Heath River Wildlife Center

Heath River Wildlife Center Review

The spacious screened bungalows at this InkaNatura-owned lodge are among the most comfortable eco-accommodations in Madre de Dios, and they're ideal for full-blown wildlife fans: in fact, guests frequently see such rare animals as tapirs or jaguars. The center is actually in Bolivia, but you don't officially enter that country. It is near both the Tambopata National Reserve and Bolivia's Madidi National Park. In addition to its own protected forest, traversed by miles of trails, the lodge offers convenient access to a collpa visited by hundreds of parrots and macaws, as well as an oxbow lake called Cocha Moa. A 90-minute hike from the lodge takes you to a savannah-like ecosystem called Pampas de Heath that's home to birds found nowhere else in Peru. Most people combine a stay here with a couple of nights at the Sandoval Lake Lodge.