The big Macaw’s clay lick is located in the Tambopata Candamo National Park, on the left side of Tambopata River.

It is famous for its great wildlife spectacle, and considered as the biggest on the Peruvian Amazon, cause hundreds of parrots, macaws and parakeets meet there to feed them.

Every morning when the sun clears thousands of birds start a ritual that consist in eat clay along the riverbanks, after 30 or 25 minutes, they left the place to come back the next day. Sometimes, it’s possible to see them during the day, but in small groups.

ACCESS

The journey starts in Puerto Maldonado through Tambopata River for about 4 hours in a small boat.

We usually spend the night in one of our lodges before to get the Macaw’s Clay Lick.

The Macaw’s clay lick El Chuncho, is located an hour from our lodge. Every morning with the sunrise thousands of macaws and more than ten different species of parrots, arrived to offer one of the world's great wildlife spectacles,. They arrived in couples or groups, depending on the species. They spend hours at a time screeching, squabbling, gurgling and purring at each other in the crowns of trees surrounding the clay lick before they decide to descend to eat small portion of clay. Usually the small species of parrots arrived first (Dusky-headed Parakeet, Blue-headed Pionus Parrot, Orange-cheeked Pionopsitta Parrot) after a while, the big macaws (Blue-and-Gold Macaw, Red-and-Green Macaw, Scarlet Macaw, Blue-headed Macaw and Blue-headed Macaw. At the end, more than 500 of parakeets and macaws congregate on the clay.

There is not yet an agreement about the behaviour of these birds. Some theories suggest that the clay contain minerals and vital salt, which form part of the birds’ diet.
The small particles of clay appears to detoxify the nasty poisons in their diets of seeds of rainforest trees and vines
Some nuts and fruits, when immature defend itself from depredators through some toxics. The particles of clay are small enough to clean the bird’s toxin before it enters on its body.

There are few authorized operators that offer tours to the Macaw’s clay lick. Contact us for more information.


TOUR PACKAGES

JUNGLE LODGES

Consult Rates ...