RSSSeveral operators in Tucupita have delta lodges, ranging from very rustic to relatively luxurious. Activities are generally the same no matter where you go and encompass visiting indigenous Warao villages to see and buy crafts, canoeing through the small caños, piraña fishing, exploring the tropical forest areas to see local flora and fauna and night trips to catch cayman. The operators offer package tours that include river transport to and from Tucupita, accommodation, food and all daily excursions. Most visitors stay two or three evenings, but for those who stay more, some of the operators have smaller lodges further downriver.
Using these remote lodges as a base, visitors are likely to see a bit more wildlife, meet Waraos who have had less contact with the outside world, and even travel out to where the caños empty out into the sea. Packages cost between US$60 and US$110 per person per day. The following four operators are the most reliable. A few other smaller lodges seem to go in and out of business frequently.
Some tour operators are:
Aventura Turistica Delta
C Centurión, no. 62
T: 0287/721-0835
The French owners have two camps in the northern part of the delta. Both are fairly rustic – visitors sleep in hammocks. Packages cost US$60–75 per day, depending upon group size.
Delta Surs C Pativilca
C Mariño
T: 0287/721-3840
Its principal lodge, Maraisa, is about eight hours by boat from Tucupita. It contains ten fairly rustic cabañas, which have beds and hammocks. The three-day, two-night package costs US$180–220 per person, depending upon group size. Delta Surs was the first to build a lodge and is also the only locally owned operator.
Mis Palofitos
Plaza Bolívar,
Centro Comercial Delta Centre
T: 0287/721-5166
E-mail: mispalofitos@cantv.net.
Mis Palofitos's lodge of the same name caters to tour groups that come from Isla Margarita. One of the most expensive lodges, costing US$300 for a three-day, two-night package, it is in the northern part of the delta, two-and-a-half hours from Tucupita by speedboat. Built in local Warao style, its 39 attractive cabañas all have beds and private bathrooms. It also has a number of pets, including a capybara and an otter.
Tucupita Expeditions
C Las Acacias
T: 0287/721-1953
Website: www.orinocodelta.com
The cabañas are a larger and more attractive. Tucupita Expeditions also has a more remote lodge generally used for sport fishing. The tour guides, some of whom speak English, are wholly good. Pets include a jaguar, otter, howler monkey and porcupine.
