Where To Stay In madre de dios

Madre de Dios - meaning Mother of God in English - is the third largest department in Peru covering 78,402 square km (30,271 square miles).

Sandwiched between the Andes to the West and the frontiers with Bolivia and Brazil to the East, and with an elevation between 260 and 600 m (850 - 2000 ft), Madre de Dios is an area of sparsely-populated, Low Amazon jungle.

The region is dominated by the flood plains of its many meandering rivers. The most striking features of these are the isolated former river channels - ox-bow lakes - which are home to a huge diversity of flora and fauna.

The capital of the region, Puerto Maldonado, was founded in 1902 at the confluence of the Madre de Dios and Tambopata rivers. It has grown rapidly since gold was discovered in the area in the 1970s, and now has a population of over 75,000.

However, most travellers only use the grandly-named Padre Aldamiz International Airport in the city on their way to and from one of the many excellent Amazon jungle lodges, often located in or near the Tambopata National Reserve or Bahuaja-Sonene National Park.