Margarita Tours is dedicated to providing a true ecotourism experience. As a small owner-operated company, we are committed to investing in the ecological and human riches of the Peruvian Amazon, the primary destination of our ecotours. Since 1983 we have specialized in small-group travel for people who want to "do things" and to experience one of the world's greatest natural wonders.

To fulfill our commitment to our clients and to the Amazon and its people, we work hard to ensure that you leave the Amazon with much more than just a fun experience. We use experts in various areas of natural history as expedition leaders, and encourage you to learn all you can about the Amazon before, during, and after your expedition. Apart from expedition leaders, our employees are natives of the Peruvian Amazon, and constitute another fount of knowledge that you are encouraged to utilize. Whenever possible, we contract with local people in the remote areas that we visit to provide goods and services. We make a concerted effort to work within the local economy, and to contribute to sustainable Amazon development.

YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
Our expeditions encourage the development of cottage industries, beneficial to the local economy and to individual communities, yet easy on the environment. We encourage clients to purchase or trade for handicrafts and items of daily use, but strongly discourage purchasing or trading for items made of, or decorated with feathers, fur, skins and bones, or any other bird, mammal or reptile part. It may be illegal for you to import items made of, or decorated with these items into your home country, and you could face confiscation of these items as well as financial penalties or worse. Don't contribute to the market for items made from animals, many of which may be endangered. Ultimately, only you are responsible for your actions, and it is your duty as a responsible ecotourist to inform yourself about what kinds of arts and crafts are legal to take home, and also what the laws are concerning drugs, endangered species, plants, animals, etc. For more information, please visit our Responsible Ecotourism page.

OUR SUPPORT FOR AMAZON INITIATIVES AND EDUCATION
We strongly support Project Amazonas, Inc., non-profit research, conservation, education, and humanitarian organization registered in Peru and the USA. Project Amazonas operates four Amazon biological field stations open for use by researchers, students and ecotourists. It also engages in health, humanitarian, community development and education work in rural and urban areas of the Amazon. Find out more at http://www.projectamazonas.org.

Margarita Tours provides logistics, support and financing for medical service trips, educational courses, and Amazon researchers, and plays a major role in maintaining and developing the riverboats and field stations operated by Project Amazonas. We provided Amazon logistics, artifacts, video/still photos, and information for various education projects in the USA, including an Amazon exhibit at the Oregon Zoo (Portland), a stingray breeding program at the Aquarium of the Americas (New Orleans), and the "Amazon Rising" exhibit (opened June 2000) at the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois, which won the American Zoological Association's prestigious "exhibit of the year" award!

We take our commitments seriously. We are intimately familiar with "our" area of the Amazon, and the people of the Amazon are part of our extended "family". It is our sincere desire to share this wonderful corner of the world with you, while doing all that we can to contribute to the betterment of the lives of the people of the region and to our host country of Peru in an ecologically responsible manner. Some of the things we do include:

• Organize and partially finance medical service expeditions staffed by the Peruvian Ministry of Health as well as by interested volunteers and medical students - over the past years, we have done 4 to 6 of these 1- or 2-week expeditions annually.
• Provide practicum field experiences for students from the University of the Peruvian Amazon (UNAP). Students are required to have two practicum field experiences as a graduation requirement for students in the biological sciences, but funding for students is severely limited. We regularly take UNAP students on our expeditions and to the field sites that we use, and cover all their expenses. We typically support 8-10 students annually.
• Provide transportation for, and pay for medical treatment for residents of the areas in which we operate. This includes transportation to Iquitos or a more local health center, lab tests, and actual medical care - past interventions have ranged from hernia surgery to long-term treatment for a stroke victim, the resetting of an old leg fracture, treatment for venomous snake bites, and emergency transportation for appendicitis and obstructed (twisted) intestine.
• Provide minor medical and first-aid care to dozens of local residents in the areas in which we operate.
• Provide transportation and funding or logistical support for land surveyors to officially delimit the lands of local Yagua Indian or mestizo communities. This is usually in response to outsiders starting to occupy and clear community lands, claiming that the land borders are actually elsewhere.
• Finance cultural and holiday events in Yagua and mestizo communities - these have ranged from a celebration of Yagua culture that took place in the Yagua community of Santa Rosa, and which involved the participation of both Yagua and non-Yagua villages from the Orosa and Apayacu Rivers, to sponsoring Christmas or other holiday events at local schools to benefit school children. We encourage the retention of local knowledge and support cultural and language revitalization efforts.
• Provide essential school supplies (both purchased in Iquitos and brought from the US by our clients) to schools in the areas we visit. Typically we provide supplies to 8-12 schools annually. Approximately $250 can provide the supplies (purchased in Iquitos) needed for a year for an average sized school with 35-40 students.
• Conduct ongoing agro-forestry field trials to encourage forest conservation and wise use, while developing marketable products that local people can use to increase cash flow without cutting the forest.

SAFETY FIRST - YOUR PHYSICAL WELL-BEING
Your personal safety is always our greatest concern. We will not take chances, or provide you with unsafe means of transportation. There are certain risks inherent in traveling to remote areas, but we do our best to inform you of, and to minimize those risks. There are also risks in crossing the street in your home community! We will never pressure you into participating in any activity with which you are not comfortable, and we provide activity opportunities that are compatible with each clients physical abilities. Our boats are equipped with safety equipment and are inspected annually; our crews are licensed, personally known to us, and most have been working with us for many years. They are professional, competent, and are also dedicated to your safety. We personally check out new destinations to determine the lay of the land, and also so that we know how best to evacuate an injured or seriously ill person in case of emergency. In over 20 years of operation in the Amazon, we have never had a serious injury (or death), and we intend to keep it that way.

Many clients inquire about drug trafficking, terrorism, and political stability in Peru. The short response is that you are probably safer in the Peruvian Amazon than in most of the rest of the world, including North America or Europe! For an in-depth response, however, visit the Safety and Politics in Peru web page.

Our meals are varied and delicious, and prepared according to high standards of sanitation. We are careful in the selection and handling of food, and vegetarian options are available at every meal. Whenever possible, we work to accommodate the dietary preferences or restrictions of clients - you need to inform us of these ahead of time, however! Quite a few clients come to the Amazon planning on loosing a few pounds - they usually end their expedition complaining about the pounds that they put on instead!

SAFETY FIRST - YOUR FINANCIAL SECURITY
Margarita Tours is a licensed tour company, and maintains an escrow account for client deposits. We are a small company and do not offer trip insurance, but we strongly recommend the purchase of travel insurance. Many unanticipated events may prevent you from participating in a planned expedition - protect your investment in airline tickets by having trip insurance. We also recommend that any expensive camera or other equipment be covered by your home-owners or other insurance.

We take great care to protect your personal information. We do not share your personal data with other parties except as necessary (hotel reservations in Peru, port captain sailing papers), and never give away, sell or share any financial information that you may entrust us with. When we no longer need the information, ALL files are shredded before disposal. Identity theft is serious, and we are doing our part to combat it.