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Looking to take your creative expression to the next level? Creative Vision Photo Workshops are designed to challenge you to reach new heights with your nature photography. Join Creative Vision instructors Ian Plant and Richard Bernabe on an intensive, multi-day field instructional workshop that will help you create photographs you've always dreamed of making! The Destination The Tambopata National Reserve is a 275,000 hectare conservation unit created by the Peruvian government in 1990 to protect the watersheds of the Tambopata and Candamo rivers. It is adjacent to the huge 1 million hectare Bahuaja Sonene National Park. Both conservation units protect some of the last untouched lowland and premontane tropical humid forests in the Amazon. This Connecticut-sized area of pristine forest contains 600 bird species, 32 parrot species (10% of the world's total), 200 mammal species, 1200 butterfly species and over 10,000 species of vascular plants. Within Tambopata lie three lodges – Posada Amazonas, Refugio Amazonas and Tambopata Research Center. They are a small part of the network of organizations and communities that are attempting to protect this amazing wilderness. Sample Itinerary DAY 1 - Opening reception at Puerto Maldonado Headquarters; transfer by Boat from Tambopata River Port to Posada Amazonas. The forty five minute boat ride from the Tambopata Port to Posada Amazonas will take us deep into the rain forest. Boxed Lunch; orientation Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips. Photography Lecture After lunch we will have a photography presentation to discuss tips and techniques for photographing the rain forest. Dinner Night Photography Night walks are great for photographing insects and frogs. We may be able to find praying mantis, cicadas, leaf mimicking grasshoppers as well as huge toads, shiny green tree frogs and bizarre horned frogs. Overnight at Posada Amazonas DAY 2 - Breakfast Photography at the PAL parrot clay lick This clay lick is only a twenty minute walk from Posada Amazonas. From a blind located about twenty meters away you will see dozens of parrots and parakeets descend on most clear mornings to ingest the clay on a river bank. Species such as Mealy and Yellow-headed Amazon, Blue-headed Parrot and Dusky-headed Parakeet descend at this clay lick. The clay lick is most active at dawn and during the late morning and early afternoons. From the blind next to this lick, even the amateur photographer can take good pictures of these wonderful birds. Lunch Photography from the Tower A thirty minute walk takes us to this 30 meter tall scaffolding tower, which will add a whole new dimension to our Amazon birding experience: the forest canopy. We will wait for a canopy mixed flock to appear. The mixed flock is mostly all about tanagers: Paradise Tanager, Green-and-gold Tanager, Flame-crested Tanager, Turqoise Tanager, Opal-rumped Tanager and others. The tower also offers good opportunity for Cream- colored Woodpecker, Gilded Barbet, Plum-throated Cotinga and Striolated Puffbird. Macaws and toucans are seen flying against the horizon, including the Chestnut-eared, Lettered, Emerald, Curl-crested, and Brown-mandibled Aracaries. We will see lonely raptors riding the thermals. This is your best chance for hawk-eagles and even harpy! Dinner Photo Review Session After dinner we have time to pick our best photos and load them into the computer for a slide show. We will have time to analyze and talk about the day's photography. Any questions about camera/lens usage, composition etc. can be addressed. Overnight at Posada Amazonas DAY 3 - Breakfast Photography at Tres Chimbadas oxbow lake Tres Chimbadas is thirty minutes by boat and forty five minutes hiking from Posada Amazonas. Once there you will paddle around the lake in a catamaran, searching for the resident family of nine giant river otters and other lakeside wildlife such as caiman, hoatzin and horned screamers. The lake provides wonderful opportunities to photograph majestic trees, water reflections and, if we are very fortunate, animal life. Transfer by boat from Posada Amazonas to Tambopata Research Center Six and a half hours by boat from Posada Amazonas, in the pristine heart of the reserve, lies the Tambopata Research Center. As we cross the confluence with the Malinowski River, we will leave the final traces of human habitation behind. Within the 700,000 hectare uninhabited nucleus of the reserve, sightings of capybara, caiman, geese, macaws and other large species will become more frequent. Boxed Lunch Orientation Upon arrival, the lodge manager will welcome you and brief you with important navigation and security tips. Photography from Overlooks A three to five kilometer hike will lead us to overlooks commanding magnificent views of the Tambopata winding its way into the lowlands. The forest on this trail, regenerating on old bamboo forest, is good for Howler Monkey and Dusky Titi Monkey. The overlooks provide excellent panoramic photo opportunities of the Tambopata winding its way down from the highlands. On a clear day, it will even be possible to view and photograph the snow capped Andean peaks in the distance. At each overlook we will have good chances of encounters at eyelevel at 30-50 yards