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Madre de Dios, or “Mother of God” in English, is a region that is home to the most biodiverse forest in Peru, making up 15% of the entire Peruvian Amazon. Although it has been rife with controversy due to illegal gold mining and deforestation, Madre de Dios offers tourists a unique insight into the world of the Amazon and the indigenous communities that live in it.
Madre de Dios is a department in Peru that covers 85,301 square kilometers (53,004 sq mi) and is located in southeastern Peru sandwiched between the Andes and the bordering countries of Bolivia and Brazil. The city of Puerto Maldonado is the capital of Madre de Dios, and is located in Tambopata, one of the three provinces in the department. The other two provinces are Manu and Tahuamanu.
Madre de Dios is also a river that flows through the department bearing the same name, which passes through several national parks and reserves. It’s also an important transportation route in the southern Amazon.
Getting to Madre de Dios usually means arriving in the capital city, Puerto Maldonado, as this is where most tours leave from. Flights from Lima to Puerto Maldonado take an hour and 40 minutes, whereas a bus ride would take 30+ hours and would cost at least US$46.
Madre de Dios is located in the low-lying Amazon rainforest at 240 meters (787 ft) above sea level. The climate is warm and humid throughout the year with average temperatures ranging from 21°C (70°F) to 30°C (86°F). However, in June and July visitors should be aware that temperatures can drop sharply due to southerly winds.
The rainy season runs from December to March, and there is often flooding from the river due to nearly 3 meters (10 ft) of precipitation in any given year.
Tourists visit Madre de Dios for Amazon Lodges along rainforest rivers, showcasing diverse jungle wildlife. Lodges offer 2- to 7-day eco-friendly tours, promoting community engagement. Access involves Madre de Dios River boat rides.
Key attractions: Jungle treks with expert guides reveal daytime and nighttime species. Observation tower at Cocha Otorongo Lake offers panoramic bird viewing, including Hoatzin. Macaw Claylick near Refugio Amazonas showcases vibrant morning bird gatherings. Mammal clay licks at Manu National Park feature evening tapir and capybara sightings.
Oxbow Lake is serene, ideal for caimans, fish, and macaw viewing. Sandoval Lake offers giant otters, monkeys, and forest birds. Monkey Island houses reintroduced capuchins, squirrel monkeys, and saddle-back tamarins, with tarantulas, birds, and reptiles.
Tourists visit Madre de Dios for Amazon Lodges along rainforest rivers, showcasing diverse jungle wildlife. Lodges offer 2- to 7-day eco-friendly tours, promoting community engagement. Access involves Madre de Dios River boat rides.
Key attractions: Jungle treks with expert guides reveal daytime and nighttime species. Observation tower at Cocha Otorongo Lake offers panoramic bird viewing, including Hoatzin. Macaw Claylick near Refugio Amazonas showcases vibrant morning bird gatherings. Mammal clay licks at Manu National Park feature evening tapir and capybara sightings.
Oxbow Lake is serene, ideal for caimans, fish, and macaw viewing. Sandoval Lake offers giant otters, monkeys, and forest birds. Monkey Island houses reintroduced capuchins, squirrel monkeys, and saddle-back tamarins, with tarantulas, birds, and reptiles.
The main attraction in the Madre de Dios Department is the Amazon Rainforest and its amazing biodiversity. Madre de Dios has five Protected Natural Areas and holds over 4,000 jaguars and 15,000 tapirs, among several other exotic species. There are over 800 species of birds, 1,200 kinds of butterflies, 169 mammal species, 205 different types of fish, 103 amphibian species, and 67 different kinds of reptiles.
One especially sought-after reptile is the rare Spectacled Caiman, which can often be spotted at night on the Madre de Dios River.
The experienced local guides from Madre de Dios know how to spot species in the dense rainforest. They know when and where the fauna is most likely to be found, so join the tours and enjoy every new experience.
Madre de Dios River is referred to as a watershed, and includes a variety of other rivers. The Inambari, Manu, Heath, and Los Amigos rivers, just to name a few, flow into the Madre de Dios. Each tributary offers a unique ecosystem to explore.
The rivers are the main way people travel from one town to another, and are also the main form of transporting products. Most of the communities are located close to the riverbanks, providing easy access to water and making the area relatively easy to explore.
The main industries of the area are ecotourism and agriculture. Some of the raw materials grown are cotton, coffee, sugarcane, cacao beans, Brazil nuts, and palm oil, and visitors can travel to different plantations and learn about the cultivation and harvesting processes.
Unfortunately, illegal gold mining and deforestation have been huge problems in Madre de Dios. An additional problem is the liquid mercury that is used to extract the gold, which has caused major environmental and public health problems in the area.
Very little is known about the pre-Columbian history of Madre de Dios, as it is less accessible to the outside world. Nowadays there are at least 32 communities from 5 different ethnic groups which amount to 200,000 people. Many of these groups have very little contact with the modern world, which is why the pre-Columbian history of Madre de Dios is largely unknown.
However, it was finally explored more thoroughly at the end of the 19th century during the rubber boom in the Amazon basin. The arrival of the Spanish brought many European diseases, which caused high fatalities among the indigenous people from 1889 to 1892.
One of the Peruvian rubber barons by the name of Carlos Fermín Fitzcarrald launched several expeditions into the jungle, identifying an overland passage –now called the Isthmus of Fitzcarrald—to transport rubber to the coast. He also identified the position of what is now Puerto Maldonado as a potential strategic location. He died in 1897 when his ship sank at a point in the river very close to Puerto Maldonado.
In 1901, the Peruvian government formed a committee to investigate the possibility of exploiting the rainforest for resources. Don Juan Villalta led the expedition and later founded Puerto Maldonado on July 10, 1902. Later, the Department of Madre de Dios was created by law on December 26, 1912.
En Madre de Dios, los deportes extremos populares incluyen el tirolesa, el tubing en el río y el kayak. Los recorridos en la selva amazónica a menudo ofrecen kayak en el río Madre de Dios y la tirolesa te lleva a 30 metros sobre el dosel del bosque.
Para quienes disfrutan de festivales y la cultura local, hay eventos a lo largo del año, como San Juan en junio y el carnaval en febrero. Estas celebraciones brindan una muestra de la cocina regional y las tradiciones locales.
Algunos platos tradicionales que debes probar incluyen Patarashca (un guiso de pescado envuelto en hojas de plátano), Tacacho con carne seca (plátanos machacados con carne seca), Picuro asado (un roedor del bosque servido con verduras), Inchicapi (un caldo de pollo con maní y yuca), Carachama (un caldo de pescado de agua dulce) y Huarapo (una bebida hecha de jugo de caña fermentado).
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