Tambopata Research Center is an excellent place to undertake hands-on learning about field research techniques and general rainforest biology and conservation. Our one week workshop program is designed not only to educate participants but also to produce useful data on relevant issues of rain forest biology and conservation, while participants have fun and enjoy the rainforest.

Rainforest Expeditions offers this specially structured experience as an introduction to the biology of the flora and fauna of the Amazonian rainforest, emphasizing the basic knowledge of interrelations and laws that govern this complex ecosystem, the difficulties facing researchers in the tropics and the reasons and importance for preserving it.

The key to our workshop success is in their instructors and the field activities which they design. Our instructors are young Peruvian biology graduates who have field experience in a particular area of tropical rainforest biology: botany, ornithology, herpetology, mammology, icthiology and entomology. Some even utilize the workshops as platforms in which to conduct their research, designing their activities to actually help them gather data they require for the completion of a specific research project. Thus, sometimes, workshop participants are actually assisting real research projects.

In the past, our workshops have yielded some incredible results, ranging from the discovery of a new orchid species during an inventory of a 2 hectare plot to finding surprising mechanisms by which freshwater fish survive in seasonal ponds. In other workshops we have invited students from local high schools in Puerto Maldonado to fill in unbooked spaces on the trip resulting in an enriching cultural experience for both sides.

In summary the Tambopata workshops enable students not only to enjoy one of the world's last great wildernesses and wildlife reserves, but also to learn first hand about the rain forest and how the scientific method is applied, to participate in legitimate scientific work, to interact with a different culture and to simply have all around fun. With our workshops, we hope to modestly increase the knowledge on biology and ecology of the tropical rainforest and at the same time have an important impact on the environmental perspective of future decision-makers.

THE PROGRAM

The standard workshop is designed to maintain participants active from dawn to a few hours past dusk. Upon arrival, the total number of workshop participants is divided into two to six subgroups of participants, that rotate through the different activities as a unit. Each unit begins with a different activity and then follows a rotating schedule, assuring each unit undertakes each activity once.

The workshops are designed to balance activities that involve data collection and field research techniques with those that concentrate on allowing participants to experience aspects of life in the rain forest or that are just plain fun. Activities are designed independently, each one of them focusing on a particular aspect of rain forest structure or function, or on a large taxonomic group.

During the "research" activities each subgroup will learn about the role the topic species play in the rain forest. As each subgroup executes the "research" activities they will also be collecting data focused on resolving an issue of interest to the instructor. Since each day a different group will conduct the same activity, by the week's end, instructors will have a set of repetitive intakes of their data, giving the results statistical strength.

During the "experiential" or "fun" activities, stress is placed on developing an appreciation for certain aspects of day-to-day life in the rain forest or certain spectacular natural events. It is important to note that this is the design of the standard workshop and that the balance of activities can be changed to suit each group's particular interests.

It is important to note that there is no real "standard" workshop since we provide organizers with a menu of activities to choose from based on the number of participants and the time spent at Tambopata Research Center.

Activities we have conducted in the past include forest regeneration plots, abiotic water condition studies, frog surveys, bird territory delimitations, mammal censuses (among the research activities), tree climbing, forest camping and trail mapping (among the experiential), etc.

For further information, a sample itinerary or booking inquiries, please contact Sacred Earth