Puerto Maldonado

A reserve of Amazon rainforest spreading south of town, with most jungle lodges set along the rivers at its edges. Many lie hours upriver by boat, so stays are booked as packages of three days or more with boat transfers and guides included.

A riverside earth bank where hundreds of macaws and parrots land to lick the clay, thought to be after its minerals. The birds gather in greatest numbers just after sunrise, so lodges head out by boat before dawn; when it rains, hardly any turn up.

An oxbow lake cut off from the river, home to a family of giant otters, with macaws nesting in the palm swamp on its shore. A trail of about 3 kilometres leads from the river landing to rowed canoes, and the otters come out to fish in the early morning.

Several lodges have steel or timber towers rising tens of metres above the forest, and from the top toucans and monkeys can be watched crossing the treetops. Birds are busiest as the morning sun comes in, and with steep, tight stairs people climb singly.

A tall lookout tower standing downtown; from its top the two rivers can be seen meeting amid endless forest. Reliefs of local history wrap its walls, and at sunset the rivers glow red.

A suspension bridge across the Madre de Dios, opened in 2011 with the Interoceanic Highway and among the longest in Peru. Before it, people crossed by ferry, and small boats still take passengers from the landing below.

A market heaped with river fish, Brazil nuts, bananas and jungle fruit, where townspeople do their morning shopping. Rubber boots and rain ponchos come cheap here before heading into the forest, and food stalls inside serve fish soup.

Brazil nut trees are giants reaching 50 metres, and walks follow the collectors who hold forest concessions along their gathering trails. The hard pods fall from high above, so in the rainy harvest season nobody lingers under the trees.

After dark, guides lead torchlit walks through the forest in search of tarantulas, tree frogs and roosting birds. Snakes may be about, so stay on the trail, and wear the rubber boots lodges lend out.

At night a boat runs along the bank with a torch, and the eyes of caimans shine red in the beam to give them away. Guides may show a small one up close, and the river breeze turns cool, so bring long sleeves.

A horseshoe lake left by the Tambopata River's old course, deep in the forest and home to a giant otter family. A trail leads in from the river lodges, and a raft pulled along a rope carries you round. Go early, while the otters hunt.

A mid-sized island out in the river whose forest holds hundreds of monkeys of several species. You cross by boat and walk its trails. The monkeys try to snatch whatever they can, so keep bags zipped and hands empty.

A long, narrow lake some 15 km in length, about 60 km from Puerto Maldonado. Getting there means a long boat ride along the Madre de Dios River, so many trips stay overnight. Tourist services cluster in a small settlement at its north tip.

A park of over a million hectares, created in 1996, south of the Tambopata reserve and bordering Bolivia's Madidi. Jaguars, tapirs, giant otters and harpy eagles live here. It also protects the Pampas del Heath, a rare tropical savanna in the Amazon.

At the town's eastern edge, by the government buildings, the Tambopata pours into the Madre de Dios. From the high bank you watch the two differently coloured waters mix. Seen from the riverside path, evening sunsets drop behind the far-bank trees.