After a flight to Puerto Maldonado and a minibus ride to the river, I excitedly arrived at Tambopata Eco Lodge on a motorised canoe. Along the way there was some fascinating wildlife to see… I spotted monkeys hiding in the trees, stunning rainbow coloured macaws and curious looking capibarras licking the clay mud riverbank.
The lodge is all thatched cottages with mosquito nets for windows and candles instead of electricity. The hot shower and hammock on the balcony signified major luxury to me! The lodge has a pet piranha, it lives in a fish tank, that just cracked me up. There is also a very cheeky green parrot called Homero who struts around amusing the guests.
The next day we woke at dawn to board a boat to a beautiful lake where we fed the piranhas crackers… I jest not! [below photo is a piranha skull]
I had some great fun exploring the jungle, climbing trees, I even climbed up the inside of a giant tree and swung off a vine like Tarzan! This incredible day was followed by a night time boat trip to spot Cayman (croccies) they were so cute in a yellow eyed reptilian kind of way.
During my visit to the Amazon, the best animal I saw was a big hairy Tarantula.. they are actually very shy creatures and in order to see one, you have to coax them out of their hole. You get a leaf with a long stem, you wiggle it down the hole until the Tarantula runs out fighting the leaf. They soon scurry away so you have to be camera ready!