Leaving Cusco early in the morning, we begin an 8-hour journey over the Andes by bus, stopping for breakfast at the beautiful colonial village of Paucartambo. Continuing, we climb to the highpoint of the Manu Biosphere at about 4000m before descending to the cloud forest. In these green and moist surroundings we take our first long walk. There are many bird species to be seen among which the beautiful paradise tanager, umbrella bird and the golden headed quetzal. Among its butterflies are clouded yellows and various skippers.

The cloud forest has three monkey species: the woolly monkey plus the two capuchin monkeys of Manu. There are plenty of other mammal species, but they are more difficult to see. We end our walk at the lek of the strange looking cock-of-the-rock, to watch the dancing and singing ‘performance’ of the males right under our eyes.

We spend the night in the rustic lodge Posada San Pedro (appr. 1,600m).

Departure from Cusco

ON Posada San Pedro

At daybreak we continue by bus to tropical lowland rainforest, stopping along the way to visit a

coca plantation and a little rescue center for animals. Arriving at the small village Atalaya at

650m, we change into a motorized canoe to navigate some 2 hours down the fast Alto Madre de

Dios River to the foot of Pantiacolla Mountain, where we join other travelers.

We visit its extensive trail system to see more of its over 600 bird species, its eight monkey

species, and its other mammals such as peccaries, ocelots, squirrels, bats etc.

At night we visit Ranacocha, “Frog Lake”, to look for tree frogs, poison dart frogs and

others.

ON Panctiacolla Lodge.         

With first day light of the third morning, we continue by boat to turn up the Manu River for an 8-hour ride into the heart of Manu’s Reserved Zone. From this vantage point we will have great views of riverside birds, such asthe black skimmer, snowy egret, yellow billed tern and the exquisite roseate spoonbill, sunbathing black andwhite caiman, and maybe 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 to be impressed by giant trees such as the shihuahuaca, the mahogany, brazil nut and rubber tree.

 We will explore one of the most beautiful lakes of the Manu basin, Cocha Salvador, by catamaran, to see a huge variety of colorful birds, such as the agami heron, sun grebe, red capped cardinal, amazon kingfisher, tropical kingbird, yellow rumped caciques etc.

Here the big spider monkeys like to hang out in the trees around the lake and with luck, you can see, from the front row, a day in the life of a family of giant otters.

There are other trails to walk in this habitat-rich forest near another lake, Cocha Otorongo. This lake also has a 20m high observation platform overlooking the lake. The silt filled lake has a coverage of floating vegetation, and the wattled jacana to walk on top of it.

At night we can explore the forest by torchlight or go moonlight caiman-spotting on the lake.

An early morning start boating down the Manu River gives us a good chance to spot the bigger and rarer animals at the river shores. It could be one of the over 5 meter long black caiman, or a tapir or giant anteater, a sloth swimming across or even the most magnificent of New World cats, the jaguar.

Joining the Madre de Dios River we arrive at Blanquillo, near the claylick for macaws.

This afternoon we climb the 50-meter high canopy Camungo tower at Tambo Blanquillo Private Reserve, which gives us an excellent view over the resplendent rainforest canopy.

We spend the night in the jungle lodge Tambo Blanquillo.

ON Tambo Blanquillo.

Back on the boat early in the morning, we head downstream to the small mining village Boca Colorado.

 Hereyou can see the negative effects of human activities on the delicate ecological balance of the rainforest.

 We take local transportation till after crossing the Inambari River. On the other side, our bus is waiting to take you over a newly paved road, the Interoceanica Road, through beautiful cloud and elfin forest. Near Cusco, you have stunning views of the Ausangate Mountain.

 Cusco is reached in the evening.

End of Adventure.