Sandoval Lake
Tambopata

Owbow Lake. 10 Km (6 miles) from Puerto Maldonado (25 minutes by a 55 HP riverboat). To reach the lake, you must take a riverboat and then walk 5 Km (3 miles) from the shore of the Madre de Dios river to the interior (1 hour and 30 minutes). It is approximately 3 Km (2 miles) long, 1 Km (0.6 miles) wide, and 0.5 centimeters (0.1 inches) to 3 meters (10 feet) deep. The water remains at an average temperature of 26ºC (79.8ºF), and a huge amount of fish live there. It is surrounded by aguajales, swampy areas where, among other exotic species, a native palm tree called aguaje grows. Along with the local vegetation, you can see orchids, wild plantains, and milpesos palms, giant kapoks, mahoganies, and 30 meter (98 feet) aguaje palm trees. In this habitat lives a great variety of birds, like cormorants, toucans, macaws, parrots, horned screamers, and herons. In addition, there is a colorful variety of wild hens called hoatzin or shansho whish heads are topped with feathers. With some luck, tapirs, turtles, and giant otters can be seen as well as different species of crocodiles, like the black caiman.

Photos © J. Mazzotti