Madre de Dios & The Lake Sandoval

Located in the Amazon Basin, the Madre de Dios department in southeast Peru has two main national parks: Manú and Tambopata. Before reaching Lake Titicaca and entering Bolivia, I had the pleasure of spending two nights in Tambopata National Park. It was my first time in the Amazon jungle since arriving in South America. Needless to say, it was a terrific experience. Together with a group of 9 or 10 other tourists, we sailed on Lake Sandoval in search of wildlife.

We spotted a whole bunch of them: caimans, snakes (we found a boa close to our homestay), tarantulas, monkeys, turtles, tons of birds, and a couple of mammals I can't really name. The lake is also home to a family of giant otters, an endangered species I was happy not to have disturbed.