Stories
Wrapping up 2014 with Rainforest Expeditions
Every year, people from all over the world venture to the Southeastern corner of Peru. And it’s not hard to understand why; the Tambopata National Reserve lies in the Amazon Basin and boasts some of the most spectacular rainforest and wildlife this world has to offer. Jaguars, Macaws, Monkeys, Capybara, Giant river otters, and Harpy eagles are some of the notable megafaunas that can be observed in their natural habitat here. But not all of the impressive wildlife in the Amazon is large in size. In fact, the little creatures can be just as fascinating, if not more so.
Most of the planet’s biodiversity comes in the form of insects, worms, and other miniature living organisms, and new species are being discovered each day. Some of our top stories this past year included coverage of unknown species of insects and spiders that were found in close proximity to the Rainforest Expeditions jungle lodges in Tambopata recently!
Here are some of our top stories from 2014:
This Spider Makes Fake Spiders. But Why? 1.21.14. By Nadia Drake.

‘Decoy spider’ sitting at the top of its pseudo-spider structure. Photo courtesy of Lary Reeve
What I learned Hunting Decoy-Weaving Spiders in the Amazon. 6.16.14. By Douglas Main.

Lary (right) and Aaron (left) investigating the ‘Decoy spiders’
Expedition to Candamo: Venturing into ‘The Last Rainforest Without Men’. 11.2.14. By Aaron Pomerantz.

Aldo and his team push the boat through strong rapids to make it to Candamo
Predatory ‘Glow Worm’ Discovered in Peruvian Rainforest. 11.19.14. By Lisa Winter.

Harpy eagle snatches a howler monkey for breakfast.
A beautiful Harpy eagle snatches a howler monkey for breakfast. Photo by Chris Johns
A bioluminescent insect larva protrudes its head from the earth and lures in prey to its powerful mandibles.

Closing out with a fruitful December expedition
This past December, I was joined by two incredible groups in the Amazon. Chris Johns, a friend and colleague of mine, is a graduate student at the University of Florida and assembled a team that rumbled through the jungle with me and guided Frank Pichardo for two weeks. We came across a myriad of amazing animals, including a Harpy eagle that had just snatched a howler monkey for breakfast, caiman, tailless-whip scorpions, monkey frogs, snakes (big snakes!), and much more.

A caiman smiles big for the camera. Photo by Chris Johns.

A large Yellow-bellied Puffing Snake was none too happy to see us

Chris, I think you’ve got a bug on your face…A tailless whip scorpion to be exact.
Then I was joined by Christie Wilcox, a rising science communication star who celebrated her successful Ph.D. defense by immersing herself in the Peruvian Amazon. In addition to taking in everything fascinating that the jungle has to offer, Christie was working to gather content for her book on venom (coming soon). This meant getting up close to potentially dangerous animals, including snakes, scorpions, wandering spiders, and bullet ants (ouch!). All in all, we had a safe trip and documented plenty of venomous fauna to satiate Christie’s toxic appetite.

A wandering spider displays a warning threat by raising her front pairs of legs. Don’t mess!

The stinger of a bullet ant, is supposedly one of the most painful insect stings one can experience. I’ll take your word for it…

Large bark scorpions in the Amazon can be found on night hikes.

Christie, you most CERTAINLY have a bug on your face
So what comes next with Rainforest Expeditions? Ongoing research projects for our peculiar spider and glow worm species push us to stay on top of the scientific literature and techniques so we can gather more data and publish our results. There are still many emerging questions that have yet to be answered. Is the ‘Decoy spider’ a new species? What purpose or purposes does the decoy structure serve? If it is indeed to avoid anti-predation, what predators pushed for the selection of this unique behavior in the spider? Are the ‘glow worms’ a new species and is this a new record of their occurrence in Southeastern Peru?
We’re also working to organize more trips over the course of the next year with scientists, photographers, and filmmakers, who are eager to come down to this area which is ripe with unknown animals and discoveries. What comes next isn’t entirely known, and that’s part of the adventure.

A perfect day in Tambopata, Peru
Last but certainly not least, I’d like to thank the people who helped me get here and who have been invaluable colleagues in the field this past year. Lary Reeves is a graduate student at the University of Florida who invited me to join him in the Amazon in May of 2014. What was meant to be a routine research expedition turned into a position working with the Tambopata Research Center (Rainforest Expeditions) as a Science Communicator, and I am thankful to Lary, as well as Jeff Cremer, for giving me the opportunity to come to this place.

