Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Sandoval Lake & Heath River

Hi laurieco, hi Pegsimba.

I have been to sandoval and the heath river a number of times. Each trip has always been an adventure, it is one of my favorite spots in peru for nature and wildlife. And one that has far fewer tourists than manu.
Sandoval has been around long enough so that it is well known as a place easily accessible from puerto maldonado, but one (because it is inside the reserve) that still is considered one of the best places in the SE peruvian amazon for birds, monkeys, especially giant otters. The lodge itself is in one large, long building: rooms are abit small, but they have private bath and hot water. The dining area is a large room with a bar, hammocks.
The lake itself is what the place is all about. No motor boats are allowed on the lake, you can take catamarans (the staff paddles), or take a small canoe to explore the lake shore and into the flooded palm tree forest. Macaws nest in the palms. Otters are generally easy to spot, many times swimming right by the lodge dock (the guides know the best places to show you the otters, they do not want individuals to go near the den areas).

The heath river is still a new destination for having tourists, so there is a good chance you will not have a large crowd of people around you. Years ago there was a lodge on the bolivian side of the river. The newer ese eja lodge is on the peruvian side (the river is the boundary of the countries). I have not been to the newer lodge since it was completed, my last trip they had bungalows finished and were working on the main building. The bungalows are spaced out so you have a great deal of privacy; they are large (the roomiest I have been in even compared to manu lodges).
The macaw lick is excellent. The river itself is very narrow, so in a floating blind you are really close to the lick. Scores of macaws are a fairly normal experience, along with hundreds of other parrots.
Capybaras are all along the heath river, a chance to see an anaconda. Jaguars are very rare to see (though they are there due to the times you will find paw prints on the trails). Once I caught a fleeeeting vision of one. A friend managed to get a picture of a jaguar swimming across the river just beyond his canoe. Caiman are definitely happening, as any night with a bright spotlight will show.
Near the lodge are also small lakes, it may be possible to visit them, as otters are in those waters.
Night animals, like tapirs, deer, can be seen at mud licks not far from the lodge.
Bring a long sleeve cotton shirt (over a light tea shirt), and cotton pants to wear when you hit the trails.
September and october are excellent times to visit the area. It is not the highest of the tourist season; very little, if any, rain. The birds are active, more than june-august.
It is not likely that very much more tourist development will happen along the heath river, almost all of the land along the river is part of either the tambopata reserve, the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park or the Madidi national park (bolivia). The local Indians rarely hunt animals like the monkey, tapir, and macaw; so many of the animals are coming closer to the river banks than they did years ago.

A site to check out for more info about the heath is www.peruperu.com

Some of my travel stories about the amazon are at www.expphoto.com/home.html

Happy trails,
Davarain
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