Practical Information

Passport

Remember to check the expiration date of your passport if travelling internationally. Many countries require your passport to be valid for at least six months after the date of your scheduled return.

Visa

Peru

Travellers from the UK, US and EU normally do not need a visa to enter Peru. Please note, visa requirements often change and it is your responsibility to obtain any required visas for this trip. Therefore, we recommend that you check with the nearest embassy or consulate of your chosen destination(s), including any countries you may be transiting or transferring through.

Some local governments provide guidance on what visas their citizens need. To help, we’ve gathered a selection of useful links below.

• Australia: www.smartraveller.gov.au/destinations/americas/peru
• Canada: www.travel.gc.ca/destinations/peru
• United Kingdom: www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/peru/entry-requirements
• USA: www.travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Peru.html

If you are travelling via the USA and are eligible to transit under the Visa Waiver Program, you are required to register in advance for an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization). There is a US$21 charge, which is only payable online. Please see our website www.exodus.co.uk/usvisa for further information.

Please note, not all nationalities have the same eligibility for travel to or transit via the USA, and you may not be covered by the visa waiver program. Regulations stipulate that any person who has travelled to Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen since March 2011, or have dual nationalities of these countries, may no longer qualify. In addition, if you have travelled to Cuba since 12 January 2021 you will not be eligible for the visa waiver program and should instead apply for a visa.

If you are in doubt of your eligibility, please check the visa requirements with your local US embassy.

Vaccinations and Health

Peru

There are no required vaccinations. However, recommended vaccinations include tetanus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rabies, typhoid, tuberculosis and yellow fever. Additionally, Zika fever, a mosquito‐borne viral disease, is a known risk in Peru. There is currently no vaccine or prophylaxis available, so you should take the usual precautions to avoid mosquito bites. Please check all vaccination recommendations with your doctor or travel clinic.

Amazon: If you are travelling to the Tambopata reserve in the Amazon rainforest, the risk of malaria is slight, but you may wish to consult your doctor or travel clinic for further advice. We also strongly recommend that you obtain a yellow fever vaccination. Additionally, dengue fever and chikungunya are known risks in the Amazon region. Both are tropical viral diseases spread by daytime biting mosquitoes. There is currently no vaccine or prophylaxis available for either, and therefore the best form of prevention is to take the usual precautions to avoid mosquito bites.

Local Time

Peru's time zone: America/Lima (UTC -05:00)

Electricity

Peru's electricity: Plug types A (two flat pins), B (three pins: two flat, one round) and C (two round pins)– 220V, 60Hz. There are no charging facilities available on the Inca Trail, our other camping treks or Amantani Island, so we recommend you take spare batteries or a solar charger with you. If staying in an Amazon lodge, there is no mains electricity; a generator will provide power for a few hours a day only in the main lodge/dining area, while lanterns, torches or candles will be provided in the bedrooms. Additionally, if you stay at the Inkaterra Hacienda Conception Amazon Lodge, there is limited electricity in the cabanas; however, all cabanas have reading lights and a ceiling ventilator.

Money

Peru's currency: Peruvian nuevo sol (PEN)

ATM Availability

ATMs are available at Lima airport. Please notify your credit card company prior to departure that you will be traveling within Peru and check any international limits or special instructions. If you plan to pay in cash, all US bills must be in excellent condition, clean with no tears or writing, and dated post 2000. Damaged bills of any sort will be rejected. Bring cash in denominations of USD$20 or less.

Purchases in local villages should be made in Peruvian currency. You should exchange money at Lima airport prior to departing for Iquitos. We suggest changing approximately US$100 per person into Peruvian currency for souvenir shopping at the villages on the river. Change will always be given in local currency. If you have local currency left at the end of your journey, you can exchange it back at Lima airport.

The Zafiro accepts Visa and Mastercard. We suggest you carry more than one type of card if possible. Purchases at the bar or boutique can be made with US dollars, soles, Visa or Mastercard. There are no ATMs on the riverboat.

