Tambopata National Reserve

Tambopata National Reserve is a nature reserve in the Peruvian Amazon Tambopata

Province's Inambari. It was created on January 26, 1990, to protect the forests adjacent to the
rivers Heath and Tambopata that have two important ecosystems and are noted for its biodiversity,
representing native flora and fauna with 165 species and 41 families of trees, 103 species of
mammals, 1300 species of butterflies and 90 species of amphibians.

The reserve is located across the regions of Madre de Dios and Puno:

Tambopata is the 40% of the reserve in the department of Madre de Dios.

Carabaya and Sandia are the 60% of the reserve in the department of Puno.
Access is from Puerto Maldonado, where one can get to the preserve via the Tambopata River; or
by car via the Puerto Maldonado.

History
A conservation process in the Tambopata Province was initiated in Tambopata, where a group of
naturalists and biologists proposed the conservation of 10,000 hectares of rainforests in the middle
Tambopata River (January 3, 1977). This was established as "Zona Reservada Tambopata, in the
territory of the traditional tribe Ese'eja. It was created for the conservation of the Amazon forest and
for scientific research, as well as for tourism. In July 1977, the government had an arrangement with
the Peruvian Safaris, owner of Explorer's Inn. This operator got an agreement for only five years.
Differently, in 1983, the Santuario Nacional Pampas Del Heath was established, with a surface area
of 105 hectares. The purpose was to protect the unique territory of Sabana Hmeda Tropical in
Peru.

By the 1986s, a Peruvian conservation NGO Selva Sur and a senior Wildlife Conservation Society
biologist organized two biological expeditions to the Upper Tambopata and Heath River to propose
a larger conservation area, as soon as oil exploration stopped and temporarily abandoned the
region.

After two expeditions in 1986 and 1987, and several visits to the Tambopata and Heath rivers, a
new draft entitled Propuesta de Zona Reservada Tambopata Candamo was submitted to the DGFF
Lima by Selva Sur in 1987. This proposal, led by Peruvian conservationists, included over 1.5
million hectares, and excluding indigenous territories already entitled whose territories should not
be affected but consolidated under the new proposal.

In 1990, thanks to the effort of the government to protect the biodiversity, Tambopata-Candamo
was officially created on January 26, 1990, as an initiative of the Peruvian government following
recommendations from Peruvian and international researchers.
The Tambopata National Reserve was declared by the area's committee planner. This proposition
was elaborated in the background of the "Conservation of the Tropical Ecosystems Project and the
sustainable use of the natural resources inside the Candamo Tambopata Reserve Area". Also, a
damp area of the Tambopata National Reserve was determined as the Bahuaja Sonene National
Park, formed by 272 hectares exclusive of the Tambopata Candamo Reserve.