Machu Picchu - Lake
Titicaca
(11
days/10 nights)
Machu Picchu - Lake
Titicaca
(12 days/11 nights)
Machu Picchu - Lake
Titicaca
(14 days/13 nights)
Colca Canyon - Machu
Picchu
Lake Titicaca
(16 days/15 nights)
Archaeological & Ecological
Treasures
Galapagos - Machu Picchu
Lake Titicaca (or Amazon)
(18 days/17
nights)
Colca Canyon - Amazon
Machu Picchu - Lake Titicaca
(22 days/21 nights)
Machu Picchu
(10
days/9 nights)
Machu Picchu
(13 days/12 nights)
Machu Picchu - Galapagos
(15 days/14 nights)
Galapagos - Machu Picchu
(18 days/17 nights)
Manu National Park
(8 days/7 nights)
Enchanted Isles of the Galapagos
Galapagos
(11
days/10 nights)
Galapagos & the Kingdom of Quito
Galapagos - Andes
(16 days/15 nights)
Galapagos - Amazon
(16 days/15 nights)
Historic Haciendas of the Andes
Cotopaxi - Antisana
- Otavalo
(7 days/6 nights)
© 2008
Inka's Empire Corporation.
All rights reserved.
Manu National Park
Amazon Rainforest, Peru
Tocón Monkey, Manu National Park.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
A Living Eden...
-- Manu: Peru's Hidden Rainforest, PBS
Land Price (5 days/4 nights)
Private US$ 2,465
Expeditions depart every day but Sunday. We also offer a 4-day/3-night tour which omits Day 4 of this itinerary, as well as 6-day/5-night and 8-day/7-night tours which add a road portion through the cloud forest and forested Andean foothills.
The land price includes escorted transfers, private excursions with a naturalist guide (a birder guide is available at additional cost), entrance fees, indicated accommodations, all meals except beverages, all transportation including intra-tour air flight, and travel insurance for guests through the age of 59 years. Over that age, there is a supplementary fee. All prices are per person based on two people sharing a guest room. For a detailed description of our services, see About Our Tours. Season: April through November. Please note that a yellow fever vaccination is recommended but not currently required.
Map
Detail Map
Intra-Tour Air Flights & Fares
Includes Cuzco - Boca Manu - Cuzco charter flight in a Cessna Grand Caravan
Lobster Claw Heliconia (Heliconia rostrata), Manu National Park.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Hands down, the most intense wildlife experience in Amazonia...
-- Condé Nast Traveler, December 2002
Manu Wildlife Center
Location: Adjacent to the eastern border of Peru's 4.5-million-acre Manu National Park and the northern border of the 1-million-acre Amarakaeri Communal Reserve, a national protected area. Reserve size: 29,000 acres. Wildlife it protects: Jaguars, Lowland Tapirs, Harpy Eagles, five species of macaws, Black Caimans, Giant Otters and 11 species of monkeys.
By far the richest, most extraordinary biological transect in the Amazon, or the world, starts in Cuzco and runs northeast by road and river to the great Manu Wilderness. Manu offers by far the greatest quantity and diversity of animals and plants in the world. No other destination in Peru or beyond can compare. Nowhere else can you enjoy superbly intact tropical habitats from Andean grasslands and cloud forests down to foothill and lowland forests.
Manu boasts the highest bird, mammal and plant diversity of any park on Earth, including 1,000 of the world's 9,700 bird species, 200 species of mammals and 15,000 species of flowering plants. The most photogenic spectacles are frolicking Giant Otters, 1,000 parrots and macaws at a riverbank clay lick, dancing Cocks-of-the-Rock, 11 species of monkeys and huge Lowland Tapirs at a forest clay lick. Manu Wildlife Center currently offers the world's finest viewing of this elusive animal, which elsewhere is harder to see even than the Jaguar, which also is a frequent sight in Manu.
