Departures: Upon request
Join award-winning National Geographic published travel photographer Jeff Cremer on a Peru photo adventure into its Amazon rainforest. Travel by boat to your lodge in the rainforest reserve. You will learn about the forest, its community as well as photography techniques used to get those exotic shots! Photography is done early morning, afternoon and at night to make sure that you have a well-rounded view and chance to shoot the natural scenes which depict this amazing place. Jeff shares his secrets about getting the very best shots. Peru Rainforest Photo Adventure w/Jeff Cremer is a rare chance to explore Jeff’s world through your lense.
Photos courtesy of Jeff Cremer
Meet Jeff Cremer
Jeff Cremer is an award-winning travel photographer based in Lima, Peru. Originally from Colorado in the American West his wanderlust and search for compelling images have brought him to amazing places all over the world. Impressed by the stunning beauty and abundant photographic opportunities in Latin America he lived in Costa Rica and Colombia before moving to Peru. Jeff’s work has been displayed in galleries around the world and published in numerous books and magazines. Two of his gigapixel photographs were recently published in Earth Platinum Edition, the world’s largest atlas. Each page spread of this limited edition book measures a breathtaking 6 feet x 9 feet (1.8m x 2.7m). Only 31 copies will be printed and will retail for $100,000 a copy.
He also holds the record for the largest photo ever taken in Peru: a huge 22,000 megapixel panorama of the Miraflores district of Lima as well as the largest photo ever taken of Machu Picchu weighing in at 16,000 megapixels. The image can be seen at www.gigapixelperu.com
His work has been featured in: Petapixel.com, Fstoppers.com, Wired Magazine, National Geographic, NBC News, Yahoo News, Huffington Post, London Telegraph, Techbang, Toronto Sun, as well as others. Combining his love of science, nature and technology, Jeff is an accomplished astrophotographer. After spending many cold nights in the high plains of Colorado using advanced equipment to take images of distant objects in the night sky he participated in the Kitt Peak National Observatories Advanced Observer Program where he used robotically controlled telescopes and highly sensitive astronomical imagers to take amazing photos of nebula, star clusters and galaxies.
ITINERARY
SPECIAL FOR TOUR Use of the 600mm & 800mm lenses – You can use them and do not need to carry!
Day 1 – Arrival & Reception by Photography Guide
Because photography in the rainforest requires a lot of patience and luck, our photography guides help with your equipment, provide subtle tips for improved use of blinds and maximize breaks with the weather and wildlife.
Transfer Airport to Puerto Maldonado Headquarters. Upon arrival from Lima or Cusco, we will welcome you at the airport and drive you the ten minutes to our Puerto Maldonado headquarters. While enjoying your first taste of the forest in our gardens we will ask you to pack only the necessary gear for your next few days, and leave the rest at our safe deposit. This helps us keep the boats and cargo light.
Transfer from Puerto to Maldonado Headquarters to the Tambopata River Port Skirting Puerto Maldonado. We drive the 20 kilometers to the Tambopata River Port, entering the Native Community of Infierno. The port is a communal business.
Transfer by Boat from the Tambopata River Port to our first Rainforest Lodge. The forty five minute boat ride from the Tambopata Port to Posada Amazonas lodge will take us into the local Community´s Primary Forest Private Reserve. Boxed Lunch
Orientation: Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips.
Introduction to Rainforest Photography Lecture: After lunch we will have a presentation about rainforest photography, challenges & tips. We will also learn about some specialized photographic techniques and see examples. Dinner
Night Photography: Night walks are great for photographing insects and frogs. We may be able to find praying mantids, cicadas, leaf mimicking grasshoppers as well as huge toads, shiny green tree frogs and bizarre horned frogs.
Overnight at Posada Amazonas Lodge
Day 2 – Photography: Birds
Breakfast – Photography at the parrot clay lick: This clay lick is only a twenty minute walk from our first rainforest lodge. From a blind located about twenty meters away you will see dozens of parrots and parakeets descend on most clear mornings to ingest the clay on a river bank. Species such as mealy and yellow- headed Amazons, blue- headed parrot and dusky headed parakeet descend at this clay lick. The clay lick is most active at dawn and during the late morning and early afternoons. From the blind we have constructed next to this lick, even the amateur photographer can take good pictures of these wonderful birds. Lunch
Photography from the Tower: A thirty minute walk takes us to this 37-meter tall scaffolding tower, which will add a whole new dimension to our Amazon birding experience: the forest canopy. We will wait for a canopy mixed flock to appear. The mixed flock is mostly all about tanagers: paradise tanager, green-and-gold tanager, flame-crested tanager, turqoise tanager, opal-rumped tanager and others. The tower also offers good opportunity for cream- colored woodpecker, gilded barbet, plum-throated cotinga and striolated puffbird. Macaws and toucans are seen flying against the horizon, including the chestnut-eared, lettered, emerald, curl-crested, and brown-mandibled aracaries. We will see lonely raptors riding the thermals. This is your best chance for hawk-eagles and even harpy eagles! Dinner
Photo Review Session: After dinner we have time to pick our best photos and load them into the computer for a slide show. We will have time to analyze and talk about the day’s photography. Any questions about camera/ lens usage, composition etc. can be addressed.
