"Pros: The main thing about this lodge is that you are both really immersed in the natural environment but a walk or short moto-taxi ride from town. The more expensive luxury lodges further out of town maybe have more green space to explore and an even more secluded vibe... but this is a great compromise to experience both city and jungle at a great value price. Mindblowing fauna on-site - hummingbirds, woodpeckers, toucans and cute tamarin monkeys in the trees close by the bungalows (though as with elsewhere in the cloud forest area, you might need a telephoto lens or binoculars to see them as the canopy is so high). There was an abundance of butterflies and I had a praying mantis on my door one morning. As a naturalist who loves insects it was totally magical to stay here... the biodiversity is off the scale - amazing to have this 10 minutes from the town centre. By Urku down the road I also saw a monitor lizard ( a few metres long ), frogs at dusk and a macaw above the river. As a solo English traveller, having Christian there to translate for me also made a huge difference. He offered me lifts to town / elsewhere...booked me taxis... and generally went above and beyond as a host. Thankyou so much Christian! All the other people who worked there were also very kind sweet people, ready to help me when needed too. Like many places in Peru, it's gated and has a night guard ( also a lovely guy )... so it feels safe despite it's isolation. Tarapoto in general felt safe to me and I loved visiting the colourful town as well - I'm glad I didn't miss out on that being at the more remote lodges. Cons: The wi-fi could be better...it was a bit patchy with slow upload times. But do you really want to be online when you're in the jungle? Haha The main issue for me with this was actually just in using Google Translate... neither 3G nor the wifi seemed to work at times....rendering me incapable of communicating my needs. ( But I should also have just learnt some Spanish before coming to South America really! ) It sounds a bit insane to mention mosquitoes in the Amazon as an insect-lover enjoying the biodiversity.....but there is considerable difference in mosquito populations at different places in/near Tarapoto. The good thing here was that there were no mosquitoes in my room, so mosquito nets aren't even necessary - they use door screens, etc. I think also the bungalows being higher up on the lodge hill meant there were less close by the accommodation itself. Walking around the broader site though, down to Urku and down to the reserve next door by the river, I got bitten to shreds. Note that the mosquitoes are day-flying and will go through clothing too - but once I realised I needed to really cover myself head to toe in DEET and spray my clothing as well, I seemed to be ok. The other good thing is that malaria and dengue aren't really an issue here as I understand... unlike closer to Iquitos. In any case, you can't expect to visit the Amazon and not get bitten! :) Neither of these things would put me off staying here again if I returned to Tarapoto! Great place, lovely people." ~Samuel