AT CAPACITY - WAIT LIST ONLY
Description: Our second herpetology and photography trip of 2025. Join us for 1 night in Iquitos, Peru, and 10 nights in the Amazon jungle at the Santa Cruz Forest Reserve and the Madre Selva Biological Station on a tour designed for reptile and amphibian lovers and photographers. Veteran Amazon trip leaders Matt Cage and Mike Pingleton will be your hosts. You may be well familiar with these trip leaders! Check out Mike’s Notes from the Field. These trips regularly encounter over 100 species of snakes, lizards, crocodilians, turtles, geckos, frogs, toads, caecilians, salamanders and dragons (yup!). There is a good chance of seeing a bushmaster (Lachesis muta), the holy grail of Amazon herpers at the Santa Cruz Forest Reserve, a site which has become known as “Bushmaster Central” and in 2023, the group found an astounding 4 bushmasters at Madre Selva, and in 2024 found a 3 meter (9’) individual there!. Possible rarities include the Emerald Tree Boa (Corallus batesii), the Amazon Harlequin Toad (Atelopus spumarius - regular at Madre Selva) and many others. A list of the reptiles and amphibians recorded from the two sites is available on the Project Amazonas website. There is also much to engage the interest of non-herpers as well. The birding is fantastic, the vegetation is incomparably diverse, and with both pink and gray river dolphins, marmosets, squirrel monkeys, mouse opossums, kinkajous, many other small mammals (bigger ones are there too, but hard to spot! - but check out the trail cam videos and stills on this blog), and fantastic butterflies and other insects, there is no time to be bored. Where else can you find a spiny devil conehead?
Participants have the opportunity to hike or kayak on your own, or with a guide, both day and night. We prioritize immediate access to great habitats at the field stations. Hear a weird frog call at 4 AM? Get up and look for it!. Want to hit the trails at 6 AM for early morning birding? Fresh coffee will already be on. To join the conversation about Amazon herp trips, visit the MT Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/MTAmazonExpeditions/) or Matt Cage’s website (www.cages.smugmug.com). Many past trip participants post regularly on these sites, so you can obtain first-hand, honest, and unfiltered information on what a trip is like. Don’t just take our word that the trips are great fun, and be sure to ask about the food.
IMPORTANT: These trips are limited to 12 participants to ensure a quality experience. They tend to fill fast (6-8 months in advance), so don’t delay in sending in a reservation and deposit.
Cost: $2100 (1st time adult rate). This includes airport reception and drop-off, 1 night hotel in Iquitos (at beginning), all meals, lodging and fees at field stations, river and ground transportation, field station fees, guides and crew services. Repeat client rate is $1900 (adult). Discounted rates are available for teens (ages 13-18-75% of adult rate) and pre-teens (age 12 and under - 50% of adult rate)
Itinerary: Includes the Madre Selva Biological Station (Orosa River, south bank tributary of the Amazon), and the Santa Cruz Forest Reserve (Mazan River-north of the Amazon and west of the the Napo River). The two sites are separated by a major biogeographical barrier (the Amazon River) which adds considerable additional diversity of reptiles and amphibians (and birds) over what would be seen at just one site.
18 February 2025 (Tue) - Participants should arrive in Iquitos by 2 PM if possible. Overnight in Iquitos in a centrally-located hostal room (w A/C and hot water). Shortly after arrival, there will a bus excursion to look for herps at locations on the Iquitos-Nauta road (including a spectacular dart-poison frog), with dinner at a polleria (roast chicken restaurant [vegetarian options are available]) in Nauta, followed by some night-time road herping on the way back to Iquitos. All of this is included in the trip rate.
19 February 2025 (Wed) - Breakfast on the Plaza de Armas (8 AM), followed by transfer to the port of Iquitos at 9 AM for travel via speedboat to Madre Selva Biological Station (3.5 to 4 hours travel time, but with a mid-way stop).
24 February 2025 (Mon) - AM travel from Madre Selva Biological Station to the Santa Cruz Forest Reserve (~4 hours).
1 March 2025 (Sat) - Light breakfast at Santa Cruz, followed by travel back to Iquitos (~2 hours) with arrival by ~11 AM. Early good-bye lunch on the Iquitos waterfront, with participants free to depart Iquitos for onward destinations from ~2 PM onward.
Leader(s) & Contact:
Matt Cage or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cage150 (herp identification, photography)
Mike Pingleton (Expedition Co-Leader - herp identification, photography)
Devon Graham (MTAE - logistics, booking, payments)