Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica

We spent 3 nights here and thoroughly enjoyed every minute, the staff are amazing and Charles was our guide for all of our excursion and he was very knowledgeable and friendly. The excursions were well organized and we had endless supply of purified water to drink. The food was great and the cabins were very comfortable. Would definitely recommend Inkaterra Reserva Amazonia to anyone wanting to experience the Amazon. We saw a variety of monkeys, birds, spiders, ants, giant river otters, turtles, the farm. Great experience, thanks guys

From the moment the lodge's staff picked us up from Puerto Maldonado airport with their comfy shuttle bus until the end of our amazing 2-night stay there, everything was great while the staff were really informative and super friendly. To get there, there is a 15 minute ride from the airport to a small docking area and from then on around 40 minutes boat ride through Madre de Rios river which we found to be astonishing! It's one of those things you only get to see in pictures... The cabanas are located in a very beautiful location as so many travellers have shown through their posted photos. We stayed there during the dry season and I can honestly say that you should not worry about any mosquito bites or any wildlife coming near you since the whole lodge feels really secured. Of course it goes with out saying that you should anyway use a repellent spray with high DEET percentage. As mentioned by other guests, there is no wi-fi and electricity is up for the most part of the day although it does not really matter since most likely you will be out on excursions. It is really a welcoming get away from our everyday living. The cabana itself is really clean and secure (if you can exclude the small frog we discovered in the cabana the next day) which also includes hammocks. The breakfast/restaurant area is really nice with the breakfast buffet being sufficient to satisfy your needs. I found that the options for dinner/lunch are enough and every dish we tasted was really great! We had booked for the following excursions: 1. Twilight river - Night boat ride trying to spot caimans and other animals 2. Lake Sandoval - Boat takes you to the Tambopata National Reserve where you walk for one and a half hour walk along three kilometers of awesome Amazon trails to reach Lake Sandoval. From then on you take a canoe to reach the outstanding lake. Great way to spot wildlife. 3. Inkaterra Canopy Walkway - Walk along the tall canopies which are located withing the lodge through the rainforest and get a great view from up high. 4. Rainforest by night - Walk with your guide through the rainforest surrounding the lodge in search for spiders and other creatures coming out at night. The highlight of our stay was the Lake Sandoval trip which really provided a strong feeling of the Amazon and its wildlife. Although we did not spot so much wildlife we got to see small caimans, a number of monkeys, many birds, spiders and the giant otters. Our guide Charles was the best guide we could ask for since he provided us with useful information, was super friendly and always had a smile on his face. One minor comment could be the fact that the breakfast/restaurant area may need a bit of refreshing, especially the top floor which seems to be dusty and left somewhat unattended. It's definite that my stay here and what I experiences is something I will remember for the rest of my life.

It’s great to read all the wonderful reviews of Inkaterra Reserva Aamzonica and I am glad that so many people have had such a great experience. Unfortunately, I cannot say this was my experience. On the positive side, there are a few things to highlight: 1) The rooms were comfortable and clean. Although there is no AC and electricity is limited, I did not find it hard to sleep. The beds were very comfortable. My only criticism is that the cabins are fairly close to each other and so there is not a lot of privacy. 2) The dining room was excellent. The food was great and the waiting staff really did a wonderful job. Frank, our waiter, went out of his way to make us feel welcome. The bartender, Jean Carlos, was also very friendly when we went to redeem our Pisco Sour ticket. 3) The spa, although small, was also excellent and Gladys gave us superb treatments. 4) The coordination and transportation from the airport to the hotel and back is also excellent. We were met by Aixa at the airport and she was very helpful throughout our stay. On the negative side: 1) This lodge badly needs a reception desk. It was very difficult to find people and ask questions. Something as simple as getting a hair dryer took about 2 hours since it was hard to track down the right person. 2) The excursions were for the most part disappointing. When we arrived on the first day we were asked to come by at 6:00 pm to choose our excursions. The process was very chaotic. Some people had booklets explaining the different excursions and others did not which resulted in a lot of confusion. Personally, I felt the staff were pressuring us to make quick decisions to get us out of the room. They generally show a video of the reserve, but that evening they skipped it. We subsequently were told the next day during breakfast that the excursions we had chosen had not been recorded so I told one of the managers that the process had been somewhat chaotic. About two hours later, Yomi, the guide who ran the chaotic session the night before came to my cabin to complain to me that his supervisor had spoken to him and I had made him look bad. He also went on to complain about his supervisor, and blamed me for getting him into trouble. This was extremely inappropriate and not the kind of behavior one would expect in a lodge of this type. We subsequently requested that we have a different guide, and so we had a different person for every single excursion. 3) With the exception of Justo, we found the guides to be somewhat unenthusiastic, and not particularly interested in helping you see any animals. Their level of English is also not particularly strong and so at times it could be hard to understand them. I’ve been to many lodges in Latin America and Africa, and I found the quality of the guides to be among the lowest of any of the places I have visited. 4) I know that during dinner many of the guests discussed their itinerary for the next day with their guides. This definitely did not happen to us. As a matter of fact, on our last evening we showed up for the evening jungle walk and our guide did not show up even though we had confirmed the time at 4:30 pm that same day. Thankfully, Justo stepped up and led the way, and this excursion turned out to be one of our best. Given all the issues we had with the guides, Aixa let us have a late check-out and we were given a free lunch before heading to the airport, which was greatly appreciated. For all these reasons I would rate Inkaterra only as average. There is definitely room for improvement because right now the standards are much lower than they should be for a luxury resort.

