From Tambopata to Machu Picchu – 12 Days / 11 Nights

Tour Description:

• 12 days that includes: Rainforest in Puerto Maldonado, Cusco, The Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu
• Experience the perfect place to spot to numerous parrots, monkeys and capybara.
• See the Sunrise in Machu Picchu
• This program can depart daily and we design the itinerary to fit around our passengers requirements.

Places that are visited:

Day 1                Arrive in Lima, Peru

Day 2               Lima –  Puerto Maldonado, Tambopata Refugio Amazonas

Day 3               Refugio Amazonas

Day 4               Tambopata National Reserve

Day 5               Transfer out – Flight Puerto Maldonado – Cusco

Day 6               Cusco City tour

Day 7               Sacred Valley

Day 8               Ollantaytambo – Aguas Calientes

Day 9               Machu Picchu – Aguas Calientes –  Ollantaytambo

Day 10             Ollantaytambo – Maras Moray Salt Mines

Day 11              Cusco – Lima

Day 12              Lima – Home

Tour Itinerary

Day 1: Arrival in Lima

Welcome to Lima – Peru. At your arrival you will be met by our representative and transferred to your hotel close to the airport. You can also request a hotel in Miraflores.

Day 2: Lima – Puerto Maldonado

We transfer you to the airport.  On arrival you will be welcomed at the airport and driven ten minutes to our Puerto Maldonado headquarters. While enjoying your first taste of the forest in our gardens we will ask you to pack only the necessary gear for your next few days, and leave the rest at our safe deposit. This helps us keep the boats and cargo light.

Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 20 kilometers to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno. The port is a communal business. A box lunch is included enroute.

Tambopata River Port to Refugio Amazonas: The 2.5hr boat ride from the Tambopata Port to Refugio Amazonas will take us into the Community´s Primary Forest Private Reserve. Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips.

Caiman searches. We will be out at the river’s edge at night, scanning the shores with headlamps and flashlights to catch the red gleams of reflection from caiman eyes.

Day 3: Puerto Maldonado

Sachavacayoc Oxbow Lake: A two hour hike takes you to Sachavacayoc Lake. You will then paddle around the lake in a catamaran, searching for the resident family of five giant river otters (seen by about 30% of lake visitors) and other lakeside wildlife such as caiman, hoatzin and horned screamers. We hike out at dawn ‐ when otters are active. Don’t

forget the two hour return hike! For those who do not want to take the long hike Condenado Lake, thirty minutes from the lodge, is an option.

Farm Visit and Ethnobotanical Garden: Five minutes downriver from the lodge lies a farm owned and managed by charismatic Don Manuel from the neighbouring community of Condenado. He grows a variety of popular and unknown Amazon crops ‐ just about every plant and tree you see serves a purpose. He has also identified and cultivated many of the medicinal plants used in the region in a little backyard garden.

Brazil nut trail and camp: A few minutes hike from the lodge is a beautiful old growth patch of Brazil Nut forest that has been harvested for decades (if not centuries) where the precarious remains of a camp used two months a year by Brazil Nut gatherers can still be experienced. We will be demonstrating the whole process of the rain forest’s only sustainably harvested product from collection through transportation to drying.

Night walk: You will have the option of hiking out at night, when most of the mammals are active. Much easier to find are frogs with shapes and sounds as bizarre as their natural histories.

Day 4: Puerto Maldonado

Parakeet clay lick: A fifteen minute boat ride and sixty minute walk from Refugio Amazonas is a parakeet clay lick. From a blind you will see parakeets descend on most clear days to ingest the clay on a bank. Species such as Dusky headed and Cobalt winged Parakeet descend at this clay lick. We visit the lick at dawn, when parrots are most active or in midmorning or early afternoon, when they are active.

Mammal clay lick: Twenty minutes walking from Refugio Amazonas is a peccary clay lick. These wild rain forest pigs show up in herds of five to twenty individuals to eat clay in the late morning. Chances of spotting them are around 15%, but well worth the short hike. Other wildlife also shows up including deer, guan and parakeets.

