Matses ekspedisjon med Jungle Reps
4.5
Matses ekspedisjon med Jungle Reps
Av Jungle Reps
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Om
Høydepunkter
• Autentisk kontakt med Matses urfolksgruppe
• Lær deres språk
• Kjenn deres årtusinske tro og ritualer
• Delta i kambo seremoni (valgfritt)
• Lær deres måte å jakte på
• Lær hvordan de veileder seg selv dypt i jungelen Når vi nevner våre brødre Matses, også kjent som Mayorunas, refererer vi til en av de siste Amazonas familier som opprettholder uendret språk og skikker. Til tross for fjernhet og mangel på komfort med Jungle Reps skiller vi oss selv ved å tilby en unik opplevelse av å leve med Matses.Promoting deres kultur, respekterer deres livsstil, unngår vi å være en negativ innvirkning i vår sameksistens med våre brødre og søstre Matses derimot, deltar vi aktivt på deres daglige gjøremål.
Matses er også kjent som feline stammen for deres unike jakt evner.
Alder: 18–65 maks. 15 per gruppe
Varighet: 10–15 dager
Starttidspunkt: Sjekk tilgjengelighet
Mobilbillett
Direkte veiledning: Engelsk, Spansk
Mer
- Overnatting i henhold til reiserute
- Drivstofftillegg
- Nasjonalpark avgifter
- Vann på flaske
- Frokost
- Lunsj
- Middag
- Profesjonell guide
- Hotell henting og avreise
- Rundtur, delt overføring
- Kaffe og/eller te
Det som ikke er inkludert- Overskridende bagasjekostnader (hvis aktuelt)
- Flyplassavgift
- Alkoholholdige drikker (tilgjengelig for kjøp)
- drikkevarer
- Mat og Drikke
- Tips
- Startpunkt:
- Iquitos, Iquitos, Loreto Region
Informasjon om hentested- Navn på sted Iquitos
Sluttpunkt:Denne aktiviteten avsluttes på møtestedet. - Ingen rullestoltilgang
Hvis du har spørsmål om tilgjengelighet, hjelper vi deg gjerne. Ring nummeret nedenfor, og oppgi produktkode: 68691P8- Bekreftelse mottas ved bestillingstidspunktet
- Barnpris gjelder kun når du deler med 2 betalende voksne
- Barn må være ledsaget av en voksen
- Kleskode er smart casual
- Vennligst informer om eventuelle spesielle kostbehov ved bestilling
- Varigheten av overføringene er omtrentlig, den nøyaktige varigheten vil avhenge av tidspunktet på dagen og trafikkforholdene
- Et gjeldende gyldig pass er nødvendig på reisedagen
- Reisende må være fysisk sterke og middels godt trent
- Denne turen/aktiviteten har maksimum 15 reisende
- Alle salg er endelige og påløper 100 % avbestillingsgebyr.
- Hvis du har spørsmål om denne omvisningen eller trenger hjelp med å bestille, hjelper vi deg gjerne. Ring nummeret nedenfor, og oppgi produktkode: 68691P8
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4.5
4 anmeldelser
Ypperlig
2
Svært bra
1
Gjennomsnittlig
1
Dårlig
0
Forferdelig
0
Guy Needham
4 bidrag
des. 2019
I did the Jungle Reps Matses expedition in December and it was a great way to see how indigenous people live today in Peru. Marden, my guide, and Sebastian, my host/porter, did a great job in showing me around Buen Peru.
I had the opportunity to go fishing for piranha, watch a traditional kambo ceremony - Marden partook, I didn’t - buy local handicrafts, go hunting and watch the sun rise in the Amazon. While everyone is in modern-day attire, Marden was able to answer my questions about the culture and traditions of the Matses. Be prepared to learn about this special people and take lots of mosquito repellent.
On the way out the river was too high to cross - you can't control nature! - but Luis and Marden between then arranged for a return seaplane flight. In the meantime I got to spend more time in Angamos and stay with a lovely lady, Helen, as well as to hear more about the Matses.
Make the most of the food, everything from fish heads to turtle soup to jungle potatoes to the rodent paca - yum!
I had the opportunity to go fishing for piranha, watch a traditional kambo ceremony - Marden partook, I didn’t - buy local handicrafts, go hunting and watch the sun rise in the Amazon. While everyone is in modern-day attire, Marden was able to answer my questions about the culture and traditions of the Matses. Be prepared to learn about this special people and take lots of mosquito repellent.
On the way out the river was too high to cross - you can't control nature! - but Luis and Marden between then arranged for a return seaplane flight. In the meantime I got to spend more time in Angamos and stay with a lovely lady, Helen, as well as to hear more about the Matses.
Make the most of the food, everything from fish heads to turtle soup to jungle potatoes to the rodent paca - yum!
