Madre Selva

Madre Selva “Mother Rainforest”  is a non profit established in 2012 by Mike Billian and celebrated human rights activist and lawyer, Lily La Torre, with a mandate to develop food food security and educational programmes for disadvantaged children and communities in the Ucayali region.  Established as organic farm and cacao plantation on seven hectares outside of Pucallpa, Madre Selva employs the latest agroforestry and permaculture techniques. Perú is an international leader in the production of fine cacao and responsible for over a third of the world’s exports.  Madre Selva also has milk cows, horses, apiaries, and fish ponds and regularly host workshops and ecological tours for local schools. The Madre Selva Ecolodge has five bedrooms and a “maloca,” a traditional palm-thatched round house for workshops, meetings, and therapeutic use.

Lily is a passionate conservationalist and you will discover over one hundred and twenty different native botanical species on Madre Selva’s grounds including medicinal plants, flowers, vines, fruit trees, vines, shrubs, and tall mature trees (cedar, mahogany, bolaina, marupa, tahuari, capirona, etc).  You will also encounter many natural features including beautiful reflective ponds (such as the “Yanayacu,”) hundreds of species of birds, and local wildlife.