Top left: Lary Reeves, Douglas Main, Augusto Bazan, and Nadia Drake composed an indispensable team in May where we made some more exciting discoveries about the ‘Decoy spiders’. Top right: In October I organized a team to venture into the remote Candamo region, and it couldn’t have been done without the help of Jeff Cremer, Mike Bentley, Geoff Gallice, Roy, Misael, Rodolfo, Gallo, Pedro, and Aldo. Bottom left: This December trip, I’d like to thank my amazing group with Chris Johns, Kai Moreb, Lauren Georges, Narayan Ghiotti, Frank Pichardo, and Nicole Lizares.
Bottom right: Christie Wilcox was a pleasure to have in the field poking at dangerous animals, and I hope we get to do it again soon. One last shout-out to Phil Torres and Jeff Cremer, who have been incredible sources of knowledge, friendship, and collaboration on projects in this part of the world. Wrapping up 2014 with Rainforest Expeditions has been an amazing experience thus far; I can only imagine what the top stories of 2015 will look like…Cheers to the New Year!
by Aaron Pomerantz
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What our guest say
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We had an excellent 5 night stay at TRC with two couples. The remote Lodge and accommodation are unique especially with the open walls to the jungle in the rooms. The guides were first rate with superb knowledge and their ability to spot fauna in the dense jungle was incredible. We saw many species of monkeys; macaws, parrots, tapirs, etc.. even lucky enough to spot a jaguar. Food and service was really good. While not cheap it was I think very good value for money. We really enjoyed all the hikes and citizen science activities as well, he trips on the river and the clay licks. Overall amazing experience! As it’s the jungle not a zoo, you can’t guarantee that you’ll see everything all the time so allow enough days to properly explore. Read all
A once-in-a-lifetime experience in the middle of the rainforest. From airport pickup in Puerto Maldonado to the lodge and back, everything was exceptionally well organised. Communication was clear throughout, with the team always explaining what would happen, where to be and what to take care of. The staff at both HQ and the lodge were incredibly attentive, making the entire stay feel completely carefree. At this price point, this is the level of service you expect, but it is still impressive to experience it in such a remote setting. The food was another highlight: very well curated and balanced, with plenty of options at every buffet and, surprisingly, we never had the same dish twice. Read all
This was an excellent experience!! Highly recommend if you’re interested in visiting the Amazon Rainforest and Tambopata region. Especially happy with our guide Miguel, who was highly professional, informative, and organized. It was an immersive adventure and we got to see so many unique plants and animals. 10/10! Read all
Amazing experience at Refugio Amazonas. Rooms were comfortable and clean. Great buffet spread every day. Staff were friendly and attentive. Our guide Alan was very informative. Overall would definitely recommend a visit! Read all
We stayed 3 nights at Posada Amazonas during our summer trip to Peru, and it was definitely one of the biggest highlights of the whole journey. The staff were incredibly warm and welcoming. Our guide, Joss, was professional, friendly and amazingly knowledgeable. Sometimes it honestly felt like he could communicate with the animals — he could spot black caimans or giant river otters from hundreds of metres away! The excursions were unforgettable. We saw beautiful macaws, giant river otters, capybaras, sloths, tarantulas, an anaconda, different species of monkeys, toucans and so much more. I especially loved the rainforest walks and joined both the daytime and night walks. Every walk felt completely different, and you never knew what you might find. What also made the stay special was the lodge’s involvement in scientific and environmental projects. There was a talk every evening, and we learned a lot about the rainforest and its wildlife. We also joined the “Discover New Species” activity and helped search for possible new species of tiger moths — such a fun and memorable experience. The lodge itself is definitely rustic luxury rather than a city-style 5-star hotel. There is no air conditioning or hair dryer, but the hot shower, fan and hammock in the room were all very comfortable and suited the rainforest setting perfectly. And surprisingly, the internet connection was excellent — even the boats had Starlink! One of the things I appreciated most is that Posada Amazonas is a collaboration between Rainforest Expeditions and the local Indigenous community that owns the land. Many community members are directly involved in running the lodge, and you can really feel how much the staff care about and are connected to this rainforest, which is part of their ancestral home. If you are looking for an authentic, educational and truly memorable Amazon rainforest experience, I highly recommend Posada Amazonas. We absolutely loved our stay. Read all
The Tambopata Research Center (TRC) offers a well-organized immersive rainforest experience within the Tambopata National Reserve. The TRC and its accommodations put a spin on the term creature comforts by keeping guests comfortable while they commune among the creatures within the rainforest. I appreciated, through what I observed and the interactions I had, the attentiveness of the TRC team members. They knew their guests and seamlessly organized a lot for our benefit. The center assigns guests to a small group with a dedicated guide. In my case, Erick Arguedas was a superb ambassador for all things living in the rainforest, in part because it was the environment in which he grew up. His role was to ensure we got the most out of our visit. Being a long-term TRC guide gave him the expertise he needed to easily fulfill this role. Read all