Skrevet 1. januar 2020
Denne anmeldelsen er den subjektive meningen til et Tripadvisor-medlem og kommer ikke fra Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor sjekker anmeldelser.
Davidmurty
Peniscola, Spania5 bidrag
aug. 2019 • Venner
La verdad que fue una experiencia dura pero que el.resultado es una gran escuela para toda la vida, gracias a Luis y Raul por su profesionalidad, muy recomendable viajar a la selva peruana con junglereps
Skrevet 28. desember 2019
Denne anmeldelsen er den subjektive meningen til et Tripadvisor-medlem og kommer ikke fra Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor sjekker anmeldelser.
k0hara87
Los Angeles, CA8 bidrag
sep. 2018 • Alene
A "non-touristy" adventure - this is something myself and so many others find themselves searching for when traveling; a unique experience, off the beaten path, something that diverges from the standard itinerary.
The Matses expedition with Luis at Jungle Reps is exactly what I was searching for. Luis made this clear during our e-mails back & forth before leaving - this is an "expedition", not a cushy, pampered jungle experience.
The truth of this was clear from the very beginning, as I found myself following Raul, my guide, through the bustling, chaotic market of Belen, all five of my senses being bombarded by different sights, sounds & smells. We picked up a few items I needed for the jungle, along with some gifts the Matses would find useful - axe heads & a bag of shotgun shells - again, this is an expedition, not a vacation.
Our transport into the jungle was a small twin propellor plane - each passenger needs to be weighed, along with his/her cargo, before taking off from Iquitos and landing in Colonia Angamos, a small military outpost in the jungle at the edge of the Matses reserve. There we met Mario, our Matses guide, loaded everything into a traditional dugout canoe, and set off down the river.
From that point on, each day brought with it a new, unforgettable experience; whether it be drifting along the river silently at night under the stars, hunting for caiman or fish (they use spears for this, although they had a few bamboo rods along as well), waking early in the morning to help bring back a tapir, spotting different wildlife through the trees (or sometimes right on our path, in the case of a poisonous snake!), or hacking a path through fallen branches/vines to clear a way downriver, there is almost NEVER a dull moment on this trip.
A quick word on the Matses: for those expecting the Matses to be dressed in their traditional clothes this is not what they wear anymore, as mentioned by others, although they are happy to dress up for paid photos. I do not see this as an issue, as other reviews seemed to imply. Keep in mind that you are visiting THEIR home, in their village. They are living the way they actually live, not putting on a charade for tourists (as you'll find closer to Iquitos at tourist villages), so while they may not dress in a way that matches the romanticized image in your mind, they still farm, hunt, fish, and live traditionally - off the land, and independent from larger towns or cities. While they may wear modern clothing, make no mistake: you are getting a real glimpse into another, more natural way of life that has been lost in many parts of the world - it is a very special opportunity.
This is also not an easy trip - it is mentally & physically intense in a way that is difficult to find in today's world of tourism. It is physically demanding, but rewarded. You will travel for hours downriver in a simple dugout canoe, and later hike 6-8 hours per day along a somewhat difficult jungle path that will require balancing on logs to cross small creeks & patches of mud. I can't stress enough that packing LIGHT is key (I had around 9 or 10kg, which I found to be a bit too much, personally), as these days are very difficult once it gets hot. That being said, Raul & Mario were smart to always start early while it's still cool, and offered to carry my personal pack for an additional tip (well worth it on the second day of the hike!) The hike itself is DIFFICULT. For reference, I did the Inca trail the previous week, and while it was difficult for its own set of reasons, I found the jungle hike to be more difficult, as it is a longer distance, and the heat can become unbearable, sapping all your energy. Be sure you are physically fit before attempting this, as I underestimated it.
You will sleep primarily on/in shelters built by the Matses throughout the jungle, and eat what they eat. This means setting your tent on a bamboo floor with a grass roof (leak-proof!), so an air mattress was key to have along. For food, this means a diet of rice, boiled banana, pasta, boiled eggs, and whatever the catch of the day might be - tapir, fish, etc. They were also kind enough to bring bottled water along for me, although my later reading confirmed that drinking the boiled river water is absolutely fine - this was used for the rice & pasta, and I did not ONCE feel sick, or have an issue with the food. In fact, my stomach felt quite a bit better on this trip than it does eating American food. I found the hygiene issues mentioned in another review to be completely unfounded.
Raul, my guide from Iquitos, and Mario (and his sons) of the Matses, were both incredible guides. The level of knowledge & degree to which they have adapted to jungle life is incredible; they'll spot & point out wildlife before you have even a hint of its presence, and would routinely point out different plants & highlight their different uses for the Matses. I ate fruit they foraged, watched as they built a backpack from different jungle plants, listened as they explained how a certain plant, when crushed, could be used for easy fishing (it poisons the fish, causing them to float to the surface, but doesn't contaminate it for eating), and watched as Raul demonstrated how certain ants could be used as stitches in a wound - incredible!
