Introduction to the Peruvian Amazon

You’ve seen the coast, you’ve more than likely seen the mountains, so now you want a bit of jungle! The more visited Puerto Maldonado and the pristine, but harder to reach, Manu National Park offer great options for riding down chocolate brown rivers with endless green rainforest and diverse wildlife on either side.

Puerto Maldonado, just half an hour plane ride from Cusco, is the capital of Madre de Dios and the gateway to three beautiful Amazon National Parks – Tambopata-Candamo, Bahuaja-Sonene and Pampas del Heath. An accessible 3 hours from this bustling hub of foresters, locals and tourists, you can be at one with nature in the middle of the captivating Peruvian Amazon Rainforest! A trip here can include early morning bird watching, late night jungle walking, or fishing for (and if you’re brave, even swimming with!) piranhas, not to mention a visit to the world’s largest macaw’s clay lick where hundreds of birds meet to feed – a truly colorful sight! Almost all the lodges here were built with the support of local tribes (the ones we work with are even run by them) who are really committed to improving the wildlife population.

If you have more time (and money!), like adventure, and want a pure nature experience, then consider a trip into the Manu National Park. No people, no towns, no buildings, just the Amazon, its flora and fauna in all its glory – that’s probably the best way to describe this enormous and exceptionally beautiful area that extends from the Andean highlands to the lowland tropical rainforests, taking in cloud forests and other habitats in the middle.

Designated a World Biosphere Reserve in 1977, and a World Heritage Site in 1987, visitors can only go into a very small part (the Reserved Zone) of the Manu National Park. Spot giant otters, black caiman, jaguars, tapirs…there are 200 mammal species, over one thousand birds varieties and countless plants. The rest of the park is pretty much untouched by modern man but the park is inhabited by different native groups such as the Mashco-Piro, the Machiguenga, the Yaminahua, the Yuras and there are also uncontacted tribes.