Canopy tower: A thirty minute walk from Refugio Amazonas leads to the 25 meter scaffolding canopy tower. A bannistered staircase running through the middle provides safe access to the platforms above. The tower has been built upon high ground, therefore increasing your horizon of the continuous primary forest extending out towards the Tambopata National Reserve. From here views of mixed species canopy flocks as well as toucans, macaws and raptors are likely.

Tambopata National Reserve Lecture. Nightly lectures prepared by the staff of Refugio Amazonas cover conservation threats, opportunities and projects in the Tambopata National Reserve.

Day 5: Puerto Maldonado

Today we return to main Port and transfer to the airport for your flight to Cusco. On arrival you will be met by and transferred to your hotel. Afternoon at leisure.

Day 6: Cusco City tour

In the morning you will be collected from your hotel and taken on a Private City Tour of Cusco.  You will visit the most important sites: The Cathedral, Koricancha “Temple of the Sun”, Tambomachay “Temple of the Water”, Qenqo and Sacsayhuaman.  The tour lasts around 4 hours and ends in the Plaza de Armas.

Day 7: Sacred Valley, Ollantaytambo

Today our Guide & Driver will meet you at your hotel and take you on the Private Tour of the Sacred Valley.  We will stop at the cultural village of Awanacancha where you can see a variety of camelids (llamas, alpacas, vicunas) and ladies doing fine traditional weavings.  After this we make our way to the town of Pisac where we visit Pisac Market & Ruins.  We will walk in the area of the ruins for around 1 hour.  From here we make our way back to Urubamba where we take lunch in a traditional restaurant (not included in the price).

Our final place to visit is the pretty Andean town of Ollantaytambo.  We will hear all about the amazing history of this village and explore some of its pretty lanes.  Overnight in Ollantaytambo.

Day 8: Ollantaytambo – Aguas Calientes

It is a quick walk to the train station at Ollantaytambo where you can take the train to Aguas Calientes.

On arrival you will be met by our representative and taken to your hotel. Rest of the day at leisure. In the evening you will meet your resident Guide to coordinate about the next day activities.

Day 9: Machu Picchu – Aguas Calientes –  Ollantaytambo

Today we take the first bus to catch the Sunrise in Machu Picchu. You will enjoy almost 2 hour guided tour of the important sites of Machu Picchu. Afterwards you have leisure time to explore on your own.

We take the afternoon train back to Ollantaytambo where you overnight. It is a quick walk to the Hotel.

Day 10: Maras-Moray-Salineras-Chincheros – Cusco

Your guide will meet you at the hotel this morning and we continue further exploring the Sacred Valley.  We start making our way back to Cusco and will stop enroute at the little town of Maras which is the gateway to the Inca circular terraces of Moray commonly referred to as the “Inca Greenhouse” due to the fact that it is believed these terraces were used to experiment with growing crops at various levels of altitude.  From here we visit the ancient saltworks of Salineras where salt is still being farmed using the age-old techniques.

From here we make our way to the market town of Chincheros where we will visit the market and the pretty colonnial church in this town.  We then continue back to Cusco and leave you in your hotel in the early afternoon.

Day 11: Cusco – Lima

Today we transfer you to the airport to catch your flight to Lima. On arrival you will be met by our representative and transferred to your hotel in Miraflores. Free Afternoon in Lima

Day 12: Lima – Home

Today we transfer you to the airport to take your International flight back home. (Lima City tour optional for those who have late flights departure at night) End of our services.

Custom Made

Andean Roots offers programs tailored to fit its passengers’ interests. Tell us what you would like to include or exclude to this program, and we will design an exclusive itinerary for you.

Tour Price

When we draw up a quotation for this package, we need to know from our clients:

• The amount of persons traveling?
• If you would like budget, moderate or luxury hotels?
• If you would prefer group services or private services throughout or a mixture?  This mainly pertains to the Cusco City tour and the Sacred Valley tour which could be group or private. For Machupicchu we only offer a private service as this gives the most benefit to our clients.

The information above will help us building a Customized Itinerary for you. info@andeanrootsperu.com