Overall, I found the experience to be absolutely amazing, and one that I will never forget. While I would not recommend this for someone who likes to travel in comfort, I cannot recommend it ENOUGH for the traveler searching for something different; a more exciting, more adventurous, more challenging, but ultimately more rewarding & memorable expedition into the Amazon jungle.
The Matses expedition with Luis at Jungle Reps is exactly what I was searching for. Luis made this clear during our e-mails back & forth before leaving - this is an "expedition", not a cushy, pampered jungle experience.
The truth of this was clear from the very beginning, as I found myself following Raul, my guide, through the bustling, chaotic market of Belen, all five of my senses being bombarded by different sights, sounds & smells. We picked up a few items I needed for the jungle, along with some gifts the Matses would find useful - axe heads & a bag of shotgun shells - again, this is an expedition, not a vacation.
Our transport into the jungle was a small twin propellor plane - each passenger needs to be weighed, along with his/her cargo, before taking off from Iquitos and landing in Colonia Angamos, a small military outpost in the jungle at the edge of the Matses reserve. There we met Mario, our Matses guide, loaded everything into a traditional dugout canoe, and set off down the river.
From that point on, each day brought with it a new, unforgettable experience; whether it be drifting along the river silently at night under the stars, hunting for caiman or fish (they use spears for this, although they had a few bamboo rods along as well), waking early in the morning to help bring back a tapir, spotting different wildlife through the trees (or sometimes right on our path, in the case of a poisonous snake!), or hacking a path through fallen branches/vines to clear a way downriver, there is almost NEVER a dull moment on this trip.
A quick word on the Matses: for those expecting the Matses to be dressed in their traditional clothes this is not what they wear anymore, as mentioned by others, although they are happy to dress up for paid photos. I do not see this as an issue, as other reviews seemed to imply. Keep in mind that you are visiting THEIR home, in their village. They are living the way they actually live, not putting on a charade for tourists (as you'll find closer to Iquitos at tourist villages), so while they may not dress in a way that matches the romanticized image in your mind, they still farm, hunt, fish, and live traditionally - off the land, and independent from larger towns or cities. While they may wear modern clothing, make no mistake: you are getting a real glimpse into another, more natural way of life that has been lost in many parts of the world - it is a very special opportunity.
This is also not an easy trip - it is mentally & physically intense in a way that is difficult to find in today's world of tourism. It is physically demanding, but rewarded. You will travel for hours downriver in a simple dugout canoe, and later hike 6-8 hours per day along a somewhat difficult jungle path that will require balancing on logs to cross small creeks & patches of mud. I can't stress enough that packing LIGHT is key (I had around 9 or 10kg, which I found to be a bit too much, personally), as these days are very difficult once it gets hot. That being said, Raul & Mario were smart to always start early while it's still cool, and offered to carry my personal pack for an additional tip (well worth it on the second day of the hike!) The hike itself is DIFFICULT. For reference, I did the Inca trail the previous week, and while it was difficult for its own set of reasons, I found the jungle hike to be more difficult, as it is a longer distance, and the heat can become unbearable, sapping all your energy. Be sure you are physically fit before attempting this, as I underestimated it.
You will sleep primarily on/in shelters built by the Matses throughout the jungle, and eat what they eat. This means setting your tent on a bamboo floor with a grass roof (leak-proof!), so an air mattress was key to have along. For food, this means a diet of rice, boiled banana, pasta, boiled eggs, and whatever the catch of the day might be - tapir, fish, etc. They were also kind enough to bring bottled water along for me, although my later reading confirmed that drinking the boiled river water is absolutely fine - this was used for the rice & pasta, and I did not ONCE feel sick, or have an issue with the food. In fact, my stomach felt quite a bit better on this trip than it does eating American food. I found the hygiene issues mentioned in another review to be completely unfounded.
Raul, my guide from Iquitos, and Mario (and his sons) of the Matses, were both incredible guides. The level of knowledge & degree to which they have adapted to jungle life is incredible; they'll spot & point out wildlife before you have even a hint of its presence, and would routinely point out different plants & highlight their different uses for the Matses. I ate fruit they foraged, watched as they built a backpack from different jungle plants, listened as they explained how a certain plant, when crushed, could be used for easy fishing (it poisons the fish, causing them to float to the surface, but doesn't contaminate it for eating), and watched as Raul demonstrated how certain ants could be used as stitches in a wound - incredible!
Overall, I found the experience to be absolutely amazing, and one that I will never forget. While I would not recommend this for someone who likes to travel in comfort, I cannot recommend it ENOUGH for the traveler searching for something different; a more exciting, more adventurous, more challenging, but ultimately more rewarding & memorable expedition into the Amazon jungle.
Skrevet 26. september 2018
Denne anmeldelsen er den subjektive meningen til et Tripadvisor-medlem og kommer ikke fra Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor sjekker anmeldelser.
