About MT Amazon Expeditions
We were founded in 1983, and have been offering Peruvian Amazon expeditions ever since. The company official name is Margarita Tours, Inc.*, after Margaret, the original owner, but when it was turned over to a long-term employee on 8 Sept 2004, we elected to revise the name. Too many prospective clients had visions of non-stop drinks in wide glasses with a slice of lime and salt on the rim.... While we might enjoy a Margarita from time to time ourselves, it isn't what we're all about!
What are we proud of?
Our permanent commitment to the Amazon - both to the environment and to the people.
Our unflagging support of Project Amazonas, a non-profit organization that was born out of Margarita Tours in 1994.
Our clients. These are people who want to really experience the Amazon ("bugs", humidity and all), and who keep coming back! From 20-40% of the participants on any given expedition are repeat clients. Many also become regular donors to Project Amazonas.
Our staff. Our Peruvian staff are top-notch, and work very hard to make very Amazon experience memorable in all the right ways.
What are we passionate about?
Getting out into the field! MT Amazon's owners, trip leaders and Peruvian staff all love getting off the beaten track in the Amazon.
Finding new cool things on each and every expedition - we're constantly learning!
Providing young people and students of all ages a horizon-broadening life experience.
Mark Twain. Huh? Sure! Who else had the wit to note “I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” (Tom Sawyer Abroad - 1894).
Our thanks to essential workers and first responders - Click here to read about our offer to these groups.
Our clients come from all walks of life and have ranged from 8 to 80 years of age. Repeat clients always receive a discounted expedition rate, and the 10th expedition is completely complementary. Stop snickering - we've made good on that promise! About 60% of our clients are from the USA, 10% from Canada, 20% from Europe, and 10% from scattered locations around the globe.
Meet our Directors, Trip Leaders & Key Staff
Devon Graham (Owner/President/Expedition Leader/Botany, Birding & Fish Collecting Buff). While working on his PhD in tropical ecology at the University of Miami, Devon was invited by the founder of Project Amazonas to visit the Peruvian Amazon. His first visit was in 1994, and he was soon heavily involved with Project Amazonas and with Margarita Tours, out of which the non-profit organization had grown.
Devon took up birding at the age of 8 when living in Rwanda and going to school in Kenya. He kept fish from the age of 12 on, and became passionate about plants after taking systematic botany in college and a study abroad trip to Australia and New Zealand. Additionally he has lived, worked or studied in Canada, Switzerland, Costa Rica and Niger. He currently spends about 40% of the year in Peru, but his permanent base is Florida. He enjoys travel and has visited over 50 countries and territories with many more on his wish list.
In addition to his role at MT Amazon Expeditions of which he took ownership in 2004, Devon has served as president of Project Amazonas since 2010, and taught Everglades and Amazon study-abroad courses through the Honors College of Florida International University for 20 years.
Devon Graham with Margarita - the rescue otter - at the Madre Selva Biological Station in the Peruvian Amazon.
Matt Cage (Owner/Expedition Leader/Herpetology Tours/Photographer). Matt Cage has extensive experience guiding trips and traveling to the American tropics. Matt has been a trip leader for MT Amazon Expeditions since 2010, and prior to that was a client of MTAE on multiple tours. Matt has traveled extensively and photographed wildlife in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America, and has also visited Africa, Australia, and Europe.
Matt is a lifelong field-herper, having grown up in a household where vacations to field-herping destinations were the norm. For this, he thanks his his Father, Young Cage. You can see Matt's photos in many published books and papers. Matt is a Wildlife Biology major from Colorado State University (Go Rams!) and formerly lived in the Denver, Colorado metro area, although he migrated to central Florida in 2021. Contact Matt at cages2000@msn.com or through his Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cage150. View Matt's photos at his website http://www.cages.smugmug.com/
Matt Cage with an invasive Burmese python in the Florida Everglades
Mike Pingleton (Expedition Leader/Photographer/Herp & Bird Fan)
For more than forty years, Mike Pingleton has been pursuing amphibians and reptiles in the field. Along with covering much of the United States, Mike has also pursued herps in Mexico, Panama, Belize, Peru, Thailand, and most recently, Paraguay. After first visiting the Peruvian Amazon in 2011 as a client of MT Amazon Expeditions, Mike was hooked! He signed on as a trip leader in 2014. Mike has written extensively about field herping, including articles for Herp Nation and the International Reptile Conservation Foundation.
