Rainforest — Reserva Amazonica

Our home for 3 brief days was this lodge, 45 minutes downstream from Puerto Maldonado. What a fabulous place! Loads of fantastic food, an army of helpful, friendly and informative staff, comfy beds completely covered with cozy netting, refreshing cold showers, and the most comfortable hammocks I've ever lain in. We recommend it highly. (Here is a link to their website if you want more information about them.)

The picture on the left below gives a good idea of the general look of the place. It consists of 20 or so individual cabins, a large main dining room/lounge building, and a classroom-like meeting hall, all connected by walkways of either the round disks of tropical trees like on the left below, or covered wooden walkways like on the right.

It's a pretty large complex, as you can tell by this photo, taken by our English friend Russell Kennedy, which shows quite a length of walkway, leading from the main building to the cabins.

Reserva Amazonica walkway

Here is our cabin, which was number 17, and the nice bench nearby where we sat to watch the river go by during the day and to admire the star-filled sky at night.

What follows is a little tour of our cabin. First, the porch area, with the aforementioned wonderful hammocks. (Please forgive the x-rated attire—it's really hot in the jungle!) The next picture shows the view from the porch into the bedroom. Then, from the bedroom looking back toward the porch.

Then the view through the "A" of the cabin's roof (one of the few pictures taken by Kathy) and a closeup of one of the beds, with its protective netting. We hung clothes up on the rafters in the vain hope that they would dry out, and shoes up there to be sure no critters would crawl into them at night. We were successful in the latter endeavor, anyway.

Spending as much time in the hammock as I did (I admit it!) I grew quite fascinated with the cabin's thatched roof. Our guide told us the roofs usually last about 5 years in the jungle before they have to be replaced. They are pitched as steeply as they are so that as much rain as possible will run off, postponing the eventually rotting of the thatch.

Cabin roof

Here are some pictures of the lodge's main hall, which was not only visually impressive and quite comfortable, but also was the site of the fabulous buffet meals we had during our stay. Unfortunately the light level was such that Henry couldn't get pictures that show you the whole room, but you can get an idea of the structure from this shot, on the left below, which he took from up on the second level, looking past the "wagon-wheel" rafters to the dining room floor below.

Dining room

Fortunately our friend Russell's camera was better in the low light, and he got the picture at the left, which shows off the room and its rustic dining furniture pretty well. Henry's shot on the right is a little more atmospheric...

Henry and Russ both took pictures of lounge areas in the hall, too. Henry's is the one below on the left; it shows one of these areas on the second floor, while Russell's on the right was taken on the main floor. They both provided nice spaces to relax, take in the jungle ambience, visit with other tourists, and wait for the wonderful meal to come.

Thanks very much to Russ for letting us use his photos!

Back to main page

Back to Rainforest index page Link to Rainforest index