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Atmosphere and feature ratings above are based on Best Retreats research (November 2026). They will be updated if Takiwasi submits its own information.

Takiwasi: An In-Depth Review for Plant Dieta and Ayahuasca Retreats in Tarapoto, Peru

Takiwasi is a non-profit addiction-treatment center in Tarapoto, Peru, founded in 1992 by French physician Jacques Mabit, who remains its medical director, combining Amazonian plant medicine and ayahuasca with psychotherapy, and also offering 8-day isolated plant dietas to non-addicted visitors for a fixed S/ 5,000, per its retreat calendar. It is one of the longest-running and most studied centers of its kind. Against that, it publishes no contraindication list or emergency protocol, French authorities scrutinized it in the 2000s, and an anthropologist documented Catholic exorcism prayers and a demonic-possession framework in its treatment.

🎯 At a Glance

• Locations: Prolongación Alerta 466, Tarapoto, San Martín, Peru, per its retreat page; the dieta huts are in its forest reserve outside the city.
• Approach: For visitors, an emetic plant purge, one ayahuasca ceremony and an 8-day isolated dieta with two master plants, plus four interviews with an assigned psychologist; residential addiction treatment of about nine months, with several dietas, for patients.
• Suitable For: Adults ready for a strict, solitary dieta within a structured clinical-traditional program. Not suitable for people taking antidepressants or with heart or psychiatric conditions unless cleared in writing by Takiwasi’s doctor and their own.
• Costs: S/ 5,000 for the dieta retreat, fixed, payable in dollars or euros; lodging before and after the dieta week is extra. Refund requests must be made within 7 days and are decided case by case, per its refund policy.
• Overall Assessment: A physician-directed, long-established center with psychologists and published research, offset by thin public safety detail, a religious possession framework applied to vulnerable patients and few independent reviews. Directory evaluation: B-.

💬 What Guests Are Saying

Takiwasi has almost no presence on review platforms: no Tripadvisor, Retreat Guru or BookRetreats listing was found, and a comparison site reports a Google rating of 4.3 from 29 reviews (unverified). A residential patient’s account in Indian Country Today describes strict discipline and says nine months was not enough, and other accounts praise the combination of psychotherapy and curanderismo. The only negative item found is a 2013 blog comment alleging that Takiwasi underpays native healers for plants (unverified). If you have attended, we encourage you to share your experience through our submission form.

🚩 Incident Report

We searched review platforms and English, Spanish and French-language news for reports involving Takiwasi, Jacques Mabit, Rosa Giove and the center’s staff.

• Deaths and serious injuries: None found.
• Sexual misconduct: No allegations found.
• Theft and fraud: None found.
• Legal action: Mabit and French associations linked to Takiwasi were prosecuted in France from 2000 to 2003 after a parent’s complaint, amid media claims that it was a sect; the case ended with no conviction, partly because the young woman involved had never been to Takiwasi, per a peer-reviewed study by anthropologist David Dupuis in Salud Colectiva. France’s anti-cult agency, MIVILUDES, criticized the center in 2005 and 2009 reports, including what a French anti-cult association described as violent withdrawal methods, per UNADFI (a critical source).

A French woman died after an ayahuasca ceremony at a different center near Tarapoto in 2011, and a French court convicted its owners in 2017, per América TV; that case does not involve Takiwasi.

If you have experienced or witnessed an incident with this center, please report it confidentially.

🔍 Critical Notes

Who runs it. Takiwasi is a non-profit civil association founded in September 1992 by Jacques Mabit, a French physician and former Médecins Sans Frontières mission chief in Peru, with Peruvian physician Rosa Giove and curandero José Campos, per MAPS and Ashoka. Psychologist Jaime Torres is director and Matteo Politi research director. Takiwasi describes itself as a therapeutic community recognized by Peru’s Ministry of Health, and a 2025 university thesis agrees; no registration number was found.

Religious framework. Since the mid-2000s Takiwasi has added Catholic ritual, including exorcism prayers, crucifixes and holy water, and Mabit frames some patients’ suffering as demonic possession or infestation, per Dupuis’s fieldwork in Salud Colectiva and a 2026 interview in L’ADN. Guests who do not share this outlook should ask about it before booking.

Screening and medical support. Applicants send a health declaration and a motivation letter, which Mabit reviews, per the registration page. No contraindication list or emergency protocol is published, and no clinician is named for the forest huts, which are reached on foot. Rules are strict: no alcohol or drugs for 15 days after, no ayahuasca or other psychoactive plants for three months, and menstruating women are excluded from the ayahuasca ceremony, per its conditions. The center itself is in the city of Tarapoto, which has hospitals.

Research. Takiwasi publishes outcome studies, but most are co-authored by its own staff, for example a 2019 review of 830 residential patients in Medicina Naturista; an outside study of 341 patients found therapists judged 27% cured at completion while 43% left early, per Mendel University.

Status. Operating, with dieta dates listed from November 2026 through December 2027 and training courses and a women’s addiction seminar in 2026.

Legal context. Ayahuasca is legal in Peru, where its traditional use was declared national cultural heritage in 2008, and there is no licensing regime for retreat centers, per ICEERS. Ayahuasca is a controlled substance in France, and Italy added its plants to its controlled list in 2022, which matters for European visitors.

🆘 Screening & Mental Health Risks

Isolated dietas with emetic and tobacco preparations are physically and psychologically demanding, and some emetic plants are recognized as toxic. ICEERS notes that ayahuasca’s MAOI component makes it dangerous with SSRIs and other serotonergic drugs and that it is contraindicated for people prone to psychosis. Never stop a psychiatric medication to qualify for a dieta without your prescriber’s guidance.

🧪 Brew Substance

Ayahuasca and master plants including ushpawasha sanango, ajo sacha, bobinzana, chuchuwasi and tobacco, per a study of 80 dieta participants co-authored by its research director. Ayahuasca combines the Banisteriopsis caapi vine with a DMT-containing leaf such as chacruna, as Erowid explains.

📍 Location, Setting & Style

• Setting: A treatment center on the outskirts of Tarapoto in Peru’s high jungle, with a forest reserve for dietas.
• Rooms: Simple, isolated tambos during the dieta; visitors arrange their own lodging before and after, with a nearby lodge recommended.
• Style: Mestizo curanderismo combined with medicine, psychotherapy and Catholic ritual.

Practical guidance: No transfers are offered; Tarapoto has a domestic airport. Dieta meals are unsalted rice, oats and boiled plantains.

Should You Book?

Possibly, if you want a structured dieta with psychological follow-up and accept a religious framework. Ask in writing for the full contraindication list, who is on call while you are in the forest hut and how emergencies are handled, and how the possession framework is used with visitors. Read our guide to verifying retreat facilitators.

The Team & Story

Takiwasi, whose name means “the house that sings” in Quechua, has treated several hundred residential patients and hosted more than 2,300 dieta participants since 1996, per its research director in Chacruna. It also runs a natural-products laboratory and training programs. We did not independently verify anyone’s training.

Prep & Integration Tips

Before you go: Disclose every medication and condition in writing and plan any change with your own doctor. After you return: Arrange support from a qualified therapist at home; Takiwasi’s commitment ends with the closing interview. Our guide on how to research ayahuasca incidents can help you check any center.

Pros & Cons

Book Your Ceremony

Dates are listed on its retreat calendar. Best Retreats does not take bookings; learn more about our mission.

Last reviewed November 2026.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Consult a qualified medical professional.