A UNIQUE ENCOUNTER with a Jaguar

Stories

A face to face encounter with a jaguar

The first time I put my feet on Madre de Dios was during the rainy season of 2014, to be precise on January 3rd.

 

The goal of that trip was to collect information about the “Castaña” (Brazil nut tree) production in the property of Refugio Amazonas Lodge, start my thesis to get the degree and also, try to graft mature Brazil nut trees with buds of productive trees from other parts of the region in order to enhance the production.

 

To start my work and accomplish the goals I needed to find “Castaña” buds from productive trees. Talking with people in the city I met a “castañero” known as Cachimba, a 65-year-old man who offered his trees so that I could prune the buds. His Brazil nut concession land was close by Valencia Lake. This lake is an oxbow lake that was part of the Madre de Dios River many years before.

Experience a Brazil Nut Trail and Camp at Rainforest Expeditions Lodges

The day I arrived everything ran perfectly; weather in the best conditions, no rain but cloudy. The tree that the worker showed me to climb for collecting the buds was only 10 minutes walking from the base camp. When I arrive at the base of the tree, I felt like being in the Avatar movie. That Brazil nut tree was considered the most productive of the land and with a longevity of around 1200 years.

 

This intimidating ancient tree was 55 meters tall, supporting a 30 meters wide crown. I spent the whole day climbing, collecting the buds, moving between branches. The most intense and gratifying day of work in my life. Then, with the buds in my hands, I only had between 3 and 5 days to graft them in the trees in Refugio Amazonas Lodge.

Brazil Nut Tree

Brazil Nut Tree – Photo by Varun Swamy

As soon I got back to Refugio, the buds were installed and the “castañeros” of the land arrived. Three men with their upper bodies armed as soldiers were collecting all the coconut-like fruits of the “Castaña”. Using machetes as blades, they opened the hard shells to get the seeds, in only three hits. My work was to count how many fruits were produced in each tree.

 

First, I helped them find the fruits on the ground by the tree base and stack them on a small hill. Some trees have 50 fruits but there could have up to 2,000 fruits. When they started breaking the fruits I sat down close to them and counted how many they opened.

brazil nut camp

 

Brazil nuts on a trail

 

One of the days I was counting, very concentrated, all the fruits, so that I wouldn’t miss a single one and be able to get the more precise results in my thesis.

 

Suddenly, they were looking at me with extremely afraid faces. Their faces made me freak out; they were acting as if they were seeing a ghost. I started to look at my body because I thought I had a viper on me but I didn’t, so I realized they were looking behind me.

 

I turned back and saw 8 meters away from me, a female Jaguar. She was curious about the sounds of the machetes hitting the fruits. Between her front legs was a cub, a small one, probably 2 or 3 months old. That scene lasted around 10 more long seconds, no one was moving, we were paralyzed, probably without knowing if we were in a dream (encounter with a jaguar).

Then, the jaguar turned to her left and started walking into the density of the forest. The cub took two more seconds to realize his mom was gone, made two jumps out, and disappeared. After that moment I spent two years without looking at a single Jaguar.

Jaguar in the rainforest

Jaguar (Panthera Onca) By Paul Bertner

Jaguars are solitary cats, they don’t live in herds like lions. Is easy to spot them nearby the river banks during boat trips. When you travel to the Amazon, in Tambopata, you have up to a 35% chance to spot one. The territories of females are associated with the surroundings of the rivers where they can find their favorite prey: capybaras.

Learn How To Identify a Jaguar in the Amazon Rainforest Here

Males use bigger territories, up to 300 square kilometers, and can get deep inside the forest for long periods following white-lipped peccary’s herds or Tapir trails. If you saw more than one jaguar together could be a female whit its cups, maybe a couple of young brothers that are still together before taking their own way, or maybe a male and a female during the breeding season.

The incredible thing about this story is the proximity that we can have with these activities. Within everyone’s reach…The Brazil Nut Trail and even the Jungle Jaguar Search. Definitely unforgettable experiences.

by Juan Diego

Do not wait any longer for a tour of the Amazon Rainforest!

  • 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