
The Tahuayo Lodge is located in the Area de Conservacion Regional Comunal de Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo (ACRCTT), also known as the Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo reserve. Peru’s first state reserve, Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo covers over 445,000 hectares (1.1 million acres) of precious, mega-diverse western Amazonian rainforest.
The ACRCTT was originally designated a reserve by the Peruvian government in 1991 to protect the range of the rare red uakari monkey, an orangutan-looking monkey with a bright red face. Subsequent scientific research has found the reserve to be home to one of the world’s richest variety of plants, amphibians, reptiles, and birds. In 2003, Chicago’s Field Museum’s rapid biology assessment found more species of mammals and trees in the ACRCTT than any other documented natural area in the entire world. Scientists studying birds, amphibians, and plants have found the respective species assemblages to be “outstanding, unusual, and exceptional.”