Facilities in Peru

Expeditions in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve are run from a group of live-aboard boats. Volunteers will be transferred to Nauta by bus and will then take one of the research boats or a speed boat up to the sites being surveyed in Pacaya Samiria.  Volunteers are taken by bus to Nauta (2 hours) and join the research ship at this point to cruise for up to 48 hours to reach the survey sites in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. On some weeks volunteers take a speed boat from Nauta to the research site (7 hours); if this is the case you will spend your first night in Iquitos.

AmazonEco are our partners in these surveys and they operate a number of restored historical boats including the Lobo de Rio, Nutria, Clavero, Ayapua and Pithecia.  Accommodation is in cabins or large shared rooms (depending on the boat), with bunk beds.  There are shared showers, toilets and sinks. The rooms also have fans for when the generators are operational (usually 5:00 pm—11:00 pm, and continuously during navigation).

You will be given 3 meals per day which are varied, with eggs, meat, fish, lots of rice, pasta, and limited vegetables.  Unfortunately it is difficult to accommodate strict vegetarian or vegan diets. Drinking water is either collected and treated or is bought from Iquitos, so that there is a plentiful supply for each team member.

The boats also have a small library of books on the Amazon and past dissertations.

Not all research ships return to Nauta at the end of each two weeks and some remain on site throughout the surveys.  On these occasions if you are one of the boats that is scheduled to go back to Nauta to pick up the next group you will be required to change boats to one of those staying on site.

In addition to the main research boats there are a number of auxiliary boats used for the surveys some of which are historical boats that have been restored to their former glory.