Sandoval Lake Lodge

With its lakeside location, no other lodge in the Tambopata region offers such accessibility to Giant Otters. Sandoval Lake Lodge, is the only full-service lodge located in the wildlife-rich Tambopata National Reserve. With the variety of lake and forest fauna. Situated on a bluff overlooking Sandoval Lake, this 25-room lodge was built to protect the Giant Otters and other endangered wildlife that inhabit the lake and surrounding forest.

Sandoval Lake is an “oxbow lake” formed generations ago by the shifting waters of the Madre de Dios River, and is considered by rainforest specialists as the best and most attractive lake in the Peruvian rainforest. This particular oxbow lake has one of the largest, and most accessible, populations of endangered Giant Otters in Peru, enormous Black Caiman and 10-foot-long Paiche, the largest scaled freshwater fish in the world. Once widespread throughout South America, the Giant Otter was hunted nearly to extinction and is now one of the most vulnerable mammals on the continent. Yet Sandoval Lake has a thriving and healthy population, and from the comfort and stability of catamarans, guests have the opportunity to see these powerful predators as they fish and frolic in the lake, as well as a host of colorful birdlife.

Sandoval Lake Lodge’s location gives instant access to lake wildlife during the cool hours of golden light after dawn and before dusk. No other lodge in the region has such a privileged location, nor offers such unique access at all times of day to wildlife viewing on an Amazonian lake.

Drift through a flooded forest of 100-foot-tall Mauritia palms, as large groups of Red-bellied Macaws swirl overhead in a cacophony of sound. Watch playful Brown Capuchin and Titi monkeys as they forage through the palms along the edge of the lake, and groups of 50 or more Squirrel Monkeys as they chatter and leap through the trees above. And after the sun sets, experience the nocturnal life of the lake beneath a star-filled sky as the Black Caiman emerge to hunt on the lake.

In addition to the thrilling biodiversity on Sandoval Lake, no visit to the Lodge is complete without a guided hike on the 15 miles of rainforest trails. Expert naturalist guides bring the rainforest to life with vivid explanations of the ecology and natural history of the area as the trails are explored in search of the six species of monkeys and hundreds of species of birds that fill the forest. Our lodge specializes in small groups and individualized attention in our overriding quest to conserve the lake and surrounding rainforest.

A visit to Sandoval Lake Lodge can be combined with a trip to the Heath River Wildlife Center and macaw clay lick for some of the best value wildlife-viewing and authentic rainforest adventure in the Amazon.