Dear Keith
Thank you for your feedback
Expedition to Matses indigenous cat people is a very exciting and challenging expedition because of its remoteness and I would considere a shocking culture experience.
We try to respond inquiry mails as soon as possible and being clear what involves an expedition.
Travel in the small plane over the amazon it is a so amazing adventure indeed. It meanns adventure begins when you are in Iquitos already and flying over the mighty amazon river. When I take this flight I think I cannot imagine that I navigate this vast river system.
Interacting with Matses is a very interesting part of the expedition just seeing what they eat, fish and what animals they get from the jungle to survive it may sound very though but they do it for a good reason to live, they don`t do it to sell. Since to live within a protected area you have rules to follow and one of them is a quota of animals you can eat every month.
Hike is one of the most challenging part of the expeditions but rewarding and for ever lasting memory experience.
Thank you one more time and despite I have been here many times I wish to be there to overflight the amazon river and spending time with Matses.
Best regards
Luis
Skrevet 10. november 2018
Dette svaret er den subjektive meningen fra en representant for foretaket og ikke fra Tripadvisor LLC.
Zee337
London, UK79 bidrag
15 day Matses Expedition - THE REALITY!
So as to remain fair, this review is split between the performance of Jungle Reps as a company, and of the Matses tribe themselves.
Life among the Matses:
It is easy to romanticise about amazonian tribes, living in harmony with their environment, maintaining ancient tribal traditions, and practicing jungle hunting skills long forgotten by mondern humans.
Unfortunately this is a complete fantasy where the Matses are concerned and the reality is very different. You may have seen pictures of the Matses online (bear breasted women in grass skirts, facial tattoos and their trademark nose piercings which look like feline whiskers) Straight off the cover of National Geographic. Unfortunately this is a misconception. The Matses have now adopted many aspects of modern living, totally abandoning their old practices.
Nobody dresses in the traditional way anymore, they all wear shorts and t-shirts. If you want a couple of the elders to dress up in their traditional clothes and shoes, then they will charge you 100 soles to take some pictures for 10 minutes or so.
Their village is not a primitive collection of mud huts. They have a church and other civic buildings made of brick, as well as a concrete football pitch in the main square. Peruvian pop music, and evangelical christian hyms are blasted out on loud speakers on a daily basis and can be heard for miles around over the sound of the jungle.
The Matses use many modern amenities like motorised canoes and chainsaws. Petrol run generators give them lights in their homes, and power sockets. (very convenient for recharging your cameras/devices)
The Matses no longer hunt with, spears, bows, or blowpipes. Neither did we learn how to hunt or trap animals using any traditional methods. The Matses hunt with shotguns and dogs. As a result they have severely over hunted the animals in the surrounding jungle for many miles.
One of the main suggested activities will be going for walks in the jungle - just be prepared not see anything other than the odd parrot. If you want a chance at seeing monkeys and sloths ect, then you need to specifically request to go up river, much deeper into the jungle for a couple of days, to where the animals haven't been over-hunted. It was not until going here that we tasted paca (like a big Guinea pig) and Pikory (wild boar). The fishing is also way better up river.
The Matses are generally approachable and friendly. They are very used to having tourists visit them but their mentality does not always make them the best hosts. They are often lazy, reluctant, stubborn, and inconsiderate. Their awareness does not seem to extend much further than their own needs. They often try to get away with putting in the bare minimum effort required, which can be frustrating.
They see tourists primarily as a source of money and are quick to try and charge you extra soles for anything they can. Usually at extortionate rates i.e. 50 soles to eat one of their chickens, which is a ridiculous price for a chicken anywhere in Peru.
Hygiene:
Hygiene turned out to be a very serious issue with the Matses. During the tail end of the trip, both my husband and I suffered from extreme diarrhoea and an inability to digest certain foods. After 4 days of persistent symptoms we visited a hospital and were diagnosed with 'giardiasis' - a tropical parasite spread via contact with food or water that is contaminated with infected human feces. Even after a course of antibiotics, our symptoms lasted a further 3 weeks, severely disrupting our travel plans.
It does not matter how diligent you are with your own hygiene, the Matses hygiene practices leave a lot to be desired. They drink water from the same river that they use for washing, laundry, going to the toilet, and even butchering dead animals. Yes it floats down stream, but all the villages upstream are doing the same. Bear in mind this river is your only source of water to wash your body and clothes with.
We rarely ever saw them wash their hands after going to the toilet or before preparing food. When they did, it was a in standing bowl of water that was pulled straight out of the river. Our guide gave no indication that this was anything other than the norm.
Food:
Matses cooking is very inconsistent. They like to boil everything (probably because it requires the least effort) and they often over boil it. Meat is often rubbery. Stay away from chicken and other poultry - they are consistently terrible at cooking it.
