SECRET FOREST
The Station
Your gateway to the heart of biodiversity in Peru
Situated less than two hours from the city of Puerto Maldonado, SFO straddles the buffer zone of Tambopata National Reserve, with over 800 hectares of protected and well-studied forest and a central base replete with comfortable lodging and locally-sourced meals.
Lodging
Platform Rooms
Our platform rooms are nestled along the forest edge that surrounds the base, combining the essence of a cabin and a safari-style campsite. Durable, high-quality netting protects from the elements while also providing adequate ventilation in the humid jungle air. Colorful lizards, ground birds such as tinamous, and small mammals like agoutis often make their rounds outside the platforms without fear of humans!
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Jungle Bungalow
Our largest lodging site at the station, the bungalow is a cabin-style dwelling with a main room and restroom (including shower). The bungalow can house between 5 and 6 persons and sits just behind the main entrance to the forest. The location is within just two minutes' walking distance from the central house of the station while also being distant enough to grant visitors a sense of privacy and closeness to the forest.
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Dormitory Rooms
Those interested in a more basic form of lodging can opt to stay in our dormitory house, a spacious and inviting site with a private restroom and shower. Like our other rooms, the dormitory is right at the edge of the forest and gives you a front-row seat to the panoply of jungle life.
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The Forest
Click the icons on the map to explore our habitats and their signature fauna!
Floodplain forest
Sira poison frog (Ranitomeya sirensis)
Black-headed night monkey
(Aotus nigriceps)
Peruvian morpho
(Morpo deidamia)
Short-eared dog
(Atelocynus microtis)
Band-tailed manakin
(Pipra fasciicauda)
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Where the jungle meets the river
The varzea, or floodplain forest, becomes inundated by the Tambopata River periodically. Some areas regularly flood every wet season (Dec-May) and others only every century! While many species are shared between flooded and non-flooded forest, the varzea's characteristic plant community, marked by cecropias, bamboos, and giant trees like kapok (Ceiba pentandra), host unqiue communities of fauna, especially in terms of amphibians and birds. Notable regional specialty bird species include Peruvian Recurvebill; Purplish Jay; Inambari Woodcreeper; Brown-rumped Foliage-gleaner; Plain Softtail; Bamboo Antshrike; White-eyed Stipplethroat; Striated, Goeldi's, Yellow-breasted Warbling-, Manu, & White-lined Antbirds; Amazonian Antpitta; Long-crested & Flammulated Pygmy-Tyrants; Plain Tyrannulet; Large-headed & Dusky-tailed Flatbills; & Needle-billed Hermit.
Terra firme forest
Jaguar
(Panthera onca)
Black hawk-eagle
(Spizaetus tyrannus)
Bates' tree boa
(Corallus batesii)
Pavonine quetzal
(Pharmomachrus pavoninus)
Giant anteater
(Myrmecophaga tridactyla)
The classic Amazonian forest
Terra firme forests characterize the majority of the Madre de Dios region, and represent areas never inundated by rivers. These habitats host the greatest species richness of all Amazonian ecosystems and are dominated by large woody trees like shihuahuaco (Dipteryx micrantha), fire tree (Schizolobium parahyba), and Brazil nut (Betholletia excelsa). Regional specialty bird species include Brazilian Tinamou; Razor-billed Curassow; Pale-winged Trumpeter; White-browed Hawk; three hawk-eagle species; Amazonian Pygmy-Owl; Buff-fronted Foliage-gleaner; Pavonine Quetzal; Undulated Antshrike; Sclater's Antwren; Plum-throated Cotinga; McConnell's Flycatcher; Dull-capped Attila; Moustached Wren; Pectoral Sparrow; Yellow-crested Tanager; Red-billed Pied Tanager; Fiery-capped, Red-headed, & Round-tailed Manakins, Semicollared Puffbird, Fulvous-chinned Nunlet, Scarlet-hooded Barbet, & Curl-crested Aracari.
Blackwater lakes
Hoatzin
(Opisthocomus hoazin)
Sungrebe
(Heliornis fulica)
Sunbittern
(Eurypyga helias)
Twist-neck turtle
(Platemys platycephala)
Blue-and-gold macaw
(Ara ararauna)
Giant otter
(Pteronura brasiliensis)
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Oases in a sea of green
Cut off from the rivers, lakes in the Amazon are dark black in color, lacking the silt from the mineral-rich Andes and tainted by the acidic tannins of fallen leaves. A very unique assemblage of wildlife is present in these habitats, particularly of birds. Viewing hoatzin, sunbittern, sungrebe, and blue-and-gold macaw is almost guaranteed. Regional specialty bird species include Purple-throated Euphonia; White-winged Shrike-Tanager; Pavonine Cuckoo; Slender-billed Kite; Sapphire-spangled Emerald; White-chinned Sapphire; Amazonian Parrotlet; White-bellied Parrot; Black-capped Parakeet; Blue-headed Macaw; Purus & Bluish-fronted Jacamars; & five kingfisher species. Giant river otters are sometimes observed at the site, as are caimans, large snakes like yellow-tailed cribo (Drymarchon corais) and chicken snake (Spillotes pullatus), and the giant tegu lizard (Tupinambis cuscoensis).
