Tambopata Research Center is a spartan yet comfortable 13 bedroom lodge built with the object of lodging tourists and researchers alike and of protecting the adjacent macaw clay lick. Because of its remote location in a Connecticut-sized tract of uninhabited wilderness housing stable populations of endangered wildlife, the small scale of its infrastructure and operations and the presence of researchers and naturalist guides, Tambopata Research Center is an excellent headquarters for in depth explorations of Amazonian nature and wildlife.

Tambopata Research Center is composed of 4 interconnected, thatch-roofed buildings designed after traditional low-impact native architecture providing the creature comforts necessary for enhancing our wilderness experience without compromising authenticity. All buildings and interconnecting passageways are raised on 4 ft. stilts built from palm trunks or hardwoods. The main building is a 33 ft. by 100 ft. platform divided into 13 double rooms.

Each bedroom is furnished with 2 beds draped in mosquito netting, a chair, a night table with a kerosene wind lamp, and a table for luggage and clothing. Each room is also designed to have a permanent, unobstacled view of the forest surrounding the clearing in order to maximize wildlife observation time; the wall looking out into the forest is a waist-high verandah. To the left of the main building a 20 ft. long, roofed passageway connects to the bathrooms containing 4 flush toilets and 4 shower stalls, offering cold water only.

To the right of the main building a 15 ft. long, roofed passageway connects to the dining and meeting room which in turn is connected to the kitchen.

We can provide to the visitors incredible natural history experiences on the macaw clay lick, which is a huge, 50 m. tall cliff of reddish clay that extends for about 500 m. along the west bank of the Tambopata River, and on most clear mornings of the year, and depending on the season, scores and sometimes even hundreds of parrots and macaws flock to the lick. Six species of macaws and nine species of parrots as well as guans, tapir, capybara, howler monkeys and pigeons come to the clay lick to obtain hard to find minerals that are only present in high concentrations on the lick’s soil. Another high quality macaw display and photographic opportunity is found in the palm swamp, where Blue-and-gold and Red-bellied macaws form a nesting colony during breeding season (November to March). There, we have built a 20 m. scaffolding tower for eye-to-eye observation of the breeding couples. For the length of the breeding season, it is possible to climb to the tower, sit in an open platform and shoot photographs of nesting Blue-and-gold and Red-bellied macaw couples, all less then 20 yards away.

Also the forests around Tambopata Research Center offer excellent probabilities of seeing 3 to 4 of the following species of primates; Brown Capuchin, Squirrel, Dusky Titi, Red Howler Monkeys and Saddleback Tamarins. Although they are also present, Spider Monkeys are seen less frequently. Additionally, Tayra and Agouti are seen almost daily around the Tambopata Research Center clearing and large, endangered mammals such as Collared and White-lipped Peccary and Tapir are seen infrequently (Tapir is seen recurrently from the beach in front of the clay lick where one or more individuals cross the river along their trails about 50 yards to the south of the clay lick it is seen by about 1 in 10 of our groups).