Be firm with your guide and make sure he is firm with the Matses. If you say nothing, you will be surviving on boiled chicken/fish, rice, and yuca. They do have some basic herbs, spices, and fruit but you wont get them unless you ask.
Go fishing everyday and ask for your fish to be prepared in banana leaf with herbs and spices, which is 10 times better than just boiled. If you dont specify then they will just boil it.
Make sure your guide buys a tray of eggs and makes you them for breakfast. At the very least ask for a couple of bananas. Otherwise you will just get bread and marmalade.
Activities:
When it comes to activities, you need to use your own imagination and make repeated requests, otherwise you will end up doing very little. Regardless,
you will still have many hours of down time with nothing to do. Bring several books or other means of entertaining yourself.
Ask to go hunting for cayman on the river at night, 1) because there is nothing else to do at night, and 2) because barbecued cayman is absolutely delicious. Otherwise you will just be left to sit in your tent as soon as it gets dark.
Ask to try the nunu tobacco and even the poison dart frog (kambo) if you are feeling adventurous. Both will cost you an extra 50 soles each.
You must be forthright and ask for everything if you want to get the most out of your trip. Dont just leave it up to your guide. The Matses will try to come up with all kinds of excuses to get out of doing things. i.e. The river is too high/too low, the moon is too bright, its too hot, its Sunday, ect ect. What they really mean is they cant be bothered. Just be firm and insist. Your trip should not be dependant on their mood as ours often was.
Equipment:
Bring lots of your own equipment for greater comfort. E.g. Your own hammocks for lounging in the day time, and invest in comfortable inflatable sleeping mats for the tent. The Matses will also gladly sell you one of their hammocks (we didn't bother to ask how much)
Jungle Reps tour operator:
Our trip coordinator Luis, was very responsive, informative, enthusiastic and helpful in every respect. He is a great guy to deal with. However, there was a continued lack of proper thought and organisation throughout the entire trip that needs to be addressed.
Water:
It was suggested we drink boiled river water by our guide. Which kept upsetting our stomachs. So we came up with the idea of asking for buckets to collect rainwater instead,(Our guide also switched to rainwater soon after) Jungle Reps did provide a water filter but it was designed to fit over a faucet and we had no way of making it workable. Providing clean drinkable water, that doesn't upset your stomach, is a basic. Its not something we should have to figure out ourselves. It is also not guaranteed to rain enough in the dry season.
Equipment:
Rubber boots are provided for jungle walks, and they come in very handy. BUT make sure you ask to try them on before you leave Iquitos. Even though we gave our correct shoe size, the sizing was way off! We needed at least 2 sizes smaller. This made walking in them a bit difficult.
Food:
Meal times and quantity need to be more consistent. Sometimes we ate 3 times a day, other times we ate once a day. Some meals were so small and measly they left us hungry all day, other times we were given more food in one sitting than we could eat in a whole day! This irregularity is hard to get used to, and it shows a lack of consideration.
The food provisions could have been way better. Salted crackers, tinned tuna, and Jam are very unimaginative and do not make for a good snacks or breakfast. You need decent snacks if you are going to be surviving on one/two meals per day whilst doing activities in the jungle. Surprisingly, the Matses diet is also completely devoid of any nutritious fruits or vegetables, so some dried fruit and nuts should have been provided. For breakfast it would have been easy enough for our guide to buy a tray of eggs before we left the Mestizo village up river. Our guide would simply smile and say "this is an adventure" - which we thought was just a lousy excuse.
Activities:
The jungle reps website lists 15 or more activities you will do over the course of your 15 day expedition. The promise of these activities and the misleading pictures of the Matses are what really sold the expedition to us. In the end we only did around 3 out of the 15 activities that were promised. A list of the activities from the website that we did not do is as follows:
1. Learn about their language, worldview, and mythology - concerning animals that guide them
2. Seeing how a young man learns to become responsible for the family
3. Talk with old people of the town in the evenings
4. How to hunt with traps
5. Staying overnight near a colpa (salts&minerals)
6. Build an observatory in the jungle to see animals passing through
7. Walk to area where jaguars are most likely to be seen
8. See how to make traditional Matses hunting weapons like bows and arrows
9. See Lupuna - the millinery tree, protector of mother nature
10. 1 day survival course on how to get food in the jungle
11. Farewell ceremony
Either jungle reps need to remove these activities from the website immediately, or ensure that the guide has a list of them and finds a way to do them. Given the laziness and reluctance of the Matses, I highly doubt this was ever going to be possible.
Guests should not have to keep asking to do activities, there should be at least 3 per day (2 daytime and 1 night time) Overall, there were not enough activities for 6 days. They were too repetitive, too stretched out, and too dependant on the Matses.
Extra costs:
There should be no extra costs for activities and the Matses should be more willing to talk/share their culture with the guests - without expecting money/tips all the time.
