Photo essay: Two days in the Peruvian Amazon Basin

Mud, tamarind monkeys, turtles, capybara, long-nosed bats, all kinds of birds, a snake, army ants, leaf-cutter ants, butterflies, squirrels, black caiman, and a tour guide named Elvis.

That’s the quickest way to sum up the two days we spent hiking the Tambopata-Candamo National Reserve, in the Peruvian Amazon Basin.

Staying at the Libertador Tambopata Eco-Lodge, we were limited by the programs they offered to visitors, but these didn’t disappoint. My only regret was that we didn’t spend more time there.

Each day’s hiking took us to a different ox-bow lake and, as I’ve mentioned, gave us a brilliant overview of the area’s flora and fauna. Our guide, Elvis, was a very entertaining local character with an infectious laugh. He knew everything about the area and was excited to share his knowledge.

Aside from the two day-hikes, we were also treated to a night walk to spotlight for nocturnal wildlife. Had we stayed an extra day or two, we could have gone swimming in the caiman-infested waters near the lodge (for some reason this idea excites me), and explored a whole lot more hiking trails un-guided.

Note: This is the combination of two posts from back in 2009, republished as a photo essay. Information in the aforementioned posts was mostly out of date, poorly written, and pretty much useless. I decided I’d like to keep the photos, since they were probably the highlight. I hope you enjoy.

Each of the two day hikes during our stay was reached via an early-morning boat ride on the Tambopata River.

Leaf-cutter ants were everywhere in the jungle. They’re fascinating creatures to watch.

Some of the trees in The Amazon have trunks covered in massive spikes. Being the super-coordinated person that I am, it was no time before I had a very close encounter with one of them.

Fortunately this was as close as we came to any snakes during our jungle adventure. Unfortunately, this was the best photo I could get (and I didn’t catch what type of snake it was).

Our first day’s hike took us to Lake Condenado, where the guide took us out on a very well-used banana boat (which he is emptying of water in this picture). We floated around, soaking up the jungle atmosphere and hearing about the different wildlife around the ox-bow lake.

Long-nosed bats camouflage themselves on a log at Lake Condenado.

The jungle floor is home to some interesting funghi.

We were made to wear gumboots for both of our hikes. This was extremely uncomfortable but, as you can see, it was necessary.

We encountered a lot of army ants during our hikes, which didn’t go down very well with some of the less brave members of our tour-group.

We came across some amazing and very different flora during our visit. However, some of it actually looked very familiar. Our guide said this is a relative of the bird of paradise flower.

A stink bird (they do have another name but, funnily enough, this was the name that stuck in my mind) at Lake Sachavacayok.

The butterflies in The Amazon were amazing. I’ve never seen so many different colours, shapes, and patterns.

A capybara on the banks of the Tambopata River. This is one of my favourite animals from the jungle trip.

Have you visited the Peruvian Amazon Basin? If you have any stories, updates or corrections, please let us know by commenting below.

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