Heath River Wildlife Center

a particularly interesting area for jungle wildlife

Set in an extremely remote position alongside the eponymous Rio Heath, around 100 km east of Puerto Maldonaldo in southeast Peru, Heath River Wildlife Center is a relatively simple property, but one which happens to be in a really interesting location for wildlife.

For environmental and economic reasons the lodge has been constructed using mainly reclaimed or sustainably harvested local materials, including driftwood mahogany from the river, lianas and crisneja palm tree leaves for the roof.

The lodge is centred on a large and relatively modest main building which contains the main lounge and dining spaces.

Rooms

Guest accommodation at Heath River Wildlife Center is in 10 spacious detached bungalows, arranged in a row to the north side of the main building, with hot water showers and ceiling fans.

You will notice from the imagery that these rooms (and the main building) do not look as swish as the more upmarket properties in this area. One of the main reasons for this is that all the rooms are fully enclosed within insect screens, which may not be as aesthetically pleasing, but is certainly more functional and we feel is a really big positive.

The fact that the rooms only have fans and no air-conditioning means that they are liable to become uncomfortable in these high temperatures and humidities.

Activities

Heath River Wildlife Center offers a relatively wide range of guided activities, including …

• Motorboat safari
• Canoe safari
• Night motorboat safari
• Clay licks for parrot and macaw viewing
• Hides
• Forest walks
• Pampas hiking
• Night walking safari
• Canopy walkways
• Farm walks

The Tambopata Amazon area is usually reached by air into Puerto Maldonaldo, usually preceded by Cusco and followed by Lima, meaning that it tends to fit into the tail end of an exploration of Peru.

The usual stay duration is 3-4 nights in a single lodge.

Since Heath River is so remote, it needs to be combined with a more accessible lodge, the combination typically extending over 6-7 nights.

Seasonality

The best time to visit Tambopata is generally considered to be the Apr-Oct dry season.

Although this area is dominated by tropical rainforest (which is usually indicative of a pretty stable year round climate), Tambopata actually experiences quite a considerable seasonal range.

Temperatures are quite stable year round, with peak daytime temperatures typically rising to around 31C/88F (peaking around 37C/98F), with nighttime temperatures dropping to 17C/63F. Given the high year round humidities, these night conditions can be quite sticky and uncomfortable (yet air conditioning is notable by its absence). During the Nov-Mar rainy season those nighttime temperatures can be a few degrees higher, which doesn’t help.

If you don’t enjoy high temperatures, then Jun-Jul is the best bet, since southerly winds can bring in slightly cooler fronts.

But the biggest seasonal difference is rainfall. During the Nov-Mar rainy season the precipitation rises to around 300mm/6” per month, which is pretty high. Downpours can be torrential and enduring. Whilst there’s still a lot of sunny weather around, it is possible to have consecutive days of overcast weather.

During the converse Apr-Oct dry season rainfall drops to around 75mm/3” per month, which means there are still regular showers, but they tend to be light and intermittent, with sunny weather prevailing.

Getting there

The Tambopata area can be easily accessed by internal flights into Padre Jose Aldamiz Airport in Puerto Maldonado, notably with regular connections to Lima and Cusco.

Heath River Wildlife Center is a very remote property and getting there is something of a mission. The journey is long, but should prove exciting and adventurous.

We usually prefer to stay at a lodge closer to the airport at Puerto Maldonado either side of the stay at Heath River, in order to provide plenty of time for the journey out and back. Typically a stay would be preceded by a couple of nights at Sandoval Lake Lodge and maybe a night at Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica on the way out.

The journey to the lodge is such an integral part of the experience that we have moved the description to the activities section below.

a definite sense of going beyond