20kg weight limit:
Jungle Reps website states 20kg per person as a weight limit. Given the rubber boots weigh at least 3kg, we found it is easy to reach this limit. When we arrived at the Matses village we were told we could hire a porter to lighten our load for the 2 day walk through the jungle at the end, ultimate making the experience more enjoyable. However, in typical Matses style the porter just decided to change his mind 10 minutes before departure, leaving our guide with a very hefty load. To avoid instances like this, we would recommend a strict 10kg weight limit for guests. (Minus the rubber boots) Like the activities, this is a misleading discrepancy on the website which needs to be corrected.
Overall:
Mixed feelings about the overall experience. 15 days is way too long! Even accounting 5 days of travel, there is not 10 days worth of activities to do. Fishing and collecting bananas from the plantation gets very repetitive and your guide will run out of ideas very quickly. By the time of our last 2 days in the village, all ideas and suggestions for activities had run out. We spent an entire day just sat in our hammocks because one of the Matses decided he would go fishing on his own and leave us behind.
Lots of improvements need to be made in order to make it worth the $4,000 USD that we paid. In hindsight we would have opted for a 6 day jungle package instead and saved ourselves the time/money/frustration.
Upon our return to Iquitos we found out that our guide had never done this expedition before - this explained a lot, but is not an acceptable excuse. I hope jungle reps can take this feedback onboard and make the many improvements that are needed in time for the next customers
So as to remain fair, this review is split between the performance of Jungle Reps as a company, and of the Matses tribe themselves.
Life among the Matses:
It is easy to romanticise about amazonian tribes, living in harmony with their environment, maintaining ancient tribal traditions, and practicing jungle hunting skills long forgotten by mondern humans.
Unfortunately this is a complete fantasy where the Matses are concerned and the reality is very different. You may have seen pictures of the Matses online (bear breasted women in grass skirts, facial tattoos and their trademark nose piercings which look like feline whiskers) Straight off the cover of National Geographic. Unfortunately this is a misconception. The Matses have now adopted many aspects of modern living, totally abandoning their old practices.
Nobody dresses in the traditional way anymore, they all wear shorts and t-shirts. If you want a couple of the elders to dress up in their traditional clothes and shoes, then they will charge you 100 soles to take some pictures for 10 minutes or so.
Their village is not a primitive collection of mud huts. They have a church and other civic buildings made of brick, as well as a concrete football pitch in the main square. Peruvian pop music, and evangelical christian hyms are blasted out on loud speakers on a daily basis and can be heard for miles around over the sound of the jungle.
The Matses use many modern amenities like motorised canoes and chainsaws. Petrol run generators give them lights in their homes, and power sockets. (very convenient for recharging your cameras/devices)
The Matses no longer hunt with, spears, bows, or blowpipes. Neither did we learn how to hunt or trap animals using any traditional methods. The Matses hunt with shotguns and dogs. As a result they have severely over hunted the animals in the surrounding jungle for many miles.
One of the main suggested activities will be going for walks in the jungle - just be prepared not see anything other than the odd parrot. If you want a chance at seeing monkeys and sloths ect, then you need to specifically request to go up river, much deeper into the jungle for a couple of days, to where the animals haven't been over-hunted. It was not until going here that we tasted paca (like a big Guinea pig) and Pikory (wild boar). The fishing is also way better up river.
The Matses are generally approachable and friendly. They are very used to having tourists visit them but their mentality does not always make them the best hosts. They are often lazy, reluctant, stubborn, and inconsiderate. Their awareness does not seem to extend much further than their own needs. They often try to get away with putting in the bare minimum effort required, which can be frustrating.
They see tourists primarily as a source of money and are quick to try and charge you extra soles for anything they can. Usually at extortionate rates i.e. 50 soles to eat one of their chickens, which is a ridiculous price for a chicken anywhere in Peru.
Hygiene:
Hygiene turned out to be a very serious issue with the Matses. During the tail end of the trip, both my husband and I suffered from extreme diarrhoea and an inability to digest certain foods. After 4 days of persistent symptoms we visited a hospital and were diagnosed with 'giardiasis' - a tropical parasite spread via contact with food or water that is contaminated with infected human feces. Even after a course of antibiotics, our symptoms lasted a further 3 weeks, severely disrupting our travel plans.
It does not matter how diligent you are with your own hygiene, the Matses hygiene practices leave a lot to be desired. They drink water from the same river that they use for washing, laundry, going to the toilet, and even butchering dead animals. Yes it floats down stream, but all the villages upstream are doing the same. Bear in mind this river is your only source of water to wash your body and clothes with.
We rarely ever saw them wash their hands after going to the toilet or before preparing food. When they did, it was a in standing bowl of water that was pulled straight out of the river. Our guide gave no indication that this was anything other than the norm.