with large turkey-like birds called guans and chachalacas, or toucans, or macaws roosting on the trees. Dinner Overnight at Tambopata Research Center DAY 4 - Macaw Clay Lick Photography from the Beach On most clear mornings of the year dozens of large macaws and hundreds of parrots congregate on this large river bank in a raucous and colorful spectacle which inspired a National Geographic cover story. Discretely located fifty meters from the cliff, we will observe Green-winged, Scarlet and Blue-and-gold Macaws and several species of smaller parrots descend to ingest clay. Outings are at dawn when the lick is most active. If the river is not swollen, thereby reducing the effective beach area, photographers should have plenty of opportunities to shoot the typical clay lick photographs from distances of 50-100 meters. Breakfast Photography in the floodplain forest This five kilometer trail covers the prototypical rain forest with immense trees criss-crossed by creeks and ponds. Amongst the figs, ceibas and shihuahuacos we will look for Squirrel, Brown Capuchin, and Spider Monkeys as well as peccaries. TRC is located within this habitat. Our principal focus will be general rain forest shots as well as portraits of the huge trees that are scattered throughout this forest. Lunch Photography on the Pond Platform Ten minutes upriver from the lodge is a tiny pond with a platform in the middle. It is a great place for the late afternoon where we whittle away the remains of the day as we spot waterfowl such as Muscovy duck, sunbittern and hoatzin along with the woodpeckers, oropendolas, flycatchers and parakeets that call this pond their home. Opportunities to photograph these beautiful birds will abound, as the lighting and visibility of the pond is excellent and these birds´ habits are predictable over short periods of time. Dinner Overnight at Tambopata Research Center DAY 5 - Breakfast Photography around the TRC clearing We will photograph herps around the TRC clearing: frogs, snakes and lizards. TRC specialists will have spent the past few days screening the vicinity for encounters with the most photogenic herp species and will have prepared appropriate scenarios. The chicos, our flock of semi-wild, hand reared macaws will provide additional photographic opportunities as they fly about around the lodge. Lunch Photography from the palm swamp tower Although macaws nest from October to April, there are different degrees of macaw activity at the swamp year round. From this vantage point we can photograph Blue and gold macaws landing and roosting on their nest holes in dead palms. The nests are all less than fifteen yards away, and only a yard or two above eye level. As the sun sets behind the birds´ golden chests we will have opportunities for close ups of superb quality. Dinner Night Photography Overnight at Tambopata Research Center DAY 6 - Breakfast Transfer by Boat from TRC to Refugio Amazonas A three and a half hour boat ride brings us to Refugio Amazonas. Boxed Lunch Brazil Nut Trail and Camp A few minutes hike from the lodge is a beautiful old growth patch of Brazil Nut forest that has been harvested for decades (if not centuries) where the precarious remains of a camp used two months a year by Brazil Nut gatherers can still be experienced. We will be demonstrating the whole process of the rain forest's only sustainably harvested product from collection through transportation to drying. Dinner Overnight at Refugio Amazonas DAY 7 - Breakfast Transfer by Boat from Refugio Amazonas to Tambopata River Port Transfer from Tambopata River Port to Pto Maldonado Headquarters. ransfer Puerto Maldonado Headquarters to Airport We retrace our river and road journey back to Puerto Maldonado, our office and the airport. Depending on airline schedules, this may require dawn departures. Fitness Level As noted above, we will do some hiking on this workshop. Hikes will typically be easy to moderate in difficulty, although decent physical fitness will certainly facilitate your enjoyment of this workshop. Every participant must complete and sign a standard liability waiver and medical form before participating in this workshop. Getting There Participants are required to get to Puerto Maldonado. To get to Puerto Maldonado, one usually must travel from Lima or Cusco first before reaching the Padre Aldamiz (PEM) airport in Puerto Maldonado. Entry Requirement A valid passport is required to enter and depart Peru. Tourists must also provide evidence of return or onward travel. Visit the Embassy of Peru Website for the most current visa information. Peru does not require any immunizations for entry, although it recommends vaccination against Yellow Fever. What's Included - Photography instruction What's Not Included - Airfare to and from Puerto Maldonado; transfer from airport to hotel Recommended Equipment - Wide angle to normal zoom lenses (in the range of 17mm to 200mm) Deposit Required An $800.00 deposit will be required with the balance to be redeemed no later than 90 days before the workshop. We wll limit this trip to 10 students. Questions? If you have any questions, or if you wish to register for this workshop, please email Richard's instructional partner, Ian Plant (ianplantphoto@gmail.com). |
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