Chuncho Macaw Clay Lick Tour from Puerto Maldonado
From €224 per person
See availability →A Chuncho macaw clay lick tour from Puerto Maldonado: a river trip at first light, flocks of macaws feeding on the bank and a picnic breakfast, back by late morning.
The Chuncho macaw clay lick tour is a morning for people who do not mind a very early start. The hotel pickup in Puerto Maldonado is well before daylight, and a private minivan covers 48 km of tarmac, then 15 km of unpaved track, to the Filadelfia port.
There you board a motorised canoe and travel upriver as the light grows. The banks may reveal capybaras, monkeys, white caimans and colourful birds. The Chuncho clay lick is the highlight: three kinds of macaw, red-and-green, scarlet and blue-and-yellow, land on the bank to eat clay, filling the air with colour and noise.
When the birds have finished, a picnic-style breakfast is served by the river. You then keep following the shoreline by boat with your naturalist guide, hunting for tapir prints, more capybaras and, on rare occasions, a hint that a jaguar passed by. The tour lasts around eight hours and brings you back to town by late morning.
- Hotel pickup and drop-off within 8 km of town
- Reserve entrance included
- Binoculars and safety gear
- Guide in English or French
It suits photographers and bird lovers, but the tour is not suitable for wheelchair users.