About Us

Explorama Lodges: Explorama Lodges, located in Iquitos, Peru, and officially known as Exploraciones Amazonicas, S.A., had its austere beginning in June of 1964, and was the brainchild of Peter Jenson and fellow anthropologist Marjorie Smith. Educators, both, they were convinced that peoples throughout the world should know the importance of the biodiversity of the Amazon River Basin and to this end, began ferrying like-minded guests to the remote reaches of the Amazon and its tributaries identifying birds, fish, flora & fauna and establishing contact with the river people who inhabited the region.

In the beginning the excursions were to and from Iquitos but a year later, in 1965, a single thatch-roofed hut was built on the Yanamono tributary and guests slept in hammocks with meals prepared over an open fire. Word spread quickly of this new and challenging rain forest experience and soon more people came and to accommodate them, a large house with eleven bedrooms, a lounge and a separate kitchen and dining pavilion was added. This gave birth to what was then - and is now - Explorama Lodge and although many changes have been made to the facility throughout the years, it is still recognizable as the original lodging facility.

Explorama Lodges now consists of Ceiba Tops, Explorama Lodge, ExplorNapo Lodge, ACTS and Tambos and a variety of itineraries are offered to include one or more of the lodges. But the careful and planned expansion of these facilities has always been consistent with maintaining the integrity of the rain forest and Explorama has purchased and maintains thousands upon thousands of acres that cannot be logged, hunted or built upon. These lands were purchased under the auspices of the "CONAPAC" Foundation which oversees not only the security of these rain forest acres but is actively involved in the support of a number of important Explorama-sponsored services including: Dr. Linnea Smith's Yanamono Clinic; the Amazon River Library run by Dr. Nancy Dunn; the training of teachers in environmental education and sustainable village projects such as fish farming; the raising of eatable animals and tropical wildlife instead of having to hunt or trap them; the support of scientific research projects at ACTS Field Station and the maintenance of the Canopy Walkway.

The principals of Explorama Lodges all have a background in the education field and recognize the importance of not only educating visitors about how critical it is to maintain the rain forest in its natural state, but also to educate the local children on basic academics, and to this end they have established the Adopt-A-School program. This program involves the yearly distribution of elementary classroom supplies - pencils, notebooks, paper, books, etc.- to over 4,000 students and their teachers. If anyone is interested in becoming a part of this most worthwhile endeavor, please contact us at conapac@explorama.com.