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If you have ever dreamed about being a professional nature photographer, this all-inclusive, five-day Amazon photography tour is for you. It’s a small group program (4-6 people max!), geared toward the beginner and intermediate photographer.
Explore one of the world’s most bio-diverse jungles with a professional photographer as your guide. The program includes in-the-field instruction, as well as formal workshops. You don’t even need to bring a camera. All of the standard and specialty equipment is provided.
Prices available upon request
You’ll cover a wide range of photography subjects, including macro, telephoto, bird/wildlife, microscopic photography, Photoshop and photo book making. The groups are kept small to ensure a high level of personalized instruction, focusing on your individual needs, no matter what your skill level. Keeping the groups small also minimizes our impact on the environmentally sensitive areas we visit, while maximizing the photographic opportunities.
Highlights Include:
Our Equipment List Includes:
Detailed Itinerary
DAY 1
Upon arrival from Lima or Cusco, you are welcomed at the airport and driven ten minutes to the Puerto Maldonado headquarters of Rainforest Expedition, the operators of the Posadas Amazonas Eco-Lodge. While enjoying your first taste of the forest in our gardens we will ask you to pack only the necessary gear for your next few days, and leave the rest at our safe deposit. This helps us keep the boats and cargo light. Transfer Pto Maldonado Headquarters to Tambopata River Port Skirting Puerto Maldonado, we drive 12 miles (20 kilometers) to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno. The port is a communal business. There, you board 20-foot long, roofed canoe with four outboard motors. The 45-minute boat ride Posada Amazonas Eco-Lodge takes you into the Community’s Primary Forest Private Reserve. Boxed Lunch Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips.
Introduction to Photography Lecture
After lunch we will have a presentation about basic photography. Subjects such as aperture, ISO and shutter speed will be covered. We will also learn about some specialized photographic techniques and see some samples. Dinner
Night Photography
After dinner, we head out for a night walk in the forest, which offer great opportunities to photograp insects and frogs. We may be able to find praying mantis, cicadas, leaf mimicking grasshoppers as well as huge toads, shiny green tree frogs and bizarre horned frogs. Overnight at Posada Amazonas
DAY 2
Photography at Tres Chimbadas Oxbow Lake
After breakfast, you will start your excursion to Tres Chimbadas. It’s thirty minutes by boat and a 45-minute hike from Posada Amazonas. Once there you will board a catamaran and paddle around the lake, in search of the resident family of nine giant river otters (seen by 60% of Rainforest Expeditions’ lake visitors), as well as other lakeside wildlife such as caiman, hoatzin and horned screamers. The lake provides wonderful opportunities to photograph majestic trees, water reflections and, if we are very fortunate, animal life. Although otters are frequently seen, the distances at which they are sighted usually do not make for good photos. Transfer Boat – Posada Amazonas to Tambopata Research Center Six and a half hours by boat from Posada Amazonas, in the pristine heart of the reserve, lies the Tambopata Research Center. As we cross the confluence with the Malinowski River, we will leave the final traces of human habitation behind. Within the 700,000 hectare, uninhabited nucleus of the reserve, sightings of capybara, caiman, geese, macaws and other large species will become more frequent. Boxed Lunch
Orientation
Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips.
