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Heath
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Heath
River |
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Accommodations: 6 private bungalows include: Spacious, well-appointed rooms Private bathrooms with hot water showers and flush toilets Screened windows and mosquito nets Meals are served
in a separate thatched-roof dining room. The lodge cook prepares wholesome dishes using
fresh fruits, vegetables, meat and fish. |
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About Heath River Wildlife Center - in their own words:
The Heath River Wildlife Center lies at the hub of one of
the largest trans-national tropical reserve areas in South America.
The Heath River Wildlife Center, opened in 2002, is a community-based ecotourism project
owned by the Ese'Eja Sonene Indian Community. Community members staff the lodge and work
as guides accompanied by bilingual naturalist guides.
The Center is located on the west bank of the secluded Heath River. Peru's Bahuaje-Sonene
National Park occupies the lands to the west, and to the south lies Bolivia's Madidi
National Park.
Trips to the Heath River Wildlife Center are combined with a stay at Sandoval Lake Lodge,
giving some of the best value in wildlife viewing and authentic rainforest adventure in
the Amazon.
How to Get There:
From Puerto Maldonado, it is a 5 - 6 hour (depending on river levels) journey by
motorized canoe to the Heath River Wildlife Center. Guests first travel east down the
Madre de Dios River to the Peru-Bolivia border, before heading south on the Heath River
which forms the common border. Please note that passports are required for this trip.
Activities:
Guests can explore miles of well-marked forest trails and oxbow lakes accompanied
by an Indian guide. All four of the Amazon's top predators inhabit the surrounding forest,
as do various species of monkeys and hundreds of species of birds.
Large families of Capybara are nearly always seen on the banks of the Heath River. At 120
pounds (55 kilograms), this gigantic relative of the guinea pig is the largest and most
photogenic rodent in the world!
Indian guides lead ethno-botanical walks through the forest, explaining how they use many
of the forest trees and plants in their daily lives, either as medicines, for bows and
arrows, or in home construction. Guests are taken to a natural forest of towering 170-foot
tall (55 meter) Brazil nut trees to learn how the slight, yet surprisingly powerful, men
of the village harvest these nuts. The Ese'Eja Indians have harvested these delicious,
valuable nuts for thousands of years, and guests are now treated to the mystery and
splendor of this Amazon wonder.
Macaw Clay Lick:
Fifty minutes by motorized canoe upriver from the Center lies the Heath macaw
clay lick. From a specially-designed floating blind, breakfast is served as guests marvel
at the medium-sized, emerald green and electric-blue parrots and the large blazing
Red-and-Green Macaws that arrive in two shifts to eat the clay. Note that all macaw and
parrot licks in southern Peru are less active in May, June and early July than in the rest
of the months of the year.
