main building a 15 foot-long, roofed passageway connects to the dining and meeting room which in turn is connected to the kitchen. |
LOCATION ACCESS |
NATURAL HISTORY The macaw clay lick, is a huge, 50 meter tall cliff of reddish clay that extends for about 500 meters along the west bank of the Tambopata River. On most clear mornings of the year, and depending on the season, scores and sometimes even hundreds of parrots and macaws flock to the lick. Six species of macaws and nine species of parrots as well as guans, tapir, capybara, howler monkeys and pigeons come to the clay lick to obtain hard to find minerals that are only present in high concentrations on the lick’s soil. |
Macaw Nesting Sites Another high quality macaw display and photographic opportunity is found in the palm swamp, where Blue-and-gold and Red-bellied macaws form a nesting colony during breeding season (November to March). There, we have built a 20 meter scaffolding tower for eye-to-eye observation of the breeding couples. For the length of the breeding season, it is possible to climb to the tower, sit in an open platform and shoot photographs of nesting Blue-and-gold and Red-bellied macaw couples, all less then 20 yards away.
The forests around Tambopata Research Center offer excellent probabilities of seeing three to four of the following species of primates: Brown Capuchin, Squirrel, Dusky Titi, Red Howler Monkeys and Saddleback Tamarins. Although they are also present, Spider Monkeys are seen less frequently. Additionally, Tayra and Agouti are seen almost daily around the TRC clearing and large, endangered mammals such as Collared and White-lipped Peccary and Tapir are seen infrequently (Tapir is seen recurrently from the beach in front of the clay lick where one or more individuals cross the river along their trails about 50 yards to the south of the clay lick it is seen by about 1 in ten of our groups). |
High Bird Diversity The forests surrounding Tambopata Research Center are uncommon because within a half an hour’s easy walk from the Tambopata Research Center we have well-studied samples of 3 types of terraced floodplain forest, terra firme forest, bamboo forest, palm swamps, and the TRC clearing, which in terms of bird diversity translates into a list of 480+ bird species for the 25 km of trails around TRC alone. Other than macaws, the larger birds easily found include Pale Rumped Trumpeteer, Spix´s and Common Piping Guan, Razor-billed Currasow, and Yellow-ridged and Cuviers Toucans. |
The colorful, spectacular ones that are commonly seen include the Blue-crowned Motmot, six species of trogons, the Bluish-fronted Jacamar, the Scarlet-hooded Barbet, the Band-tailed Manakin and numerous tanagers. Finally some endemics to Madre de Dios or Tambopata are also abundant around TRC, among them: White-lined Antbird, Manu Antbird, White-cheeked Tody Tyrant,and the Rufous-fronted Antthrush. |
Wildlife in Lodge Clearing The TRC clearing is almost as good as our
trail system for encounters with the tamer, least shy mammals. It is used
as foraging grounds by agouti, tayra, nocturnal pacarana, and ocelot,
while the forest directly in front of the lodge is used by brown capuchin,
squirrel and Red-howler monkeys. |
Interaction With Researchers In addition to our staff of young Peruvian
biologist guides who conduct on-site research, experienced professional
Peruvian and foreign researchers conduct their studies at TRC, sharing
meals and quiet time with visitors. |
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The
Tambopata Research Center is a spartan yet comfortable 13 bedroom lodge
built by Rainforest Expeditions with the object of lodging tourists and
researchers alike and of protecting the adjacent macaw clay lick. Because
of its remote location in a Connecticut-sized tract of uninhabited wilderness
housing stable populations of endangered wildlife, the small scale of
its infrastructure and operations and the presence of researchers and
naturalist guides, Tambopata Research Center is an excellent headquarters
for in depth explorations of Amazonian nature and wildlife. 
INFRASTUCTURE
AND FACILITIES 
