Machu Picchu & Tambopata Reserve 12 Days

Birds of Peru Tours has designed a NEW birding tour for 12 full days from Machu Picchu to the Amazon basin. Machu Picchu for the impressive Inca city plus endemics species, and Tambopata for Amazonian specialists and the biggest Macaw clay lick in the world. The birds are genuinely breathtaking. We should encounter more than 400 species, including some of the fanciest and most sought-after in the Neotropics.

The ruins at Machu Picchu tower above the rushing waters of the Rio Urubamba snaking its way fifteen-hundred feet below. By staying one night at 6500 feet, on the outskirts of Aguas Calientes we will be able to experience the site both culturally and for its great birding. Although the ruins alone are worth the visit, the subtropical slopes and the narrow gorge below are surprisingly good for birds.

Southeastern Peru has long been acknowledged as the most species-rich birding region on Earth. This tour combines three classic reserves on the Rio Tambopata. Tambopata Research Center (TRC), Posada Amazonas (APA), and Refugio Amazonas (ARA). These complementary sites include trails through rainforest rich in monkeys and terra firme birds; the spectacular Tambopata Ccollpa de Guacamayos, (macaw clay lick); a canopy tower in Eseʼeja Indian territory from which we have seen both Crested and Harpy eagles; a wonderful hoatzin filled oxbow lake (cocha) complete with Giant Otters and reached by a trail through rich bamboo stands; and a board walk through a palm swamp with Point-tailed Palmcreepers.

Together with our experienced guide, these areas will produce an astonishing variety of lowland Neotropical birds and mammals. One of the biggest draws for birders to southeastern Peru is a mysterious and spectacular phenomenon that is generally considered one of the most dazzling wildlife spectacles in the world. The Ccollpa de Guacamayos, as it is called locally, is a clay bank along the Rio Tambopata about eight hours by boat upriver from Puerto Maldonado.

Here, almost daily and depending on the season of the year, dozens of big macaws and hundreds of other colorful parrots gather to a vertical, 130-foot riverbank carved out of the foothills to consume a beak full or two of mineral-rich clay, a vital but mysterious part of their diet, now thought to protect them against toxic chemicals ingested in various fruits they eat. The phenomenon was richly documented by Charlie Munn in the January 1994 issue of National Geographic. The Tambopata Research Center, immediatelydownstream from the ccollpa, was founded to study the macaws and their fascinating behavior and now makes it possible for tourists to experience this incredible spectacle firsthand. The Tambopata ccollpa is reputed to be the largest known clay lick in South America.