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The most spectacular "collpas" are the Macaw
Clay Licks that have made the Tambopata - Candamo Reserved Zone famous.
Hundreds of individuals of several species of macaws and parrots gather in
these places. "Collpas" are located on open, vegetation-free cliffs
that are continuously shaped by dynamic rivers. Some of the common species
spotted in these places are the blue-and-gold, scarlet, red-and-green macaws,
and blue-headed parrots. Monkeys, tapirs, deer and capybaras also visit
collpas,  but
they are more frequently observed at clay licks along creeks and stream
borders inside the forest.
 El
Chuncho Clay Lick is probably the biggest collpa in the world, it
is a
low cliff located along a tributary of the Tambopata, 5 hours upstream from
Puerto Maldonado (40 minutes from WASAI Lodge). You should camp a day in
advance in order to make an early morning visit to the observation point or
make a travesy from wasai lodge early in the morning.
There are some other clay licks close to Puerto Maldonado
where it is easy to see different species of parrots, parakeets, and
small species of macaws. If you don't have too much time, this
is a good alternative . take any of these programs: Puerto Maldonado catamaran & Sandoval Lake 3/2
or Sandoval Lake Paradise 3/2
For further information about the macaw licks you
can read the report
of chuncho's clay lick by James littlewod and the
list of birds of Wasai by Mat Denton .
All the travel package showed in the left column allow
you to have good opportunity to watch Amazon parrots.
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There are not so many places
in the world where different
species of big macaws, parrots and parakeets meet together every
morning to eat the mineral salts in the soil of the river
banks . 