Mejia Lodge Tambopata National Reserve

I almost trod on a rainbow boa the other day. I had been collecting leaves fon a plot of rainforest near Cocococha lake for a researcher and was on a mission to get back to the lodge for lunch. You think it would be easy to notice a 1.5m long orange and black snake laying across the trail but I came very close to stepping on it, noticing it and coming to an abrupt stop as my foot hovered in the air above it. Perhaps I need to work on my powers of observation. Anyway it laid ...

It is hard to believe I have been living in the rainforest for a month already. The time has gone so fast. Something always seems to be going on. There are new creatures to see, more mud to wade in...more things to bite me. At the moment I have chiggers. These little mites live in the grass around the lodge, climb up your legs and particularly like to bite you anywhere your clothes press into your body, like the elastic of your knickers and bra. Delightful. Then of course there are the ...

So a flight from Lima took me to Puerto Maldonaldo, the nearest town to the Tambopata National Park. I was met by a friendly guide from the Explorers Inn lodge where I would be staying and he accompanied me on the 3 hour down river boat trip to the lodge. The lodge is basic, I share a room with Ellie, the assistant manager there and we have no electricity in the room and only cold water showers. There is some electricity in the dining room supplied by solar power so the guests dont ...

... sitting there. We were supposed to board at 8.30 and there were only 14 people there. Then I looked up and all the people for my flight were just arriving, so much for 2 hours ahead. The flight was less than 1/2 full so I got a window seat and for the first half of the flight could dee the amazing Andes and snow capped volcanoes. The second half was just clouds. The airport at Puerto Maldonado is dinky as. Like Penang in the early 70s for those who remember. It meant for a quick ...

... we headed into the trails around the lodge. If you hate insects or any kind of crawling creatures, this is not your hike. I feel like The Crocodile Hunter. We shine our little light and camera up close on the creature -spiders, snakes, ants, moths.

... us Mosquito nets surround each bed in the room so we felt quite protected and comfortable at night. It is really lovely. Despite the missing bedroom wall (or maybe because of it), it is without a doubt, the nicest hotel we've ever stayed in. The lodge is a 10 minute walk up from the river, and by the time we arrived we felt like we were in the middle of the jungle. The sounds of the cicadas shrieking, the monkeys howling and the birds ...

... as there are some sounds which you would swear came from an 8-bit video game. Off to the lost lake. This was a 5 km walk out to the lake and a 4 km canoe ride back, with a 25m high look out in the middle. We were fortunate to see a pack of wild boars (15 or so, this is quite a rare occurrence), which seemed quite ****** to see us, some turtles, many birds, but no caiman or anacondas. A very good second ...

... headed off for our first activity - a trip to the 120 feet high canopy tower the Lodge owned. From the top we were above the tree line, giving us amazing views of the jungle as far as the eye could see. Borrowing Tilmanīs binoculars we also started to spot our first bits of jungle wildlife - a few parrots and, more impressively, a pair of blue and yellow maccaws (the BIG parrot-like birds people often see at bird shows in zoes etc). Following this we headed off to a ...

... snacks and an assortment of tea and coffee available at all times. Our first activity of the stay was cayman spotting. (Think crocodiles, but smaller.) We went out on the Tambopata River in a boat, using a spotlight to find the cayman. They are given away by the reflection from their eyes. It also has the added benefit of blinding the cayman, which (usually) gave us a little more time to observe them up close and personal. We probably spotted ...

3 days + 2 nights on a wonderful jungle trip. Booked through Inotawa Expeditions.











Went on several jungle walks (day and night!) and boat trips.






Saw all kinds of animals: lots of macaws at the clay lick early ...