Amazon Rainforest (Puerto Maldonado, Peru): Explorer Inn's trip report

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Once we decided on going to Puerto Maldonado, I set about looking at the different options available to us. Because we were visiting during off-peak season (October) and were booking just three weeks in advance, I e-mailed the lodges and all offered me a discount.

We ended up going with the Explorer’s Inn for our trip at $900 each for the 5 day/4 night option. It was the moderately priced option with good reviews, and one of only two lodges that offered an option to go to Chuncho Macaw Clay Lick. The Chuncho Macaw Clay Lick is an additional 2-3 hours down the river from most of the lodges and packages that include it cost about $100 more.


This Clay Lick was phenomenal. Hands down the best activity that we did during our 4 night/5 day stay in the Amazon. There were 50 macaws and parrots all around us that morning (we spent about 3 hours at the Clay Lick). These birds mate for life and it was awesome to see them fly around in pairs. We had breakfast at the Clay Lick, surrounded by the beautiful scenery, and a Champuchin monkey even made an appearance. The guide had a great scope that we could use to observe the birds and he was really skilled at taking awesome photos with it.



Unfortunately, our visit to the Chuncho Macaw Clay Lick was preceded by a night in a partner accommodation of the Explorer’s Inn that was closer to the Clay Lick, which was very much a hostel. Our sheets were dirty, they didn’t provide any towels (despite our guide confirming that they would have towels), and the lodge that we ate our meals in was open air, so at night we had an incredible amount of bugs flying around and on the tables while we ate. It was pretty disgusting.


Most people went to the rainforest for 2 nights/3 days, which really meant one full day in the rainforest and two half travel days. That’s not enough! You spend a ton of time and money getting to the Amazon rainforest; I implore you to spend more time there to truly experience it. Also, with wildlife, you never know when and if you’ll see something (this isn’t a zoo!), so it’s better to spend more time in the rainforest so you have more chances to see the wildlife that you came here to see. If you don't take the time and expense to go further downriver, you'll spend 5 minutes far away, in a boat, looking at a very small clay lick with 10 macaws instead of the incredible experience that we had.


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