Tambopata National Reserve lies in the department of Madre de Dios, deep in Peru's southeastern Amazon basin. The biodiversity is staggering: 1,234 species of butterfly, 592 species of bird, 127 amphibians, 103 mammals, and 13 endangered species including the jaguar, giant otter, ocelot, and harpy eagle.
The highlight for most visitors is the famous macaw clay lick (colpa de guacamayos), where dozens of macaws and smaller parrots gather each morning to eat mineral-rich clay from an exposed riverbank — a riot of colour and noise that is one of the great wildlife spectacles in South America.
There are daily flights from Lima and Cusco to Puerto Maldonado, making it easy to combine a rainforest trip with the archaeological sites of the highlands. Several reliable operators run lodge-based programmes: InkaNatura Travel at Sandoval Lake Lodge, Rainforest Expeditions at Posada Amazonas, and Inkaterra at Reserva Amazonica. A three-day, two-night programme is the minimum worth doing — enough time for guided jungle walks, a visit to an oxbow lake, and the clay lick at dawn.