Manu National Park 9D/8N

At daybreak we continue by bus to tropical lowland rainforest. Here at the small village Atalaya at 650 m, we change into a motorized canoe to navigate some 2 hours down the fast Alto Madre de Dios River. From here we get great views of the Andes. We stop for a visit of one of the very view lakes on the Alto Madre de Dios River, where you can go around on small traditional rafts. For the next two nights we stay at the Pantiacolla lodge, right at the foot of the Pantiacolla Mountain Range. The forest of Pantiacolla Lodge is a very special rainforest: this is where the Andes and the lowland tropical rainforest meet and provides the visitor with a chance to see a good selection of birds and plants from bóth zones as well as endemics to the area. Your first walk will be on the lowland trails, at 400m above sea level. Also at night, we explore the forest by torchlight looking for insects, snakes and the uniquely nocturnal night-monkey or ‘douricouli’. We spend the night in Pantiacolla Lodge.

Early in the morning the boat takes you to a nearby clay lick for parrots and the rare blue-headed macaw. Their spectacle is both impressive to see and to hear! From there we visit the higher trails of the Pantiacolla Mountains:  it’s ‘Oil’ stream with oil wells and natural swimming pools. At night we visit Ranacocha, Frog Lake. Overnight in Panctiacolla Lodge.

In the morning we take another walk on one of the lodge’s many trails. At midday we join the people doing the 7-day tour going down the Alto Madre de Dios River to Yine Lodge -a small eco-lodge which is part of a project of Pantiacolla with the Yine Indians.

In the morning we turn up the Manu River for a 6-hour ride into the heart of Manu’s Manu National Park. From this vantage point we will have great views of riverside birds, sunbathing caiman, and the enormous aquatic guinea pig, the capybara. We reach our Camping Huts deep inside Manu in the afternoon. This will be our base for this and the next day. During this time, we will walk through virgin forest and explore one of the most beautiful lakes of the Manu basin, Lake Salvador, by catamaran. There is a chance to see a huge variety of colourful birds, numerous species of monkey and with luck, a family of giant otters. There is another walk in this habitat-rich forest that ends in Lake Otorongo and a 20 meter-high observation platform overlooking the lake.  At night we can explore the forest by torchlight or go moonlight caiman-spotting on the lake.

After a final walk through the forest surrounding Lake Salvador, we return back down the Manu River. Joining the Madre de Dios River we arrive at Blanquillo, near the claylick for macaws, where we spend the night in the jungle lodge Tambo Blanquillo.

At first light we head to the macaw lick to watch the dazzling spectacle of hundreds of parakeets, parrots and big macaws eating clay. In the afternoon we visit another one of Manu’s beautiful oxbow lakes or visit a 42-meter high canopy tower. We spend the night again in the jungle lodge Tambo Blanquillo.

Back on the boat early in the morning, we head downstream to the small mining village Boca Colorado. Here and in Mazuco later on, you can see the negative effects of certain human activities on the delicate ecological balance of the rainforest. We take local transportation till crossing the Inambari River. On the other side, our bus is waiting to take you over a newly paved road, through beautiful cloud and elfin forest. Near Cusco, you have stunning views of the Ausangate Mountain.  Cusco is reached in the early evening.