Food:
Matses cooking is very inconsistent. They like to boil everything (probably because it requires the least effort) and they often over boil it. Meat is often rubbery. Stay away from chicken and other poultry - they are consistently terrible at cooking it.
Be firm with your guide and make sure he is firm with the Matses. If you say nothing, you will be surviving on boiled chicken/fish, rice, and yuca. They do have some basic herbs, spices, and fruit but you wont get them unless you ask.
Go fishing everyday and ask for your fish to be prepared in banana leaf with herbs and spices, which is 10 times better than just boiled. If you dont specify then they will just boil it.
Make sure your guide buys a tray of eggs and makes you them for breakfast. At the very least ask for a couple of bananas. Otherwise you will just get bread and marmalade.
Activities:
When it comes to activities, you need to use your own imagination and make repeated requests, otherwise you will end up doing very little. Regardless,
you will still have many hours of down time with nothing to do. Bring several books or other means of entertaining yourself.
Ask to go hunting for cayman on the river at night, 1) because there is nothing else to do at night, and 2) because barbecued cayman is absolutely delicious. Otherwise you will just be left to sit in your tent as soon as it gets dark.
Ask to try the nunu tobacco and even the poison dart frog (kambo) if you are feeling adventurous. Both will cost you an extra 50 soles each.
You must be forthright and ask for everything if you want to get the most out of your trip. Dont just leave it up to your guide. The Matses will try to come up with all kinds of excuses to get out of doing things. i.e. The river is too high/too low, the moon is too bright, its too hot, its Sunday, ect ect. What they really mean is they cant be bothered. Just be firm and insist. Your trip should not be dependant on their mood as ours often was.
Equipment:
Bring lots of your own equipment for greater comfort. E.g. Your own hammocks for lounging in the day time, and invest in comfortable inflatable sleeping mats for the tent. The Matses will also gladly sell you one of their hammocks (we didn't bother to ask how much)
Jungle Reps tour operator:
Our trip coordinator Luis, was very responsive, informative, enthusiastic and helpful in every respect. He is a great guy to deal with. However, there was a continued lack of proper thought and organisation throughout the entire trip that needs to be addressed.
Water:
It was suggested we drink boiled river water by our guide. Which kept upsetting our stomachs. So we came up with the idea of asking for buckets to collect rainwater instead,(Our guide also switched to rainwater soon after) Jungle Reps did provide a water filter but it was designed to fit over a faucet and we had no way of making it workable. Providing clean drinkable water, that doesn't upset your stomach, is a basic. Its not something we should have to figure out ourselves. It is also not guaranteed to rain enough in the dry season.
Equipment:
Rubber boots are provided for jungle walks, and they come in very handy. BUT make sure you ask to try them on before you leave Iquitos. Even though we gave our correct shoe size, the sizing was way off! We needed at least 2 sizes smaller. This made walking in them a bit difficult.
Food:
Meal times and quantity need to be more consistent. Sometimes we ate 3 times a day, other times we ate once a day. Some meals were so small and measly they left us hungry all day, other times we were given more food in one sitting than we could eat in a whole day! This irregularity is hard to get used to, and it shows a lack of consideration.
The food provisions could have been way better. Salted crackers, tinned tuna, and Jam are very unimaginative and do not make for a good snacks or breakfast. You need decent snacks if you are going to be surviving on one/two meals per day whilst doing activities in the jungle. Surprisingly, the Matses diet is also completely devoid of any nutritious fruits or vegetables, so some dried fruit and nuts should have been provided. For breakfast it would have been easy enough for our guide to buy a tray of eggs before we left the Mestizo village up river. Our guide would simply smile and say "this is an adventure" - which we thought was just a lousy excuse.
Activities:
The jungle reps website lists 15 or more activities you will do over the course of your 15 day expedition. The promise of these activities and the misleading pictures of the Matses are what really sold the expedition to us. In the end we only did around 3 out of the 15 activities that were promised. A list of the activities from the website that we did not do is as follows:
1. Learn about their language, worldview, and mythology - concerning animals that guide them
2. Seeing how a young man learns to become responsible for the family
3. Talk with old people of the town in the evenings
4. How to hunt with traps
5. Staying overnight near a colpa (salts&minerals)
6. Build an observatory in the jungle to see animals passing through
7. Walk to area where jaguars are most likely to be seen
8. See how to make traditional Matses hunting weapons like bows and arrows
9. See Lupuna - the millinery tree, protector of mother nature
10. 1 day survival course on how to get food in the jungle
11. Farewell ceremony
Either jungle reps need to remove these activities from the website immediately, or ensure that the guide has a list of them and finds a way to do them. Given the laziness and reluctance of the Matses, I highly doubt this was ever going to be possible.
Guests should not have to keep asking to do activities, there should be at least 3 per day (2 daytime and 1 night time) Overall, there were not enough activities for 6 days. They were too repetitive, too stretched out, and too dependant on the Matses.
