Booking policy

Our tours are done in the Rainforest in wild and remote areas, some with limited or no communication access. it is essential that you understand that some of our trips carry ‘risks’ that are inherent within the activity. Our team is trained and experienced enough to recommend to you what is best to minimize any risk, please during trips follow the guide suggestions and don’t push to do activities that can increase any risk. For example, to go out walking when it is raining, it’s better not to (it is way better wildlife and safety-wise to go out when the rain stops)

keep in mind that we are a lodge in the middle of the jungle and all services do not work as a “RESORT” or standard Hotel in town, we have limitation with energy and hardware tend to fail more often than normal due to high humidity and the wild conditions.

We also highly recommend you take out adequate travel insurance. Please ensure your policy covers the activities you are doing, not all policies do.

Because our tours are in remote and wild places, transportation is expensive and, in some cases, very difficult, therefore all our tours are operated in “groups” shared services, this is to minimize the operating cost and make the prices of the tours more economical and affordable.

We, however, always thinking about your comfort and a superior experience, try to keep a very low number of participants in the group, and always in any case the number should not exceed 8 participants per group per Naturalist guide.

ABOUT THE TOURS 

The names “3 days 2 nights”, “4 days 3 nights”, or any other similar one, DOES NOT have a literal meaning, it is just the name of a tour for general understanding, all Tours are based on starting from midmorning to midday on the first day, on last day tours end after breakfast, normally departures start 7:30 am from any of the lodges, this is due to a universal check-in and check out of rooms, also because of the remote areas and the very expensive cost of transportation, especially on the rivers, we have scheduled one shuttle a day from any of our lodges, sometimes we do more shuttles a day, but this is highly restricted to operational boats availability and regulations, for example, we run our tours inside the Tambopata National Reserve, and by regulations, a Naturalist certified guide must be with you all the time.

In case you need, wish, or do not want to take the scheduled shuttle you can ask for a later or earlier departure based on your interest, flight time, or bus schedule, and spend more time in the lodge you can ask for a private shuttle which includes a custom boat to the city and transfer to the airport, hotel or bus station, the price may vary depending on your requirement and availability, this may cost from 100 – 500 USD.

The Lodge:

Our lodge is in the jungle right next to the Tambopata National Reserve, We are natural neighbors and we are a fundamental part of the protection and conservation of the Natural area, All services and energy are supplied by our own equipment, and the main energy is Solar, Solar energy could have limitations, specially in cloudy and rainy days then we must use generators as back up, then we could have limited energy in the room for certain hours only. We have ceiling fans in the rooms and common areas but these are limited to use only during the day, and at night Once we go battery mode the ceiling fans will be off in order to save energy for lighting and recharging devices

We  always ask you to help us save energy as much as possible

For us to be able to accept a tour reservation, we must have 3 availabilities:

1: Room available

2: Bilingual Naturalist Guide

3: Adequate transportation

Only with these three characteristics can we accept the reservation to what we call “operational availability”

The itineraries and timing on those are based on the flight arrival, we recommend you arrive on the earliest flight possible, this would allow us to manage possible delays better, the latest flight you can book for arrival is the one landing in Pto Maldonado until 2 pm, our itineraries are designed to fit the flights around 1 pm.

On the last day you can book any flight that suits you, however, you must consider that due to the remoteness of our location, the highly expensive cost of river transportation, and Naturalist Guide availability we have only one shuttle scheduled a day, from our Lodge it takes 2 hours to get back to the city,  if you have a later flight you can stay in our office, or visit the town until your flight time, we will assist you until its time to transfer you to the airport or bus station

If you arrive by bus, we wait for you at the bus station, and the tours start by midmorning or midday when the other guests arrive by plane.

On the last day if you have a bus in the night, departure from the lodge it’s the same as mentioned before, one shuttle a day and considering the earliest flight, we assist you in town until the bus time, all our guests have can use our facility in town for as long as their wish we have showers available or we can arrange for little extra payment a hotel or a swimming pool in town to relax and make time.

All our tours start from Puerto Maldonado and we pick you up from the airport, hotel, bus station or wherever you indicate, however, the tour starts when all the tour participants are together, take into consideration that sometimes guests arrive on different flights.

The itineraries made are based on these arrival times, in any case, the tours that start between 10:30 am and 2 pm do not affect the itinerary or the tour experience.

ABOUT THE PAYMENT

Usually, we ask for an advance of the total payment, this is required not only to secure the reservation but for important expenses that have to be paid before your arrival, for example, the entrance tickets to the Tambopata National Reserve cost between 20 to 50 USD per person and this must be purchased before arrival, the information of names, nationality, passport number, age and profession that is requested for the formality of the reservation is information that the government requires to visit the protected area, the advance also covers basic operating expenses when generating the reservation, the deposits will be communicated to you when the booking is generated, we will ask no more of 100 USD we will send you a credit card payment link,  the deadlines for the advances we tell you by email, based on the type of tour you choose.

Refunds

We fully understand that people have to cancel for a good reason, Please always consider that we pay out a lot of things up front, much of which is not refundable, and we also must consider that for lodges and free-lance guides, we must pay No-show fees if cancelation its done.

the advanced payment is nonrefundable 

WHAT TO BRING

For all our tours you  will have to repack and bring only the stuff you need for the trip, this is because all luggage is carried by hand and shoulders up and down to the boat and to the rooms, please avoid bringing wheeled luggage, backpack and duffels are the perfect bags to bring

Mosquito repellent: average 15% DEET works very well, always in spray type, Mosquito repellent in natural formula usually does not work well, but DEET is proven to work.

Flashlights: Headlamps recommended

Sandals or flip flops: these are for boat trips and to be inside the lodge where shoes are not allowed, sandals are perfect for hot days

A Hat or a cap

Plastic rain poncho: please keep in mind that the rain jackets do not work for the rainforest, the best is a plastic poncho for the rain.

long socks: for the rubber boots we provide in the rainy season when trails are muddy or flooded.

Bottle for refilling water, we are committed to stopping using plastic as much as we can, we don’t provide one-use bottles nor sell them, and at our lodges we have plenty of filtered and treated water to refill.

A windbreaker, due to humidity when in the boat it might get very cold due mainly to wind.

For more details and better clarification please email us at reservas@fincasachavacayoc.com