In terms of wildlife for your money, our Manu itineraries offer the greatest payoff of wildlife per dollar of any rain forest site in Latin America. Other New World rain forests may be somewhat less expensive than Manu, but none of them offer Manu's tremendous wildlife diversity. For travelers who want the finest rainforest experiences in the world, Manu offers the ultimate "bio-trip". All trips start and end in Cuzco and include all air and ground transport, food, lodging and guided rainforest outings.
As featured on PBS: Manu: Peru's Hidden Rainforest.
As featured on PBS: The Real Macaw.
Madre de Dios River near Boca Manu, Manu National Park.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
From Cuzco, this lodge is only 35 minutes by air and 90 minutes by river. No other lodge in Manu offers all the major wildlife attractions in one spot: 1) the world's largest Tapir lick, 2) the most photogenic large macaw lick, 3) miles of monkey-rich trails through mature rain forest, 4) two 120-foot-tall (35-meter) canopy platforms, 5) two mature lakes complete with Hoatzins and Giant Otters. Manu Wildlife Center is located in a private, 29,000-acre rain forest reserve adjacent to the eastern border of Peru's 4.5-million-acre Manu National Park and the northern border of the 1-million-acre Amarakaeri Communal Reserve, a national protected area. The Center is the only lodge in the Manu lowlands with roomy, private bungalows, each of which has an en-suite private bathroom complete with a tiled, hot water shower.
Frog, Manu National Park.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Highlights
Amazon
Day 1: Cuzco - Boca Manu - Manu Wildlife Center. Early morning transfer to the Cuzco airport to begin your private expedition to the Amazon Rainforest. Flight to Boca Manu. Motor-canoe down the Madre de Dios River to the Manu Wildlife Center, with wildlife-viewing possibilities on the way. Afternoon exploring the diverse forest trails around the lodge, encountering some of the 11 species of monkeys. Short excursion to observe nocturnal life in the rainforest. Overnight in the Manu Wildlife Center.
Day 2: Manu Wildlife Center (Macaw Clay Lick & Tapir Clay Lick). Boat journey to the only large parrot and macaw clay lick in the Manu area. After lunch, continue to explore the forest trails and spend the late afternoon up a 34-meter canopy platform. Hike through the night forest to the Amazon's largest known Tapir clay lick. Overnight in the Manu Wildlife Center.
Day 3: Manu Wildlife Center (Excursion to Cocha Blanco). Visit the Blanco Oxbow Lake, with populations of a variety of aquatic life and water birds. After lunch, further explore the forest trails for more wildlife encounters. This evening, search by boat along the riverbank for caiman and other nocturnal life. Overnight in the Manu Wildlife Center.
Day 4: Manu Wildlife Center (Excursion to Cocha Camungo). Visit the Camungo Oxbow Lake. Look for the Giant Otters and other lakeside fauna, explore the forest trails and climb the 40-meter canopy platform. After lunch, visit the fruiting and flowering trees. Encounter more monkey species as well as numerous species of birds. Before or after supper, another chance to visit the Tapir clay lick. Overnight in the Manu Wildlife Center.
Day 5: Manu Wildlife Center - Boca Manu - Cuzco. Leave by motor-canoe for the two-hour return trip to the Boca Manu landing strip. Flight to Cuzco. Arrival, reception and transfer to your hotel.
A walk on the forest trails, Manu National Park.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Day 1: Cuzco - Boca Manu - Manu Wildlife Center
Early in the morning, we will pick you up at your hotel for the transfer to the Cuzco airport. A thirty-five minute flight in a Cessna Grand Caravan takes you to Boca Manu. Here, you take a motor-canoe for the 90-minute journey down the Madre de Dios River to the Manu Wildlife Center, one of the top 10 wildlife lodges in the world.
The afternoon will be spent exploring some of the 30 miles of diverse forest trails around the lodge. On these trails, you have an excellent chance of encountering some of the 11 species of monkeys, including the Monk Saki and Emperor Tamarin, which inhabit the surrounding forest. After dinner, you will have a short excursion to observe nocturnal life in the rainforest. Overnight in the Manu Wildlife Center.
Red-and-Green Macaws at the clay lick, Manu National Park.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
One of the world's most dazzling wildlife spectacles...
