The Amazon Refuge Lodge
4°20'4.37"S 73°17'59.88"W
Off The Grid "National Geographic Traveler"
Located on the Yanayacu River, 'The Amazon Refuge and Wildlife Conservation Center' tends to draw hard-core birders, scientists, and serious jungle lovers who appreciate its remote location. The refuge’s 100-acre parcel was granted by the local Indians, who help staff the lodge and manage the reserve.
Guests stay in private, bungalows built from naturally felled trees with roofs thatched from local palms. Here, check rarities like the wattled curassow and Zimmer’s woodcreeper off your birding list, paddle upriver to a congregation of parrots, visit a local CuCama Indian community, and fish for pirarucu (Arapaima gigas)—one of the world’s largest freshwater species.
"If you want to experience what it feels like to stay in a true jungle lodge deep in the Amazon jungle stay here! The lodge is basic but comfortable. This is not a modern hotel with modern comforts. This is a true jungle experience."
ChrisChris79
Los Angeles, California
“A-MAZING!”
Reviewed 3 weeks ago
A truly great experience. The Amazon Refuge is beautiful, the last inhabited place on the YanaYacu River, no-one passes, and you feel that it's just you, the jungle, and the creatures that live there. The noises of the place are incredible, the river literally jumps with fish, and the bird life is stupendous. In spite of all this activity, the camp made me feel peaceful, grounded, and rested. A place to realise how beautiful and bountiful the earth is....more
The balance and power of nature is what’s most pure and fragile about our planet. That’s where my journey begins in Peru. Not in the port city of Iquitos, not in a Panamanian airport, and certainly not anywhere in my neighborhood in Florida.
The journey into the Yanayacu is more than a boat ride. At the risk of sounding cliché, it is a spiritual journey; it’s a trip through time…
One by one your trappings of modern advancement cease to be anything more than dead weight.
The cell phone has no signal; there is no Wi-Fi. And anyone worth their salt wouldn’t give a damn anyway if those amenities vanished at least for a time.
I spent my leisure time spear fishing, catching caiman, drinking rum at a jungle distillery, and learning the finer points of sloth wrangling. Fruits are everywhere, as are any number of rare and exotic primates and birds. The Amazon truly has no parallel. On one late night romp down the river, bait fish literally jumped into my lap.
The power of the jungle is evident in its shamanistic traditions as well. The transcendent Ayahuasca, which has been wielded for various uses since before recorded history and its careful ceremonious application, continues today.
As a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, and a consummate traveler, the Ayahuasca ceremony is not for everyone. However, the intensity of the experience from ingesting the plant almost pales in comparison to the awesome sound of hearing the ancient icaros performed by the shaman himself. In the dead black of the still jungle night, lit only by the stars, the icaros ring out, bridging the gap between the unseen dimensions and the observable world.
With the utmost sincerity I can honestly say I have never experienced any journey quite so powerful, quite so moving, and with such little interference from the clanging noise of the modern world. If you’re reading this, it’s because you’ve heard the Peruvian jungle calling you. Heed the call. Swim in her rivers, eat her foods, and be wise to learn her inhabitants.
ALEX -