Tambopata Ecolodge & Wildlife Tours

Explorer’s Inn is a fantastic place from which to dive into pristine rainforest at the National Reserve of Tambopata, right in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon Basin. The Inn is more than just a tourism destination as it is also a centre for scientific research, and the methods and learning from that research form part of every excursion that runs from the lodge.

Explorer’s Inn was a pioneer in ecotourism in the Peruvian Amazon. It started life in 1975 as a company called “Peruvian Safaris”, specialising in Jaguar tours. Soon after that the founder,  American/Peruvian veterinarian Dr Max Ghunter, decided that conservation was important for for this unique neotropical rainforest and so he developed the “Naturalist Residents” program that brought to Explorer’s Inn several enthusiastic students and professional researchers. They developed several projects based on different aspects of this internationally recognised biodiversity hotspot:  carbon emissions measurements, forest dynamics and river basin management, among others. Because of the presence of naturalist researchers, Explorer’s Inn can offer its visitors a unique experience of what is going into the study of the rainforest.

For its birding and wildlife-watching guests, Explorer’s Inn offers a number of top attractions. There are waterbirds, waders and aquatic mammals and reptiles to see at Cocococha Lake,  Small Lagoon and Tres Chimbadas Lake. Huge flocks of macaws, parakeets and other parrots visit the nearby clay lick where there’s also a chance of a passing Jaguar or Puma. And there is a 46m-high Canopy Tower that offers impressive views of the Amazon rainforest and close encounters with the birds of the canopy and tree-dwellers such as Red Howler Monkeys.

Explorer’s Inn also has an extensive network of trails, totalling some 24km, which gives every traveller a very personal and off-the-beaten-track experience of Amazonia.