Six weeks after my son presented his report, we were standing on the banks of the Tambopata River, a tributary of the mighty Amazon, mesmerized by a straight line of thousands of these long-legged ants marching back and forth as they foraged for food. Jasper warned us to stand clear. "These could be the soldier ants!" he said excitedly as he darted back and forth to observe, clearly amazed to see his research subject spring to life in such dramatic fashion. "One won't hurt you, but together they'll attack. They can even kill small animals."
Our guide, Sixto, smiled. "Jasper's right -- they will bite you if you get in their way. But they normally just eat insects."
Sixto, who was born and raised in the rain forest, works with Rainforest Expeditions, which operates three lodges along the Tambopata. My wife, Sue, my daughter, Ariel, 15, and Jasper, 7, and I were headed to Refugio Amazonas, which Rainforest Expeditions opened in 2005 and is oriented to families and groups. We were eager to share with our kids the fragile beauty of this threatened ecosystem, and the five-night program for younger children and teenagers was the solution.
Refugio Amazonas is a 24-bedroom lodge located on a 200-hectare private reserve that abuts the sprawling Tambopata National Reserve in southeastern Peru. The proximity of the river to Machu Picchu has made it an increasingly popular draw for ecotourists, some 40,000 of whom visited the jungle region last year. The Peruvian rain forest is under intense pressure from logging, gold mining, and road construction.
