History of Tambopata

Explorer's Inn. This operator got an agreement for only five years. Differently, in 1983, the Santuario Nacional Pampas Del Heath (SNPH) was established, with a surface area of 105.957 hectares (261.83 acres). The purpose was to protect the unique territory of Sabana Húmeda Tropical in Peru.

By the 1986s, a Peruvian conservation NGO Selva Sur (ACSS) and a senior Wildlife Conservation Society biologist (C. A. Munn) organized two biological expeditions to the Upper Tambopata and Heath River to propose a larger conservation area, as soon as oil exploration stopped and temporarily abandoned the region. At that time, Peru´s development bank system became in bankruptcy, then more ambitious plans to develop the Amazon forests in Madre de Dios, by means of cattle ranching, gold mining, poor yielding agricultural production, and other slash-and-burning schemes, no longer pressured large extensions of rainforests. Neo tropical biologists such as A. Gentry, T. A. Parker, C. Munn, among others suggested to ACSS to further explore the Upper Heath River, since teams of Bolivian and USA biologists were already interested in preserving the Upper Madidi area in Bolivia, right next to the Heath River in the Peruvian and Bolivian border, considering the possible establishment of a bi national park for which they have already overflown the region and started field research.

After two expeditions in 1986 and 1987, and several visits to the Tambopata and Heath rivers, a new draft entitled Propuesta de Zona Reservada Tambopata Candamo was submitted to the DGFF Lima by Selva Sur (ACSS) in 1987. This proposal, led by Peruvian conservationists (D.G. Ricalde), included over 1.5 million hectares, including the proposed ZRT (presented by Explorer´s Inn manager T. Gunther and several UK biologists), and