When the morning sun clears the Amazon tree line in southeastern Peru and strikes a gray-pink clay bank on the upper Tambopata River, one of the world's most dazzling wildlife spectacles is nearing its riotous peak. The steep bank has become a pulsing, 130 foot high palette of red, blue, yellow and green as more than a thousand parrots squabble over choice perches to grab a beakful of clay, a vital but mysterious part of their diet. More than a dozen parrot species will visit the clay lick throughout the day, but this midmorning crush belongs to the giants of the parrot world, the macaws.
-- Franz Lanting, Macaws: Winged Rainbows, National Geographic, January, 1994
Giant Otter, Manu National Park.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Day 2: Manu Wildlife Center (Macaw Clay Lick & Tapir Clay Lick)
Rising before dawn, we take a 25-minute boat journey downstream to the only large parrot and macaw clay lick in the Manu area. From a floating catamaran blind, we are afforded excellent views and photo opportunities of hundreds of medium-sized and large parrots arriving first at the lick, followed by the large Red-and-Green Macaws arriving to eat the clay. The clay lick is not as active in May, June and July.
After lunch at the Center, we continue to explore the forest trails around the lodge, and spend the late afternoon up a 34-meter canopy platform. Here, we watch the last, frantic activity in the rainforest canopy, or rush hour, before night settles.
We can return for dinner back at the Center, or pack our meal for the leisurely hike about 60-75 minutes through the night forest to the Amazon's largest known Tapir clay lick. We climb up a 17 by 17 foot observation platform, perched 17 feet above the lick itself, where we wait for the lumbering Tapirs to arrive. Then, using powerful flashlights, we hope to observe and photograph them in action. Overnight in the Manu Wildlife Center.
Choro Monkey, Manu National Park.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Day 3: Manu Wildlife Center (Excursion to Cocha Blanco)
After another early morning departure by boat and a short hike from the river, you have what promises to be an exciting visit to the Blanco Oxbow Lake. This lake has populations of a variety of aquatic life and water birds, including the prehistoric-looking Hoatzins and a resident family of Giant Otters.
After lunch, your guide is available to further explore the forest trails for more wildlife encounters. Alternatively, independently practice your abilities and experience this expanse of rainforest habitats on your own.
This evening, from the late afternoon until after dinner, search by boat along the riverbank for caiman and other nocturnal life. Overnight in the Manu Wildlife Center.
Leaf-cutter ants use leaves to cultivate their fungus gardens, Manu National Park.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Day 4: Manu Wildlife Center (Excursion to Cocha Camungo)
Rising at dawn, you will board the motor-canoe to visit the Camungo Oxbow Lake. In addition to touring the lake by catamaran to look for the Giant Otters and other lakeside fauna, we will explore the forest trails and climb the 40-meter or 130-foot high canopy platform. This platform provides a beautiful view of the Camungo Lake as well as the forest canopy, and on very clear days it is possible to look over the rainforest to the Andes.
After lunch at the Center, we will explore the forest trails with the emphasis on visiting the fruiting and flowering trees that our experienced naturalist guides have been monitoring. Here, we hope to encounter more monkey species as well as numerous species of birds.
Again, before or after supper, those explorers still with enough energy will have another chance to visit the Tapir clay lick. Overnight in the Manu Wildlife Center.
A decomposing leaf returns its elements to nature, Manu National Park.
Photo: Mylene d'Auriol Stoessel.
Day 5: Manu Wildlife Center - Boca Manu - Cuzco
We leave near dawn by motor-canoe for the two-hour return trip to the Boca Manu landing strip, taking advantage of valuable early morning wildlife activity along the river. From here, you fly to Cuzco, where your jungle adventure ends. Arrival, reception and transfer to your hotel.
Please note that the program may vary slightly so as to maximize your wildlife sightings, depending on the reports of our researchers and naturalist guides.
Thank you for choosing Inka's Empire Tours.
© 2008 Inka's Empire Corporation, Luxury Peru Tours & Travel. All rights reserved.