Photography from Overlooks
A 2- to 3-mile (3- to 5-kilometer) hike will lead us to overlooks commanding magnificent views of the Tambopata River winding its way into the lowlands. On a clear day, it will even be possible to view and photograph the snow capped Andean peaks in the distance. At each overlook we will have good chances of encounters at eyelevel at 30-50 yards with large turkey-like birds called guans and chachalacas, or toucans, or macaws roosting on the trees. The forest on this trail, regenerating on old bamboo forest, is also the stomping ground for Howler and Dusky Titi monkeys. After dinner we gather around to review and edit our photos. Overnight at Tambopata Research Center
DAY 3
Macaw Clay Lick Photography from the Beach
On most clear mornings of the year dozens of large macaws and hundreds of parrots congregate on this large river bank in a raucous and colorful spectacle, which inspired a National Geographic cover story. Discretely located fifty meters from the cliff, we will observe Green-winged, Scarlet and Blue-and-gold Macaws and several species of smaller parrots descend to ingest clay. Outings are at dawn when the lick is most active. If the river is not swollen, thereby reducing the effective beach area, photographers should have plenty of opportunities to shoot the typical clay lick photographs from distances of about 55-110 yards (50-100 meters). Breakfast
Photography in the floodplain forest
This 3-mile (5-kilometer) trail covers the prototypical rain forest with immense trees criss-crossed by creeks and ponds. Amongst the figs, ceibas and shihuahuacos we will look for Squirrel, Brown Capuchin, and Spider Monkeys as well as peccaries. Tambopata Research Center is located within this habitat. Photo opportunities for all mammals and birds on this trail will be scant as visibility and lighting are poor and animals timid. Our principal focus will be general rain forest shots as well as portraits of the huge trees that are scattered throughout this forest. Lunch
Photography on the Pond Platform
Ten minutes upriver from the lodge is a tiny pond with a platform in the middle. It is a great place for the late afternoon where we whiddle away the remains of the day as we spot waterfowl such as Muscovy duck, sunbittern and hoatzin along with the woodpeckers, oropendolas, flycatchers and parakeets that call this pond their home. Opportunities to photograph these beautiful birds will abound, as the lighting and visibility of the pond is excellent and these birds? habits are predictable over short periods of time. Dinner Overnight at Tambopata Research Center
DAY 4
Transfer Boat – Tambopata Research Center to Refugio Amazonas
After breakfast, you will board a boat for the 3½-hour journey to Refugio Amazonas. Boxed Lunch.
Brazil Nut Trail and Camp
A few minutes hike from the lodge is a beautiful old growth patch of Brazil Nut forest that has been harvested for decades (if not centuries), where the precarious remains of a camp used two months a year by Brazil Nut gatherers can still be experienced. We will be demonstrating the whole process of the rain forest’s only sustainably harvested product from collection through transportation to drying.
Photoshop and Bookmaking Workshop
After dinner, we again review and upload our best photos for a photo review session and are introduced to book making software and Photoshop. During the Photoshop part of the lecture we learn about levels, saturation, image sharpening, resizing, transforming and RAW processing. We also get the chance to enhance some of our favorite images. We are also introduced to bookmaking software which comes with a large variety of pre-designed and customizable layouts, a huge selection of fonts, and all the tools you need to make sophisticated bookstore quality photography books. The software is connected to a print on demand service allowing you to print your book when you are finished. Overnight at Refugio Amazonas
DAY 5
Following breakfast, transfer Boat – Refugio Amazonas to Tambopata River Port Puerto Maldonado Headquarters to Airport. We retrace our river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado, Rainforest Expedition’s office and the airport. Depending on airline schedules, this may require dawn departures.
Note:
Although no longer mandatory in order to enter the Tambopata Reserve, it is a advisable to arrange to get a Yellow Fever shot at least 10 days before arrival to this part of the Peruvian Amazon. An effective insect repellent is also a must. Fertur recommends EcoSmart brand insect repellent, an all-natural alternative to Deet-based repellent – or N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide – that can eat through plastic and never degrades in the environment.
Program Includes:
Programmes based on double occupancy. Includes all meal, accommodations, and services, all river transportation, and transfer from and to the airport of Puerto Maldonado.
Not Included:
International or domestic airfares, airport departure taxes or visa fees, excess baggage charges, additional nights during the trip due to flight cancellations, alcoholic beverages or bottled water, snacks, insurance of any kind, laundry, phone calls or messages, reconfirmation of flights and items of personal nature. Boat Transportation All our boats are 20 foot long, roofed canoes with four strokes outboard motors. Daily arrivals and departures from every port are scheduled to meet every airlines arrival and departure. Check-in for all our guest is from 1:00 pm to 8:00 pm Check out is from early dawn until 8:00 am the latest Our operator, Rainforest Expeditions, reserve the right to change the order of activities.
To book your vacation now or consult with us, fill out the “Contact Us” form to the right and a Fertur Peru Travel coordinator will contact you within one working day with detailed information about your fully customizable trip. Fertur Peru Travel’s pledge is to offer you top-quality, individualized attention that starts with the planning of your trip and continues through your journey to guarantee a great vacation.
