Glamping in the Amazon Rainforest

If you are up for an adventure of a lifetime, I would highly recommend glamping in the Amazon Rainforest, specifically at the all-inclusive Refugio Amazonas in Tambopata, Madre de Dios, Peru.

Upon arriving at the lodge, a full day’s journey in itself, you will be served hot chocolate in the lounge and receive a safety briefing, as well as, a description of all of the activities that you may choose from during your stay. We stayed for three nights, but there are other options available. I would recommend staying three nights, two is not enough to really take advantage of all the lodge has to offer, more than three might be tough – depending on the heat, although there are more than enough activities to fill more days. At this time, you will also need to choose your activities for the following day, as several of them require a 4 am wake up time. If you arrive early enough, you can partake of the night hike, or listen to a lecture on the data that is being collected by the resident scientists and guides at the lodge.

Next, you are directed to your room. The lodge has two wings, with different style rooms.

Staying here is not for the faint of heart. As you can see, the room is open to the rainforest. I thought I would be afraid to sleep, but it was not a problem for me at all. I did give my husband the bed closer to the open wall, which gave me a small sense of security. There is a safe in each room. You are told to keep any food you have in the safe so as not to attract animals, specifically opossums. My guess is our safety briefer mentioned opossums, as opposed to monkeys, because no one really wants a close encounter with an opossum.

My favorite part of the room was the safety whistle. I’ll admit, the safety whistle came to bed with me…along with a flashlight and a bottle of water. I had no plans for any part of my body to come out from under the mosquito net during the night. You will fall asleep to the sounds of the jungle, which ironically, I found very soothing instead of frightening. You will also awaken to the sounds of the jungle, but that is for another post.

There is wire mesh, which acts as your ceiling, it keeps animals from raining down any ‘unpleasant surprises’ upon you. The walls do not go up to the roof, so conversations do carry through and over the walls. On our final night, a new couple arrived and we were able to hear the man freaking out like a baby over bugs in their room. They did leave their lights on while they were gone at night, so our room had no bugs, as they all were attracted to the lights left on by the man afraid of bugs and apparently afraid of the dark. We were so glad that they arrived on our final night, as we couldn’t imagine having to deal with him on an expedition into the jungle. There are quiet hours after ten, all the lights are automatically turned off at this time as well.

My first look at the shower stretched my comfort level, but to be honest, I got so hot that I no longer cared. We showered two or three times a day. The lodge does have hot water, not that you will want it.

In between our jungle treks, my two favorite places to be were the shower or the hammock, which my husband graciously relinquished to me. During the hottest part of the day, no events are planned. You can spend those times relaxing in your room or in the common areas of the lodge (which has a bar – drinks from the bar are an additional cost – we did partake).

All meals are served buffet style. There is a large variety to choose from and it is continually being restocked. There are two exceptions. First, on the boat ride to the lodge we were served lunch, wrapped in a leaf; second, we ate breakfast at the Macaw Clay lick because you need to leave the lodge by sunrise and will not be back until lunch. No matter what, you will be fed three times a day. There are also water stations where you can fill up your own water bottles (bring them from home). There are a series of long tables, you just grab a spot. During meals you will have a chance to talk to fellow adventurers and hear about the different excursions that they choose to go on. The guides usually come to eat as the guests are finishing up, but you can invite them to sit with you and pick their brains about anything related to the Amazon. They have a wealth of knowledge and are happy to share it.

Children are welcome at the lodge, as evidenced by the playground.

All of the expeditions take off from and return to the front of the lodge. You will meet here at the designated time and be off on your adventure. This area contains the lounge, bar, dining areas, gift store, and on the second floor, the lecture area along with educational displays. At this point you may be wondering, will we see wildlife?

Yes, you will! Some of the animals we saw included a variety of monkeys, capybaras, caiman, a huge variety of birds, butterflies, dragonflies and insects, piranhas, frogs and lizards. What we only saw three of was mosquitoes. How could that possibly be? We went towards the end of the dry season. Almost all of the adult mosquitoes had died off. When traveling to the Amazon you will be instructed to bring lots of DEET, anti-malaria pills, long sleeves, long pants, all to protect you from the mosquitoes. After dousing ourselves with DEET and wearing long sleeves and long pants for the first few days, we first changed into shorts and short sleeves when staying in the lodge and on the final day, we stopped wearing DEET and stopped taking the malaria pills. I can not recommend strongly enough to travel here towards the end of dry season. We were there at the end of September. Absolutely no mosquito horror stories to share. (I would still pack bug spray and anti-malaria pills, as you never know if they’ve had enough rain to hatch, even in the dry season.)

This little monkey is one of the reason why you are supposed to lock up all food in your room.

Things to bring with you: any medication, preventative and otherwise, that you think you may need, water bottle to refill, flashlight, bug spray (the wipes actually worked better), sweat wicking/cooling clothing, sweat wicking hats, sunglasses, rain coat (we did not get rained on), hiking shoes, slippers (you can not wear shoes in the lodge, on the wood walkways, or in your room), cash for tipping your guides, credit cards for your bar bill and gift shop, and your passport.

To learn more about Refugio Amazonas and all they have to offer check out their website.  The first excursion we took was the night hike. I do not have a lot of photos from the hike because, quite frankly, I was semi-terrified and my hands were clutching my flashlight. That will be the topic of next week’s post. As always, wishing you happy travels and fantastic adventures in this thing called life.

(All pictures are available for purchase as Fine Art or Digital Downloads at full resolution through Alamy. If you see something you like, click on the link. If you are unable to find it, use the Contact Me page and I will make sure the image is available.)

Check out some of our other wildlife adventures…tame in comparison…but still wild!

Seal Lions Galore in La Jolla, California

The Best Turtle Viewing on Maui

Snorkeling at Kealakekua Bay

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