Mike is also the author of a how-to manual on Redfoot Tortoises, has written several children's e-books about herps, and recently published books related to field herping. His field herping blog is at www.fieldherping.org. Mike also serves on the administrative board for HerpMapper (www.herpmapper.org), a citizen-science-powered data collection project. Mike is a computer operations manager at the University of Illinois, and makes his home in Champaign. He can be reached at pingleto@gmail.com, or through FaceBook. Mike’s photo collections can be viewed on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikepingleton/collections.
Mike Pingleton displaying a spectacular but increasingly rare indigo snake
Michael Barber (Tropical Fish Expert)
Michael has been a fish enthusiast and keeper for more than fifty years. His journey started with his parents’ gift of a five-gallon stainless steel and slate aquarium with box filter and stainless incandescent hood. As he grew and endured spun fiberglass embedded in his fingers and unexpected electrical groundings, he graduated from live bearers to breeding Pearl Gouramis before the age of ten and Discus before twelve.
His passions are Calichthydae, Apistogrammas and Apistogrammoides pucallpaensis. He has had nearly fifty species of Corydoras, Brochis and Aspidoras in his “Restazonia”, a large room dedicated to fish, which for many years housed between 60 and 100 tanks. He has bred over fifty species of Calichthydae, and dozens of Apistogramma species. He has extensive experience in the biology and chemistry of breeding cycles, and in the transport and quarantine of imported Amazon fish.
He ventures to the Amazon basin frequently to collect fish and thoroughly enjoys being a mentor introducing others to their first Amazon expedition with co-leader, Devon Graham. In 2014, he began facilitating shipping fish caught on these trips.
Michael is an active member of many fish organizations including: Potomac Valley Aquarium Society (PVAS – current treasurer and past president), Greater Washington Aquatic Plant Association (GWAPA), the Capital Cichlid Association (CCA), James River Aquarium Society (JRAS) and the Catfish Study Group. He is past Co-Chair of the All-Aquarium Catfish Convention. Another membership of note is The American Begonia Society, Potomac Branch.
Michael is available to present to fish clubs about collecting trips with MT Amazon Expeditions. You can contact Michael here.
Michael with his fish-collecting bucket in the Peruvian Amazon
Ground and river Staff in Perú
In Memorium: Guillermo Anter0 Guerra Perez
We mourn the passing of Guillermo Guerra from Covid-19 on 3 March 2021, in the city of Iquitos. Guillermo was the first person everyone met when they arrived at the airport. At a young age Guillermo began working his life passion - making guests feel safe and comfortable in his home country. He was an expert in airport transfers, flight bookings, arranging hotels and river transport, SIM cards, lost luggage, lost passports, boot size estimation, and much more. With Guillermo in charge, no matter what the situation, everyone knew it would all work out OK.
For over 20 years, Guillermo worked with Margarita Tours and Project Amazonas, Inc., a joint American-Peruvian non-governmental organization dedicated to the preservation of the Peruvian Amazon and its peoples. He is missed, but we are fortunate that his son, Luis Miguel, has stepped in to carry out the important role that his father played.
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Our staff have all been with us for years, and together we are an extended “family team”. No-one has a set of fixed duties, and we all chip-in and do whatever work is at hand, usually accompanied with laughter and giggling. The crew probably has as much fun on trips as our passengers do, but we still pay them!
Fernando Rios Tulumba (Manager/Supplier/Logistics/Jack-of-all-Trades)
Luis Miguel Guerra Flores (Transfer agent/Translator/Iquitos Logistics Coordinator)
Segundo Rios Ramirez (Captain/Mechanic/Chain-saw Expert/Snake Catcher/Can-do-Person)
Emerson Torres Pacaya (Santa Cruz Supervisor/Jack-of-all-Trades/Chef/Animal Finder)
Lider Nolorbe (Steward/Coffee-maker/Comfort Specialist/Carpenter/Animal Finder)
Charlie Taminche (Chef Extraordinaire/Chief of Cheer/Animal Finder [but not in the food!]/Fisher)
Ronald Barbaran (Cook Extraordinaire/Electrician/Carpenter/Can-do-Person)
Jose Reategui (Boat Captain/Chief Navigator/Fisher)
Juan-Luis Panduro (Youngster/Welder/Soccer Star/Can-do-Person/Animal Finder/Fisher)
Julio Sinojara Napiama (Madre Selva Caretaker/Native Naturalist Extraordinaire)
*MARGARITA TOURS INC is registered with the State of Florida as a Seller of Travel. Registration No. ST36032.