The service and accommodations were everything you would expect from a place that bills itself as an “eco-luxury lodge�, emphasis on "eco" The grounds are beautiful! The individual cabanas have permanent screens on the windows and no locks on the door. Surprisingly, there are hardly any bugs in the rooms. Separating the bed and bath area from the front area of the room, which they call the porch, is a folding wood screen you can use for privacy once the sun sets and the lights are turned on. The beds are huge with quality linens and mosquito netting. The netting really adds to the coziness of the bed, but isn’t needed to keep bugs away because the screens do a good job. The towels are large and fluffy. For security, there is a drawer fitted with a lock and key to store valuables, which was more than adequate for our wallets, passports, iPads, etc. Food: The food was adequate but not great. I think the resort would benefit from bringing in better-trained chefs, but it was fine. Perhaps they would be better served by sticking to local dishes, rather than trying to make fancier foreign dishes that they believe tourists need. Staff and dining room service: No, the English language skills of the staff weren't the best, but our Spanish was much worse. I always find it difficult to blame others for our lack of language skills. When traveling in a foreign country, why are annoyed when their English skills are what we expect? We did like the fact that the resort seems to be trying to hire local residents and training them. These young people seemed to be trying hard and willing to accommodate if they could figure out what we wanted. Electrical and connectivity: Electricity was turned off from 11pm-4am and 3:30pm-6pm everyday. This was never a problem once we figured out that we needed to charge our camera batteries while we were at dinner. There is no internet connectivity and or phone reception here. Just be prepared and you’ll be fine. Remember this is an "eco" lodge. If we all practice such cost-saving, resource-saving measures, the world would be a better place. Guides: It’s still unclear to me how guides are assigned. It seemed that everyone was assigned a personal guide who was with them throughout their stay. We shared our guide Josue with a family of 5 from London. I am assuming that this was because we had chosen the same activities, but how did they know that both parties would chose the same activities every day, considering we don’t choose until the night before? And how did the staff know that we would love this other family and that we would all get along beautifully? I can see how our experience could have been much different with a different guide, but Josue was great! He was knowledgeable and attentive. He was great at finding wildlife for us by listening for sounds and watching the canopy. Josue’s comments about how global warming and gold mining are destroying the rain forest and jungle were heartbreaking. Wildlife: Last year, we took a trip in the Galapagos where the wildlife sits on the path and waits for you to come and photograph it's best side. This Amazon experience was totally different, because you had to look HARD for the wildlife and much of the time, it was way up high in the trees. If you need them to be closer or have guaranteed sightings, it sounds life other places might be better, like Iguazu Falls according to other reviewers. Our guides said there is more wildlife during the wet season, but then you will have more issues with the weather. You can make this choice. On our Lake Sandoval trip, we were lucky enough to see giant river otters, which Josue assured us was a rare occurrence. We also saw black cayman, asthma birds (that’s what Josue called them because they sound like they are wheezing), green ibises, red howler and capuchin monkeys, various other birds and even a baby rainbow boa snake. I enjoyed a great deep tissue massage by Gladys. The only glitch was that, instead of a 60-minute massage, she gave me 90 minutes so I was a bit late for our afternoon activity. First world problems, anyone? Lake Valencia: We opted for the Lake Valencia excursion, which had an added cost. It was worth every sole! Our driver took the boat through a narrow channel where everyone had to be careful not to be whacked by low lying branches. (The water level is low because it is the dry season.) Once there,we used small pieces of red meat to bait our hooks and then threw the lines in. Then one of two things happened. Either you repeatedly pulled your line out after feeling nibbles, only to see the bait get smaller and smaller and eventually disappear, or you pulled your line out with a piranha attached. Next up was the am-I-really-going-to-do-this moment of the day. We were driven out to the middle of the large piranha-infested lake and offered the opportunity to jump in and swim. Almost everyone did it and we had a great time and everyone got out with their limbs intact. Earlier, we had dropped off an Inkaterra chef at a satellite camp, and he cooked our piranha while we were swimming so we could lunch on the fish we caught! Luckily, there was a lot of other food too, because there isn’t much to eat on piranha. The fish is mostly bone and teeth with just barely a bit of meat on it. The next morning, Inkaterra took care of our luggage and even had our boarding passes for us. (There isn’t internet there, so you cannot check in online.) On our way, we stopped at their Butterfly House. This was fine, but I think the added stop just provides the staff a bit more time to turnover the cabanas, because the next batch of guests is arriving on the flight that you are leaving on. We had a similar experience on our Galapagos trip, where the last morning is really about getting you out of the room/off the property so they can turn the rooms around. Josue tried to give us an opportunity to see more birds that morning, but it was too windy to see much. Notes: You need headlamps/flashlights to read the menus at meals. It’s dark at the Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica at night.

Would definitely recommend it!! A place that maintains the nature sense of the rainforest yet comfortable and full of magic details. Great food with local ingredients and also international dishes. Multilingual guides that takes you to several trips through the rainforest, watching of minkeys, alligators, birds, fishing of pirhanas, etc. Bungalows with very comfy beds surrounded by nets to protect from bugs, fire lanterns, private hammocks, hot water, boots for mud tracks. An exquisite balance between nature and comfort.