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MANU JUNGLE EXPEDITION - PENU

Grade 2 Joining Cuzco - 7 days

The Manu National Park and Biosphere Reserve is situated at the furthermost reaches of the upper Amazon River, in the remote south-east of Peru. Although only 150km from Cuzco, the Manu Jungle has been guarded from both loggers and miners by powerful rapids and the Andes mountains, isolating the area from the rest of the Amazon Basin. The park covers an area of 2 million hectares, bow-and-arrow hunting tribes.

This low lying area of pristine jungle has an explosive abundance of life. It provides room and board for more than 200 mammal types, 1,000 species of birds, more than 1,200 butterflies and contains 10% of all plant species found in the world today.

This eight day expedition begins in Cuzco, crosses the highest Andean ridges, then desends 3,940m to the jungle floor and levels out into the Amazon Basin. After travelling down the clear swift rapids of the Alto Madre de Dios River, our motorises dugout canoe turns and pushes its way up against the slow moving, rich green waters of the Manu River, a mystical place tha escaped the ice age.

Accompanies by a biologist, we travel a total of 530km along the region's waterways, camping on beautiful, white sandy beaches, looking for birds, monkeys, pumas, jaguars, the black caiman crocodile and the very rare fresh water otter.

ITINARARY:

FROM CUZCO:
Day 1 Drive to Alto Madre de Dios RIver.
Day 2-7 Boat trip to Manu National Park.
Day 8 Drive to Cuzco.

2000 : Departing every Friday,
from May through to the end of Dec

Cost : USD $895

Includes : Flight from Manu to Cuzco.

Olorongo Jaguar,
Manu National Park.
Photo: A+C Baertschi.
Floating on an ox-bow lake in the Amazon Basin, MANU NATIONAL PARK EXPEDITION - PERU
Photo: Milton Sams.