Ponds and streams
Giant monkey-frog
(Phyllomedua bicolor)
Neotropical river crab
(Trichodactylidae sp.)
Armored catfish
(Callyichthyidae sp.)
Cuvier's dwarf caiman
(Paleosuchus trigonatus)
Suriname toad
(Pipa pipa)
The veins of the forest interior
The jungle is everywhere interspersed with streams and pools, both permanent and emphemeral. These microhabitats present a unique community of fauna, especially in terms of amphibians, reptiles, and fishes. Stable populations of three iconic herp species are found in these habitats--the giant monkey-frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor), South America's largest frog used for millennia by Amazonian peoples for the kambo ritual; Cuvier's dwarf caiman (Paleosuchus trigonatus) which is one of the world's smallest (and fiercest!) crocodilians; and the bizarre Suriname toad (Pipa pipa), the descendant of a very ancient lineage of frogs confined to Amazonia. A night walk along our principal stream commonly yields a variety of fishes like tetras, cichlids, the giant wolf-fish (Hoplias malabaricus), caimans, aquatic snakes (Helicops), turtles, and even crustaceans!
Mauritia swamp
Aquatic coral snake
(Micrurus surinamensis)
Green anaconda
(Eunectes murinus)
Agami heron
(Agamia agami)
Moriche palm
(Mauritia flexuosa)
Lobster-claw heliconia
(Heliconia rostrata)
The remains of an ancient river
Dominated by the impressive moriche palm (Mauritia flexuosa), known in Peru as aguaje, aguajal swamps represent old sections of rivers, in this case the Tambopata, which have since changed their course in a constant process of erosion. For centuries these ancient river arms retain their waters, which turn black with tannins from vegetation and fill in with a variety of giant trees and water-loving plants. Night walks along our massive aguajal swamp can be incredibly productive for reptiles and amphibians, both terrestrial and acuatic. In this area we have recorded everything from rare and poorly-known frogs like Pristimatis divnae and Cruziohyla craspedopus to iconic snakes like bushmaster, aquatic coral snake, the arboreal pit-viper Bothrops bilineatus, and five boa species.
Redtail catfish
(Phractocephalus hemioliopterus)
Capybara
(Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris)
The Tambopata
Horned screamer
(Anhima cornuta)
Neotropical otter
(Lontra longicaudata)
Black caiman
(Melanosuchus niger)
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The gift of the Andes
The mighty Tambopata is a major tributary of the Madre de Dios (Madeira in Brazil), a tributary of the Amazon and yet itself one of the world's largest rivers. Not only is the river the main highway for human transport in the region, it is the lifeblood for many plant and animal species of the region. Its waters are teeming with an incredible fish diversity, with predators like redtail and tiger sorubim catfishes which can grow up to 1.5m in length! The title of apex aquatic predator, however, is owed to caimans: the common white caiman (Caiman crocodilus) and the elusive, massive black caiman (Melanosuchus niger), whose populations are finally recovering in the region after decades of overhunting. Mammals like capybara are comonly seen along the shore, and riverbanks are the best place for chance sightings of jaguars! Typical bird fauna of riverbanks includes Little Ground-Tyrant, Sand-colored Nighthawk, various swallows, Capped & Cocoi Herons, Horned Screamer, & Orinoco Goose.
Mammal clay lick
Collared peccary
(Tayassu tajacu)
Lowland tapir
(Tapirus terrestris)
Red brocket deer
(Mazama americana)
Paca
(Cuniculus paca)
Bicolored porcupine
(Coendou bicolor)
A mecca for elusive beasts
SFO hosts a large, rather open section of forest which to any visitor is unmistakable for its soil--a layer of thick clay covered in the tracks of various forest denizens. Here, a wide variety of mammals come to consume the rich clay, which provides essential nutrients such as sodium which are otherwise absent in their typical diets. Nocturnal visits to the site have a chance of sighting tapir, two species of deer, collared and possible white-lipped peccaries (large pig-like mammals), crab-eating raccoon, and giant rodents such as pacas and porcupines. Given that mammals are notoriously difficult to spot in the jungle, access to clay licks is an excellent way to maximize the possibility of viewing them. The large quantity of herbivore species naturally makes this an ideal place to possibly encounter predators like ocelot, tayra, and even puma and jaguar.