Introduction

Sandoval Lake Lodge is located on the high bluffs overlooking Sandoval Lake, within the protected Tambopata-Candamo Reserve of southeastern Peru. Internationally famous as the site of the world's greatest lowland concentrations of birds and butterflies, Tambopata offers an exciting and unique Amazon experience. The Giant Otter , or "river wolf", hunt for fish in Sandoval Lake for an exciting display of one of the world's rarest and most endangered mammal species. Blue-and-Gold and Red-bellied Macaws inhabit the flooded palm forest on the west end of Sandoval Lake. Brown Capuchin, Bolivian Squirrel, Red Howler, Saddle-backed Tamarin, and Night monkeys live in the forests surrounding the lake.

The lodge has 25 double-occupancy rooms with private baths and hot water showers, spacious dining room, community area with hammocks, and a fully stocked bar. All rooms and communal areas are equipped with ceiling fans. A professional staff and safe, quality accommodations await your visit to Sandoval Lake Lodge.

For a more relaxed, complete introduction to the rainforest, we recommend a two nights stay. However, with the easy of access from Puerto Maldonado, for the first time it is possible to spend only one night in the rainforest and still get a good preliminary idea of the splendor of the Peruvian Amazon.

Daily departures to the only lodge overlooking the most beautiful and wildlife-packed oxbow lake in the amazon rainforest of southern Peru. Jungle explorations and lake visits in stable catamaran included.

Program (sample itinerary for 3D/2N)

Day One
Transfer from Puerto Maldonado airport to the river port on the Madre de Dios River. A 25 minute journey down the Madre de Dios River by motor canoe brings you to the end of the trail in to Sandoval Lake Lodge. From here the trail takes you on a 2-mile walk/or rickshaw ride through secondary forest, until we reach a small canal where we board canoes and are paddled 220 yards through a flooded forest of 100-foot tall Mauritia palms. As the canal opens onto the shimmering surface of the Lake, we transfer to a catamaran and are leisurely paddled across half the lake to the lodge. After lunch and a brief rest to avoid the early afternoon heat, we once again board the catamaran and set off to explore the entire west end of the lake. Here, in the flooded palm forest we drift to the sounds of hundreds of Red-Bellied Macaws as they return to the palm forest for the night. We return to the lodge around nightfall for dinner. After dinner we will return to the canoes to look for the large and extremely rare Black Caimans. If it is a clear starlight night, we will also be able to float in the middle of the lake and marvel at the brilliance of the sky.

Day Two
A pre-dawn wake-up call will enable us to be on the lake for sunrise and a hopeful encounter with the family of Giant Otters which frequent the lake and are most active at this time of day. Most of the fish-eating water birds around the lake actively fish in the early morning as well, and this outing should provide excellent looks, and photographs, of the prehistoric- looking Hoatzins. After returning for a late breakfast we set off into the cool understorey of the tall virgin forest near the lake to see some towering wild Brazil Nut trees and a demonstration of how our hosts collect, open and commercialize this important natural product. After lunch and an hour or so to relax we once again board the catamaran to explore the eastern part of the lake, where we might see one or more of the five species of monkeys which live in the forest near the lake, such as the Brown Capuchin Monkey. There is a final chance after dinner to try and spot some Black Caimans on the lake, or to go on a short night walk through the primary forest.

Day Three: After a dawn breakfast we take a final, shorter paddle around the west ends of the lake to try and glimpse the Giant Otters before returning to Puerto Maldonado to catch the flight to Cusco or Lima.

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Rates 2006

Program	Price Per Person
	High Season Apr 15-Nov 30	Low Season Dec 1-Apr 14	Single Room Supplement
2 Days / 1 Night	$150	$135	$30
3 Days / 2 Nights	$215	$190	$60
4 Days / 3 Nights	$295	$260	$90

Prices are per person in USD in double accommodation with private baths.

Prices include: Roundtrip transportation from Puerto Maldonado airport to Sandoval Lake Lodge; Private rooms with private bathrooms; All meals and snacks; Purified drinking water and juices; Bilingual naturalist guide; All rainforest and lake excursions; Tambopata National Reserve entrance fee

Ask about our special MACAW CLAY LICK program. (04d/03n) one night at Sandoval Lake Lodge, one night camp with Macaw Clay lick excursion and one night at Sandoval Lake Lodge.

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