Puerto Maldonado information

Puerto Maldonado (location:- Lat.12:36:00S Long.69:11:00W) is a city in Southeastern Peru, capital of the Madre de Dios Region, founded originally by Carlos Leon-Velarde Valcarcel for the collection of wild rubber. It is in the Amazon forest, 55 km west of the Bolivian border, on the confluence of the Tambopata and Madre de Dios River, a tributary of the Amazon River. The climate is tropical. The chief industries in Puerto Maldonado are logging, gold dredging, brazil nut collecting, boat building and eco-tourism. A ferry crosses the river, linking the main road from Cuzco to the towns of San Lorenzo, Iberia and Iñapari.
Nearby are the Manu and Tambopata-Candamo national parks and the Bahuaja-Sonene national reserved area. These are some of the most pristine primary rain forests in the world. There are several tourist eco-lodges within the reserves, which can be accessed by boat from Puerto Maldonado. One of the main attractions are the hundreds of macaws which congregate at various "colpas", or "collpas", a Quechua word which means salted earth, (clay licks) daily to eat clay.
The area is virtually logged out; only one mill remains. Rubber collection is long gone. Recent legislation in the European Union has put hundreds of Brazil nut collectors out of work together with the associated local factory. Small amounts of gold are collected from the river, mostly by small teams of men with hand tools. Eco tourism and related boat construction are currently the major sources of income. (...) more....

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Ins and outs

The road from Cuzco to Puerto Maldonado is being upgraded as part of the Interoceánica highway. There are regular bus services. As paving proceeds, journey times will lessen and the road’s susceptibility to bad weather will decrease. In its pre-upgrading state it was expertly described in Matthew Parris’ book Inka-Cola. (See www.biceca.org/es/ Project.Overview.312.aspx and www.southamericanpictures.com/collections/inter oceanic-highway/interoceanic-highway.htm). The road passes through Ocongate and Marcapata before reaching Quincemil, 240 km from Urcos, a centre for alluvial gold-mining. Petrol is scarce here because most vehicles continue on 70 km to Mazuko, where it’s cheaper. The changing scenery is magnificent. Take warm clothing for travelling through the sierra.

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