Tipping

Tipping is customary and forms part of the service culture here.

On this Premium Adventure, we include all tips to the Zafiro crew during your stay, a cost of approximately US$30 per person per day (US$240 in total). As such, tipping the crew is taken care of for you and will be distributed evenly among all staff onboard.

Your naturalist guide is not included in the amount for the crew, as we prefer to allow you to tip guides directly where good service has been received. You should budget tips for the naturalist guide around US$7-US$10 per person per night.

People, Places & Planet

We work hard to create trips which improve life for the people and places we visit and look after the planet we explore. Find out more about our sustainable travel ethos and practice here, and find out about the work of the Exodus Travels Foundation here.

Some sustainable travel highlights of this trip include:

People

How this trip helps improve life for local communities.

• The use of a local guide who has expert knowledge in this remote area of the Peruvian Amazon means our customers will be well informed about local traditions, and cultural and social sensitivities.
• This trip brings income and opportunity to the destination community through the inclusion of locally employed staff, and purchase of food supplies that are sourced locally to showcase the breadth of Peruvian cuisine.
• Guides will provide information about the lives of the Ribereño people as we visit some villages perched along the riverbanks as part of the expedition. This supports local enterprise and enables information sharing, such as understanding about medicinal plants or visiting a local shaman.
• Sustainable practices are in place on board the Zafiro, for example, use of eco-friendly cleaning products that do not affect the ecosystem.

Places

How this trip helps protect and conserve local landscapes and nature.

• Read about our commitment to nature protection and restoration here including our rewilding commitment for every customer who travels.
• By travelling in a small group, led by a local guide, we ‘tread lightly’ to minimise our impact on local resources and the environment.
• Wildlife and biodiversity conservation is supported through our time spend in the Pacaya Samiria Reserve as part of this expedition.
• All excursions will be accompanied by naturalist guides who are experts in the Peruvian Amazon, with specialist knowledge of local culture, ornithology, and the flora and fauna of this biodiverse region.
• All of the skiffs use silencers to avoid noise pollution and respect the natural habitat of the fauna in the area we navigate.
• Our trips adhere to ABTA’s industry-leading animal welfare guidelines to ensure the best possible practices about wildlife viewing. Our animal welfare policy can be found here.
• Guides display respectful behaviour in the way they approach the fauna and flora observed during the excursions, for example, no-one is allowed to touch any animal and all guests will be kept at an appropriate distance.
• One of the included excursions features a ceremony hosted by a local shaman, where every traveller may plant their own tree and in this way they leave a positive footprint as part of their travels in the Amazon region.
• Our local team collaborate with NGO Manatees Rescue Center, which takes care of manatees and other animal species in danger of extinction.
• We work with our partners on the ground to proactively eliminate or reduce waste, for example eliminating all single-use plastic water bottles and instead providing refills for re-usable bottles.

Planet

How we seek to keep the carbon footprint of this trip low.

• Read about our climate action here including our carbon reduction and compensation commitments.
• Travelling through a remote region such as the Peruvian Amazon by boat ensures that our landing sites and visits are carefully controlled which ensures a culturally sensitive expedition.
• Our guides and local staff are natives to the area and understand how to protect and care for the region, enriching the experience for local people and guests.
• During every expedition there will be a tree planting ceremony, an important Amazon tradition.

Tips for sustainable travel on this trip

• Leave no trace: We do all we can to ensure we leave no rubbish behind in the wild and beautiful places we visit; we ask that you do the same. If there are no recycling facilities in-country, we’d ask you to consider bringing recyclable materials home with you.
• Plastic waste reduction: Please bring your own re-usable water bottle on this trip; filtered water will be provided where tap water is not drinkable. Please also consider avoiding use of single-use toiletries, which generate a large amount of plastic waste.

Important Information

Water safety

This trip includes time by a lake, river or sea, where there may be opportunities to swim. You should always seek local advice before deciding whether to swim. Open-water or wild swim spots should be treated with extreme caution. Information on how to keep yourself safe while swimming is shown here.