Overnight at Posada Amazonas lodge
Day 3 – Photography: Lake/Tambopata National Reserve – Wildlife & Mountains
Breakfast – Photography at the oxbow lake: The lake is thirty minutes by boat and forty five minutes hiking from the lodge. Once there you will paddle around the lake in a catamaran, searching for the resident family of nine giant river otters (seen by 60% of our lake visitors) and other lakeside wildlife such as caiman, hoatzin and horned screamers. The lake provides wonderful opportunities to photograph majestic trees, water reflections and, if we are very fortunate, animal life. Although otters are frequently seen, the distances at which they are sighted usually do not make for good photography. 
Transfer by Boat – Rainforest Lodge to our lodge deep inside the Tambopata National Reserve
Six and a half hours by boat from our first lodge, in the pristine heart of the reserve, lies the Tambopata Research Center. As we cross the confluence with the Malinowski River, we will leave the final traces of human habitation behind. Within the 700,000 hectare uninhabited nucleus of the reserve, sightings of capybara, caiman, geese, macaws and other large species will become more frequent.
Chuncho Clay Lick: Deep in the Tambopata National Reserve we will stop at the Chuncho clay lick. After a brief walk (~5 minutes) we will have the chance to see dozens of large macaws feeding on the special sodium rich clays of the riverbank. The Chuncho clay lick probably attracts more large macaws than any other clay lick in the world and the sight of dozens of macaws taking flight is truly unforgettable. The details of our stopover will depend on the weather and the amount of macaw activity, as the birds don’t visit the clay lick when it is raining. Boxed Lunch
Orientation: Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips.
Photography from Overlooks: A three to five kilometer hike will lead us to overlooks commanding magnificent views of the Tambopata winding its way into the lowlands. The forest on this trail, regenerating on old bamboo forest, is good for Howler Monkey and Dusky Titi Monkey. The overlooks provide excellent panoramic photo opportunities of the Tambopata winding its way down from the highlands. On a clear day, it will even be possible to view and photograph the snow capped Andean peaks in the distance. At each overlook we will have good chances of encounters at eyelevel at 30-50 yards with large turkey-like birds called guans and chachalacas, or toucans, or macaws roosting on the trees. Dinner
Photo Review Session: After dinner we have time to edit and review our photos. Any questions about camera/ lens usage, composition etc. can be addressed.
Overnight at Tambopata Research Center
Day 4 – Photography: Birds/Floodplain/Macro Workshop/Pond
Macaw Clay Lick Photography from the Beach: On most clear mornings of the year dozens of large macaws and hundreds of parrots congregate on this large river bank in a raucous and colorful spectacle which inspired a National Geographic cover story. Discretely located fifty meters from the cliff, we will observe green-winged, scarlet and blue-and-gold Macaws and several species of smaller parrots descend to ingest clay. Outings are at dawn when the lick is most active. If the river is not swollen, thereby reducing the effective beach area, photographers should have plenty of opportunities to shoot the typical clay lick photographs from distances of 50-100 meters. Breakfast
Photography in the floodplain forest: This five kilometer trail covers the prototypical rain forest with immense trees criss-crossed by creeks and ponds. Amongst the figs, ceibas and shihuahuacos we will look for squirrel, brown capuchin, and spider monkeys as well as peccaries. TRC lodge is located within this habitat. Photo opportunities for all mammals and birds on this trail will be scant as visibility and lighting are poor and animals timid. Our principal focus will be general rain forest shots as well as portraits of the huge trees that are scattered throughout this forest. Lunch
Macro Photography Workshop: Tonight we get to venture into the jungle for night-time macro photography. This lecture introduces us to macro photography and some of the specialized equipment that is used to take these photos. In addition to the top of the line Nikon 105mm VR macro lenses we have access to the amazing Canon MP-E-65 lens. This rare extreme macro lens allows can zoom in so close that a 5mm subject will fill the entire frame!
Photography on the Pond Platform: Ten minutes upriver from the lodge is a small pond with a platform in the middle reached by a raised boardwalk. It is a great place for the late afternoon where we whittle away the remains of the day as we spot waterfowl such as muscovy ducks, sunbitterns and hoatzins along with the woodpeckers, oropendolas, flycatchers and parakeets that call this pond their home. Opportunities to photograph these beautiful birds will abound, as the lighting and visibility of the pond is excellent and these birds´ habits are predictable over short periods of time.