Extra costs:
There should be no extra costs for activities and the Matses should be more willing to talk/share their culture with the guests - without expecting money/tips all the time.
20kg weight limit:
Jungle Reps website states 20kg per person as a weight limit. Given the rubber boots weigh at least 3kg, we found it is easy to reach this limit. When we arrived at the Matses village we were told we could hire a porter to lighten our load for the 2 day walk through the jungle at the end, ultimate making the experience more enjoyable. However, in typical Matses style the porter just decided to change his mind 10 minutes before departure, leaving our guide with a very hefty load. To avoid instances like this, we would recommend a strict 10kg weight limit for guests. (Minus the rubber boots) Like the activities, this is a misleading discrepancy on the website which needs to be corrected.
Overall:
Mixed feelings about the overall experience. 15 days is way too long! Even accounting 5 days of travel, there is not 10 days worth of activities to do. Fishing and collecting bananas from the plantation gets very repetitive and your guide will run out of ideas very quickly. By the time of our last 2 days in the village, all ideas and suggestions for activities had run out. We spent an entire day just sat in our hammocks because one of the Matses decided he would go fishing on his own and leave us behind.
Lots of improvements need to be made in order to make it worth the $4,000 USD that we paid. In hindsight we would have opted for a 6 day jungle package instead and saved ourselves the time/money/frustration.
Upon our return to Iquitos we found out that our guide had never done this expedition before - this explained a lot, but is not an acceptable excuse. I hope jungle reps can take this feedback onboard and make the many improvements that are needed in time for the next customers
Skrevet 14. august 2018
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Dear guest Thank you for yor review and we wil reply point by point and of course your review will help us to keep growing as a company. Matses is a very ancient indigenous society but since many years ago they were considered as a abandoned peruvians because many of them were moving to Brasil and peruvian government decided to provide some basic services in education and health matters( years ago they use to die with just a flu) as we know many diseases were introduced by white men and they had no inmunization and probably they were confined to be seriously affected.
About wildlife is relative as everywhere. because of government presence they have adopted new ways of hunting but still using some ancient ways to do it. Doing activities with them a bit challenging sometimes.
We know that we have a program but sometimes we have to adjust to their customs and time as well. We will never push them to our way but we will try to do it less frustrating. All the companies that go there don`t know since when they started to charge to dress. Somebody started tiping and they found a new way to do money.
We are starting to make the difference to do it in the sustainable way and they will go back to their customs. And we were glad you told us about this payment so we could reimbursed you the amount.
Chicken price sounds very high dear guest 50 soles but this is what we pay in Iquitos and more mainly by 24th june we pay prices of 80 to 100 soles sometimes.
Hygiene is a issue that we are working very hard with them. We will not change their ways of life but we will do it a bit better for them.Currently I am in the school of medicine and we will do it personally.And about the giardisis you got it is possible you could get here but not sure you got it with Matses because incubation period or the time you can start feeling sick is between 3 and 5 days. You were with Matses tribe almost two weeks when I went to pick you up to Nauta you were fine otherwise I was going to take you to the closest hospital. Then we took a 2 hours bus ride to Iquitos. As i mentioned above I am in the school of medicine and I was studying parasites for a semester. It would be a very interesting case.
Food is prepared under guide`s supervision now to avoid health issues
About water we fixed that problem already. We got a supplier from Iquitos that will provide us bottled drinking water once we arrive in Colonia Angamos. We tried many filters and always having issues about them. Rubber boots we are taking all our guests straight to the store to get the right size.
I had a conversation with indigenous Matses and the told me that they were trying to give you the best going "out of the trail" and it was a mistake doing activities that were not in the program. This problem was fixed already. Weight limit now we published as 5 kilos as limit. About food we were taking plenty of food that day but there was two flights same day and same time almost part of our belongings were taken to the border with Colombia and the other flight to Colonia Angamos so we were affected.
This is why guide takes personally groceries and important supplies. Guide: Your guide Raul meant that it was his first time to this village because there are at least 20 matses villages Raul is the guide that i respect more because of his vast experience and ability to deal with Matses.
Overall Visiting a tribe always will be a challenge everywhere.But now we depend less of them which will be not frustating
Food: good part of our supplies flought to the wrong way and we as company still waiting for reimburse.And is being prepared by guide and with supervised help
Extra costs we are seeing how to do it in the sustainable way for them and we are glad you told us so we could reimbursed you the money you spent. Water: We decided not to take filters any more instead of that we will get bottled water in Colonia Angamos before to navigate to their village.
Guide: Raul is still the best guide that know the area and knows how to deal with Matses. We really appreciate your review that of course will help us a lot. Best regards Jungle Reps
Skrevet 18. oktober 2018
Dette svaret er den subjektive meningen fra en representant for foretaket og ikke fra Tripadvisor LLC.
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