Peru - Lonely Planet Publications [433]
Explorama Lodges (065-25-2530; www.explorama.com; Av La Marina 340, Iquitos) This well-established and recommended company owns and operates lodges and is an involved supporter of the Amazon Conservatory of Tropical Studies (ACTS). It has a lab at the famed canopy walkway, which is suspended 35m above the forest floor to give visitors a bird’s-eye view of the rainforest canopy and its wildlife. You could arrange a trip to visit one or more lodges (each of which is very different) combined with a visit to the walkway. Sample rates are given; contact Explorama for other options and combinations. Explorama serves all-you-can-eat lunch and dinner buffets, has fast boats (50km/h) and half-price rates for under-12s. Ask about group discounts. The well-trained, friendly and knowledgeable guides are locals who speak English (other languages on request). The following are lodges are operated by Explorama:
ACTS Field Station (srmadigosky@widener.edu; per person US$115) Near the Canopy Walkway, the 20 rooms here are in buildings similar to those at Explorama Lodge. Book ahead, because accommodations are often used by researchers and workshop groups. Scientists and researchers wishing to use the accommodations here should contact head of scientific research Dr S Madigosky at the email address above. The station is nearly always visited as part of a program including nights at other lodges.
Ceiba Tops (2 days & 1 night per person US$270, 3 days & 2 nights per person US$380; ) Forty kilometers northeast of Iquitos on the Amazon, this is Explorama’s and the area’s most modern lodge and resort. There are 75 luxurious rooms and suites, all featuring comfortable beds and furniture, fans, screened windows, porches and spacious bathrooms with hot showers. Landscaped grounds surround the pool complex, complete with hydromassage, waterslide and hammock house. The restaurant (with better meals than at Explorama’s other lodges) adjoins a bar with live Amazon music daily. Short guided walks and boat rides are available for a taste of the jungle; there is primary forest nearby containing Victoria regias (giant Amazon waterlilies). This lodge is a recommended option for people who really don’t want to rough it. It even hosts business incentive meetings.
Explorama Lodge (3 days & 2 nights per person US$365) Eighty kilometers away on the Amazon, near its junction with the Río Napo, this was one of the first lodges constructed in the Iquitos area (1964) and remains attractively rustic. The lodge has several large, palm-thatched buildings; the 55 rooms have private cold-water bathrooms. Covered walkways join the buildings and lighting is by kerosene lantern. Guides accompany visitors on several trails that go deeper into the forest.
ExplorNapo Lodge (5 days & 4 nights per person US$950) On the Río Napo, 157km from Iquitos, this simple lodge has 30 rooms with shared cold-shower facilities. The highlights are guided trail hikes in remote primary forest, bird-watching, an ethnobotanical garden of useful plants (curated by a local shaman) and a visit to the nearby Canopy Walkway (half-hour walk). Because of the distance involved, you spend the first and last night of a five-day/four-night package at the Explorama Lodge.
ExplorTambos Camp (5 days & 4 nights per person US$1070) This lodge is a two-hour walk from ExplorNapo. It’s a self-declared ‘primitive’ camp and creature comforts get short shrift. Guests (16 maximum) sleep on mattresses on open-sided sleeping platforms covered with a mosquito net; don’t plan a passionate honeymoon here! Basic toilets and washing facilities are provided, and wildlife-watching opportunities