Dinner Overnight at Tambopata Research Center
Day 5 – Photography: Wildlife/Palm Swamp Tower/Macro Shoots at Night
Breakfast – Photography around the lodge clearing: We will photograph ‘’herps’’ around the TRC clearing: frogs, snakes and lizards. TRC specialists will have spent the past few days screening the vicinity for encounters with the most photogenic ‘’herp’’ species and will have prepared appropriate scenarios. The chicos, our flock of semi-wild, hand reared macaws will provide additional photographic opportunities as they fly about around the lodge. Lunch
Photography from the palm swamp tower: Although macaws nest from October to April, there are different degrees of macaw activity at the swamp year round. From this vantage point we can photograph blue and gold macaws landing and roosting on their nest holes in dead palms. The nests are all less than fifteen yards away, and only a yard or two above eye level. As the sun sets behind the birds´ golden chests, we will have opportunities for close ups of superb quality. Dinner
Night Photography: Night walks are great for photographing insects and frogs. We may be able to find praying mantis, cicadas, leaf mimicking grasshoppers as well huge toads, shiny green tree frogs and bizarre horned frogs. Along the way your photography guide will show you how to use your camera and flash together to take amazing macro photos.
Overnight at Tambopata Research Center
Day 6 – Photography: Free Time/Brazil Nut Forest/Workshop-Photoshop & Book Making
Time – off: Time off to relax and enjoy the lodge surroundings, try out a new trail, or repeat your favorite activity.
Breakfast
Transfer by Boat from TRC lodge to our third lodge: A three and a half hour boat ride brings us to Refugio Amazonas lodge. Boxed Lunch
Brazil Nut Trail and Camp: A few minutes hike from the lodge is a beautiful old growth patch of Brazil Nut forest that has been harvested for decades (if not centuries) where the precarious remains of a camp used two months a year by Brazil Nut gatherers can still be experienced. We will be demonstrating the whole process of the rain forest’s only sustainably harvested product from collection through transportation to drying. Dinner
Photoshop and Bookmaking Workshop: We again review and upload our best photos for a photo review session and are introduced to book making software and Photoshop. During the Photoshop part of the lecture we learn about levels, saturation, image sharpening, and resizing, transforming and RAW processing. We also get the chance to enhance some of our favorite images.
We are also introduced to bookmaking software comes with loads of pre-designed and customizable layouts, a huge selection of fonts, and all the tools you need to make sophisticated bookstore quality photography books. The software is connected to a print on demand service allowing you to print your book when you are finished.
Overnight at Refugio Amazonas Lodge
Day 7 – Departure by boat onward to airport
Breakfast – Transfer by Boat from Refugio Amazonas to the Tambopata River Port
Transfer from the Tambopata River Port to our Puerto Maldonado Headquarters
Transfer from our Puerto Maldonado Headquarters to Airport: We retrace our river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado, our office and the airport. Depending on airline schedules, this may require dawn departures.
CALL NOW TO BOOK 415-331-3791
Cost from $3995.00 per person, twin share Superior rooms
Single supplement is $700.00 per person
NOTE: Rate based on 5-8-persons
***A Surcharge per person applies on both twin share and single supplement for 1 -4 persons.***
NOTE: At the Posada Amazonas Lodge & the Refugio Amazonas Lodge Superior rooms are used which have electric lighting & sockets in the room for recharging batteries. Also private bathroom facilities.
At the Tambopata Research Center there are only Standard rooms. Also, remember to note that at the TRC bathroom facilities are shared, but are close to the rooms, very well maintained & sufficient to virtually guarantee availability at all times. There are 2 common areas with multi-plugs for recharging.
Includes:
SPECIAL FOR TOUR Use of the 600mm & 800mm lenses – You can use them and do not need to carry!
-USD $75 per person park entry fee
-Program based on double occupancy
-All meals
-Accommodations
-Services as detailed
-All river transportation
-Transfers from and to the airport of Puerto Maldonado
Does not include:
-International or domestic airfares
-Airport departure taxes
-Visa fees
-Excess baggage charges
-Additional nights during the trip due to flight cancellations
-Alcoholic beverages
-Bottled water
-Snacks
-Travel insurance
-Misc: such as laundry, phone calls or messages, reconfirmation of flights and items of personal nature
Boat Transportation: All our boats are 20 foot long, roofed canoes with 75 hp outboard motors.
Important transfer time schedules:
Transfer-in (From Puerto Maldonado to Lodge): we have two departures daily at 13:00 and 14:30
Transfer-out (Lodge to Puerto Maldonado) : Two daily departures at 07:00 and 08:00 For other schedule possibilities please consult us.
We reserve the right to change the order of activities depending on local circumstances and/or climatic conditions.
CALL NOW 415-331-3791
Space is limited