Our stay at Refugio Amazonas was a great experience from beginning to end. The entire trip was very well organized, and having a tour guide with you throughout the experience made everything easy and enjoyable. Our guides, Dennis and Tuto, were excellent. They both spoke English very well and did a fantastic job explaining the different birds, trees, plants, and animals we encountered. Their knowledge really made the excursions much more interesting and helped us appreciate the Amazon on a deeper level. The expeditions were definitely a highlight. I highly recommend the clay lick, sunset cruise, observation tower, river boat tour, and night walk. Each activity offered something different, and we were able to see so much wildlife. The food was also excellent. Everything was fresh and tasted great. I especially enjoyed the protein dishes, fresh fruit, and yuca potatoes. Considering how remote the lodge is, we were very impressed with the quality of the food. The rooms are very open to nature, which is part of what makes the experience so unique. We saw monkeys right from our room, along with many birds and lizards. We even had a frog visit our room at night—which was definitely an interesting Amazon experience! 😂 One thing to be aware of is that the walls between rooms are quite thin, so you can hear your neighbors at times. Overall, the entire experience was absolutely worth the trip. If you’re visiting the Peruvian Amazon, I would strongly recommend Refugio Amazonas. The wildlife, guides, excursions, food, and being completely immersed in nature made this one of the highlights of our Peru trip. 🌿🦜🐒 Read all
Our stay here was one of the favorite parts of our trip to Peru. One of the most memorable parts of the stay is how wonderful the guides were. We had two different guides during our stay: Jos and Jorge. Jos had an amazing connection with the birds, knowing all the bird sounds by ear, he could imitate most of them. His passion for the birds was evident when we went out to see them, and during a visit to look for macaws at the clay lick, he moved locations just so we would have the opportunity to see them. When we viewed them up close through a new blind that had been built, his joy was as much as ours, delighting as if it was his first sighting. Jorge had a beautiful spirit that he shared with us during our time with him. Growing up in the community there, he had so much knowledge about the plants and trees. He introduced us to a medicinal plant, and had stories about some of the different trees. We felt well cared for by both guides. We also enjoyed the nightly science talks, teaching us about some of the ongoing projects which helped us feel more connected to the area. The food was wonderful, and all the staff were extremely helpful throughout our stay. Read all
Amazing location and truly deep jungle. This organisation has three lodges and this is the nearest to Puerto Maldonado but don’t think that the wildlife here is any less than the lodges further along the river. We saw a LOT of different animals, birds and variety of colours. Well worth the stay. Read all
We stayed last february for 4 nights in the TRC lodge. I never could have imagined that I would explore the amazon in such confortable and immersive way. The lodge itself is such a luxurious place, in the middle of nowhere! The food was nicely curated everyday to offer new bits and pieces of the Peruvian cuisine. The absolute highlight of our stay here was for sure the activities and our guide Carmen, who accompanied us everyday! We were able to choose our everydays activities with our very reduced group and our guide. Carmen guided us on very activity, spotting and explaining what animals we saw and interesting facts about our surroundings. Her knowledge and excitement were so infectious that it would even make the sightings even more special! Read all
One of the most unique experiences we’ve had! You are deep in the heart of the Amazon and truly feel immersed in nature. Our guide Dino was awesome and taught us so much about the rainforest-he is like a walking encyclopedia, and his love for the forest really shows. Also very unique to listen to nightly talks from the research team-it really adds to the experience. Food was great and staff very friendly. Bring lots of bug spray and an adventurous spirit! Read all
The lodge was fantastic; they were very attentive to our needs. The dining staff brought special bread for my wife because of her celiac disease and offered to prepare dishes specifically for her to meet her dietary needs. The lodge guides were truly knowledgeable and went out of their way to help us see all the local wildlife. I especially loved the mosquito net service they provided. I was worried we’d be eaten alive, but their setup is fabulous; I had no concerns once I saw how they installed the impenetrable nets and curtains. The meals were as good as—or better than—anywhere else we ate in Peru. We saw the following animals: macaws, parrots, parakeets, pale-winged trumpeters, tamarins, caimans, capybaras, and a ton of insects on our night hike. Read all
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