Join us for a unique experience with a tour documenting the diversity of wildlife and daily lives of the San Juan de YanaYacu Indians with photography in the Amazon Rainforest.

This workshop will focus on methods for working with wildlife and local cultures, creativity, photographic equipment and technique, as well as environmental applications of photography.

We believe that photography is the central means for both documenting biological diversity and conveying the natural beauty and value of nature to the world.

Come with us for this once in a lifetime adventure to the wildest ecosystem on Earth: the Amazon Rainforest.

Our Amazon photo adventure starts in the jungle city of Iquitos on the banks of the Amazon River. Iquitos with its Amazon myths and tall tales of exploration, Spanish architecture mixed with the floating boat city of Belen, affords great photo opportunities in one of Peru's most unique cultural environments.

From Iquitos we venture onto to the mighty Amazon River to the remote Amazon Refuge Wildlife Conservation Center, home to the San Juan de YanaYacu Indians.

Ply the headwaters of the Amazon onboard private boats, canoe remote rainforest lakes, hike rainforest trails, and visit with local Indians.
Look for the celebrated freshwater Pink Dolphins, the bizarre hoatzins, scenes of incredible color and interest as subjects for truly great photos.
Take spectacular photos during the night shoots along rainforest trails. Morpho butterflies, comical treefrogs, brilliant flowers, friendly and interesting local people.
Share in the discussions on composition, techniques, the important subject of ethics, and related topics.
Learn, get great photos, and have fun.

The Amazon Refuge is a complex built on 200 acres of primary rainforest and is surrounded by a 2000-acre Indian community nature reserve.

Buildings are constructed in sustainable forest management using naturally felled trees, salvaged from the rivers, and thatched palm roofs.

Animal and plant life is abundant and extremely varied in our area.

There are over 132 species of mammals, 13 of which are primates.

The river and lake waters are home to gray and pink dolphins, Amazonian manatees, Giant River Otters, Black Caimans and giant South American River Turtles.

Land species include Jaguars, Capuchin Monkeys and Spider Monkeys. The Black Spider Monkey, the Orange-chested Spider Monkey, the Woolly Monkey, and the Howler Monkey are all considered endangered.

More than 300 species of birds live here, including five of the eight species of Macaw found in Peru. The prehistoric-looking hoatzin bird is seen here as well.

The Pre-Columbian Chachapoyas culture, conquered in the 15th century by the Incas, has left a landscape scattered with villages and burial sites which until recently has been largely overlooked by archaeologists.
The winding rivers and creek beds carve the terrain, headwaters of fuel for the mighty Amazon River. The few and far between roads and paths scar a landscape where ancient civilizations arose and fell. Remote and oasitic stone ruins hide beneath the bromeliads.

Peter Lerche

With your host, anthropologist Dr. Peter Lerche, visit Kuelap, the largest stone ruin site in the New World. Trek on Inca Trails to Karajia, a spectacular funerary site with 3-meter anthropomorphic wooden coffins located under a cliff.
Hike into the cloud forest to the newly discovered Gocta Waterfall, considered the third largest waterfall in the world.

A journey to Chachapoyas, Land of Cloud Peoples, and an unforgettable adventure into ancient mysteries marked deep in a lost civilization that cries for discovery.

Anthropologist Peter Lerche, author, historian, explorer, and authority on the religious world of pre-Inca Chachapoya, has lived in Chachapoyas over the past 25 years. Dr. Lerche's work as Director of the Department of Conservation of Archaeological Monuments and his research studying the Chachapoyas culture have resulted in the establishment of The Camayoc Foundation.