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Being in the Amazon rainforest for the first time is like trying to read a book without understanding the language. Monstrous trees tower over a tangle of unrecognisable vines and creepers, while the surround-sound cacophony of chirrups, shrieks and howls is composed of calls from myriad unknown creatures.

Even the moods of the weather seem hard to interpret. One minute bright sunlight sharpens nature's green palette; the next, everything darkens and large droplets splash down. It's an alien environment that simply can't be understood without insider knowledge.

I am lucky, then, that I have an expert to show me around. Cesar Alfredo Vasquez Sedano is one of several trained guides at Reserva Amazonica, the ecolodge in which I am staying. Run by Inkaterra, the lodge is located beside the Madre de Dios (Mother of God) river in a relatively undisturbed part of the Peruvian Amazon.

A stay here is all about exploring the area's rich biodiversity, with guests choosing educational and adventurous excursions from a menu of activities. These range from short night-time motor-boat trips and walks to see the nocturnal life of the ecosystem, to day-long hikes and canoe-paddling jaunts across the river in the 5000-square-kilometre protected haven of Tambopata National Reserve.

It is also possible to get a monkey's eye view of the jungle from the reserve's tree-top canopy walkway, which I choose to do for one excursion. A short distance from the lodge, I follow Cesar up wooden stairs to a sturdy platform 30 metres above the forest floor.

We pause to look out across a tangle of fanned palm leaves, strangler figs and unfurling ferns, above which vast breadnut trees reach out for the sun. Leaving the platform, we slowly cross seven, slippery walkways. Essentially slatted bridges suspended on thick steel cables, the walkways bounce up and down with every step.

However, my nerves are forgotten as, with Cesar's guidance, I spy the crimson belly of a black-tailed trogon, a pair of curl-crested aracari, and a cheeky saddle-back tamarin.

As the days pass, I grow accustomed to the rhythm of the rainforest. I awake each morning at 5am to the exhuberant whistles of parrots and chachalacas, meet Cesar at 6am for the day's outings, and return back to my chalet before dusk, just as Reserva Amazonica's staff are lighting the kerosene lamps that show the way at night. Once it has become too dark for me to see the bats swooping low over the river, I head for dinner.

This is served each night in the lodge's large circular dining room, which has been constructed around the naturally sculpted trunk of a huge strangler fig. The lodge is run along sustainable principles so the food is prepared using local ingredients; my favourite is the catfish wrapped in leaves and then baked in a bamboo tube.

Another excursion involves crossing the river to Concepcion, a former plantation where scientists have set up a botanical garden to showcase medicinal rainforest plants. One tree has a mottled beige, grey and white trunk that seeps a red, blood-like liquid when cut. This is 'dragons' blood', which is used as a salve to repel mosquitoes.

I also see a plant that yields a red dye, and Peru's infamous coca leaves, which can be brewed as a tea to alleviate altitude sickness. At one point, Cesar gives me a small piece of shrub to chew. Within 30 seconds, my mouth is tingling and my lips feel like they are on fire. "The people who live in the rainforest use this as an anaesthetic if they have something wrong with their teeth," he explains.

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