Eco Amazonia Lodge

Sunday, June 19, 2011
Puerto Maldonado, Peru
On Friday, we had a very early flight from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado, from where we would travel to the Eco Amazonia Lodge for a trip to the Amazon rainforest. We had to get up really early for our flight which was then delayed due to fog at Puerto Maldonado, and when we actually got there, we had to wait ages for a boat transfer to the Lodge. This was the sort of town best seen when passing through, not the place you want to spend any time. When the boat actually came, it was then 1.5-2 hours to the Lodge along the Madre de Dios River. Unlike my other two trips to the Amazon, there wasn't a whole lot to see in terms of wildlife along the river bank and it was a struggle to stay awake.

Eco Amazonia Lodge is a mass-market Amazon experience. There must have been over 100 people staying there when we arrived, including groups of schoolchildren. Numerous bungalows were arranged in Auschwitz-style blocks, rooms were sealed by meshed netting to keep out mosquitoes, they had basic en-suite bathrooms (although naturally no hot water), electricity was available in the evenings. There was a huge dining hall, with rows of tables arranged school-style and a small bar, pool table and dartboard. There was also a swimming pool to keep the punters amused and hammocks overlooking the river. In the evening, the lodge and walkways were lit by oil lamps.

Looking at Eco Amazonia's website, it appeared that we were on the 3 day "Eco Magic" tour at US$240. However, to call it a 3 day tour was one one the most blatant pieces of mis-advertising I had ever seen. On day 1, we had an activity after lunch and a short boat ride in the evening; on day 2, we had an activity in the morning and a short boat ride in the afternoon; day 3 was spent solely returning to Puerto Maldonado. In total, about 1.5 days of activities at the most. If I'd booked the tour myself, I'd have been mightily pissed off, both due to the length compared to that advertised, and due to the fact we were in such large groups - even as a Tucan group, we were often lumped together with other random people.

Anyway, these are the activities we did do during our stay:

- After lunch on Day 1, we paid a visit to so-called "Monkey Island". This was an island on the river onto which had been placed orphaned and rescued monkeys. There were four types - Saddle-backed Tamarins, Spider Monkeys, Black Capuchins and White-faced Capuchins. These monkeys were all habituated to accepting food from the guides so it provided an "easy" opportunity of close-up encounters. None of the excitement of my previous Amazon trips here of trekking through the jungle, looking for movement in the branches and listening for their calls, and then finally catching glimpses of shy and elusive monkeys. Here, just a bag of banana segments and the monkeys would immediately appear, they'd even follow us desperate for more food. Now, if they could get the monkeys to like the taste of McDonalds, then the humans and monkeys could be fed together, killing two birds with one stone.

- In the evening, we went out for a short boat ride to spot Black Caiman along the river banks. There were quite a few, either poking their heads out of the water, or slipping silently into the water as the boat approached. It was next to possible to get any decent pictures. As padding, the boat motor was turned off and our guide asked us to listen to the sound of the jungle for what seemed like ages. However, we were more likely to hear the sound of snoring as everyone struggled to stay awake.

- The next morning, we had a combination of walks through the jungle and boat rides. We saw a few birds, some Howler Monkeys, more Black Caiman and our guide pointed out the uses of different plants and trees in the jungle. He also managed to entice a large tarantula out of a hole in ground which was pretty cool. There were also vines hanging from trees to keep those not interested in wildlife amused as they could swing tarzan-style from them. Maybe in the future, a waterslide or rollercoaster could be installed. With any large group, particularly if it included those not particularly interested in birds (which were the main form of wildlife), there was too much noise being made and most wildlife must have had a 10 minute warning of our impending approach. However, one of our group, Dan, had the right idea and his solo wandering was rewarded with a sighting of two rare giant river otters. I was mightily jealous!

- In the afternoon, we had a boat ride along the river bank and saw a few more Black Caiman and Howler Monkeys. There were only a handful of us who did the trip - the others had been put off by a light shower at lunchtime or were more interested in the swimming pool.

On Sunday, we returned by boat to Puerto Maldonado, and then by plane back to Cusco. So that was my Tucan trip to the Amazon rainforest. In summary, the lodge facilities were pretty good, and the food was reasonable - either self-service buffet (which most people preferred) or a set-meal served up. The guides tended to be good, but must get incredibly frustrated, both at the noise made by the groups of people they were in charge of and the lack of interest some people apparently had. I don't think I could have done their job. We saw some interesting wildlife, but I'm so glad I did my previous two trips as they provided me (in my opinion) with a much more personal and rewarding glimpse of the Amazon rainforest than this trip did.

Links:
http://www.eco-amazonia.com/index.html
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