Peru Study Trip - Culture and Amazon Tour

As you arrive into Lima airport and exit customs and baggage, you will be warmly welcomed by our driver. You will be assisted with your luggage before escorted to your hotel in a private vehicle. Free evening.

After breakfast, a lecture on the upcoming tour with a focus on Peruvian culture and Sustainable tourism in the Peruvian Amazon. After the lecture, the tour will start with a visit of colonial Lima followed by the residential areas of San Isidro and Miraflores, before returning to your hotel.

Meals: B

After breakfast, with boarding passes in hand, you will be driven to the airport for your quick-check-in and brief one hour flight to Cuzco, the ancient Inca capital of the Incas. In Cuzco, you will be warmly welcomed and assisted with your luggage before your short private drive to your hotel. A visit to the local museum before your private tour of Cuzco including the Qoricancha temple or temple of the Sun, the Inca fortress of Sacsayhuaman overlooking Cuzco city, Qenko, Tambomachay and Puka Pukara. Return to the hotel in the evening.

Meals: B

After breakfast at your hotel, start of a full-day's excursion of the Urubamba, the Sacred Valley of the Incas. You will visit the village of Pisac and the ruins above before a visit to Ollantaytambo. You will then return to Cuzco in the evening.

Meals: B & L

After breakfast, take the Expedition train to Aguas Calientes. Check-in to your hotel. The short ride up to Machu Picchu will meander through breathtaking mountain scenery up to the ancient Inca citadel. Shortly after, a guided tour of Machu Picchu, the most spectacular ancient city in the world. Built by the Inca Pachacutec, and comprising stone blocks fitted with masterful precision, Machu Picchu harmoniously blends into the mountain landscape. There are many theories as to the origins behind Machu Picchu but three of the most popular ideas include a temple to the sun, a fortress against the jungle inhabitants or a sanctuary for the Incas. This fabulous city has houses, temples, warehouses, a large central square, all connected by narrow roads and steps, and is surrounded by terraces cut into the mountain side which were used for agriculture. Lunch before free time. Overnight accommodation in Aguas Calientes.

Meals: B & L

Today you will enjoy a free day in Machu Picchu with an opportunity to see the site at sunrise. Take any of the several paths around various parts of the site, or walk down to the Inca's bridge. Let Machu Picchu unfold all its mysteries for you, take in the breathtaking cloud forests and jagged mountains, or marvel at the extraordinary Masonic precision of the ancient Incas. Return train back to Cuzco and transfer to your hotel.

Meals: B

Transfer to the airport for the flight to Puerto Maldonado. Reception and transfer to the Tambopata River port in Puerto Maldonado for the canoe trip to your jungle lodge. After arrival a short orientation and a complete briefing on the lodge before visiting a 35 metre scaffolding tower for a spectacular view of the river, the surrounding forest and an opportunity to observe birds from the canopy including parrots, toucans and macaws. Return to the lodge.

Meals: B, L & D

Early wake at dawn for a visit to the Tres Chimbadas oxbow lake. Here we will take a long, easy canoe ride around the lake looking for giant river otters, turtles, hoatzin, and wading birds. The giant river otters that are seen in Tres Chimbadas belong to a resident family of nine. Return to the lodge before we continue travel up the Tambopata River for a further 5 hours into the pristine heart of the reserve. Arrival at the Tambopata Research Center. After lunch, we will walk the 1.5 mile Bamboo Trail, a trail that is famous for the abundance of rare birds that live exclusively in this habitat and are endemic to southern Peru. It is also the home of the frequently found Howler and Dusky titi monkeys.

Meals: B, L & D

At dawn we will cross the river and enjoy the world's largest macaw clay lick where hundreds of parrots and macaws of up to 15 species congregate daily. You can expect to see ten to twelve members of the parrot family. After breakfast we will walk the 1.5 mile Ocelot Trail, a trail which exemplifies the quintessential rainforest. This trail is the one which most often spots ocelot, puma and jaguar tracks, although any one of these three large cats is extremely difficult to spot. We will return to the TRC for lunch and then embark on a 2 mile walk to the palm swamp, a nesting colony and preferred roost for Blue and Gold and Red-bellied Macaws.

Meals: B, L & D

We will wake up at dawn once again to visit the macaw clay lick and then return for breakfast. After breakfast we will take a short five minute boat ride to a small, drying oxbow lake where we will spend the morning on a platform in the middle of the pond observing some of its birdlife, which may include hoatzin, duck, ibis, woodpeckers, chachalaca, parakeets, oropendolas and numerous flycatcher species. We will return to our lodge further down river.

Meals: B, L & D

After an early breakfast we will return to Puerto Maldonado for our flight back to Lima and your connecting flight home.

Meals: B, L & D