Manu Peruvian Amazon Trip 8D/7N

Day 1: Cusco – Paucartambo – San Fernando Lodge.

• Activities: Two-hours hike to observe wildlife. Horse ride in front of the sunset. Shower on a crystalline water river.
• Lodge Altitude: 689 meters above sea level
• Considered: 7-hour car drive, on a non paved track; with a lot of switchbacks.
• Weather: Warm, humid and with mosquito.

IncaGo Expeditions will pick you up at 5:00 in the morning from your accommodation in Cusco to then drive you for 1 hour and 30 minutes to the pre-Inca tombs of Ninamarka. Here your guide will share interesting facts about the tombs and reasons of locating burials in elevated spots. Then you are transported for 1 hour to Tres Cruces de Oro, which is the official entry to the Manu national park and also place where you will have breakfast. Once your bellies are happy you continue in the van 40 more minutes. You will start walking down in the Manu cloud forest to observe cocks of the rocks, masked trogons, Andean great toucans, Peruvian quetzals, monkeys and tanagers.

Then you will be driven for 1 hour to our family lodge where you will have a delicious buffet lunch. In the afternoon you can dip in the crystalline water river and horse ride in the pastures of the farm. After tasting a delicious dinner, you will walk at night in the forest to spot Manu cloud forest frogs, spiders and snakes.

** The first day trip in the cloud forest of Manu will give you the chances to spot endemic creatures of this region.

DAY 02: San Fernando – Alto Madre de Dios River – Boca Manu – Yine Lodge.

• Activities: A lot of observation of wildlife; from a motor boat. Observation of monkeys in the forest. Short night walk around the jungle.
• Lodge Altitude: 450 meters above sea level.
• Considered: 5-hour motorized boat drive. Cold shower. Electricity. Box lunch.
• Weather: Warm, humid and with mosquito.

Your Manu Amazonian tour guide will wake you up at 5:00 in the morning with a refreshing fruit juice, once you get ready you will have an organic buffet breakfast. Then you’ll be transported for 40 minutes to the Atalaya port. From where you will embark on the Alto Madre de Dios River for 5 hours to the native community of Boca Manu. Along the motorboat ride, your guide will point out many wildlife you will observe from the boat, also you’ll stop to observe and learn about them. On this stretch you can see: neotropical cormorants, tiger herons, white herons, skunk birds, kingfishers, harpy eagles, jabirus, roseate spoonbills, turtles and also monkeys jumping from tree to tree. Today you’ll have a boxed lunch in the motor boat.

You’ll arrive to the lodge around 14:00 pm. You can take a refreshing cold shower and rest for a bit after a long motorboat day to the deepest part of the Manu Amazon Reserved Zone. In the afternoon you will explore the jungle looking for the red howler and spider monkeys, you can also spot herds of peccaries doing their daily labour. In the evening you’ll enjoy a enriching talk in the tea time and a delicious dinner. later, let’s walk at night to spot, different spicies of spiders, frogs and snakes than the first night.

** Be ready to start being amazed by the Manu Reserved Zone wildlife.

Day 3: Yine – Safari Lodge – Salvador Oxbow Lake.

• Activities: A lot of observation of fascinating jungle wildlife. We´ll paddle the Salvador lake; which is crowded of black caimans and giant otters. We spend a great time in front of a stunning sunset amog palm trees.
• Lodge Altitude: 450 meters above sea level.
• Considered: 4-hour motorized boat drive. Cold shower. No electricity. Box lunch.
• Weather: Warm, humid and with mosquito.

Today you will leave the Alto Madre de Dios river and sail up the Manu river to get deepest part of the Manu reserved zone. We mean you will reach the most remote part of the Manu national park that is allow for tourist exploration, because also there are areas that are allow only for researchers and biologists. You will be ridden in the motor boat for 4 hours to the Matsigenka lodge, which belongs to the native community that lives in the reserved zone of Manu. This ridden trip will be a magnificent chance to observe white caimans in the Manu river bank, capybaras, tapirs, turtles, tiger herons and with a lot of luck a jaguar resting on a log.

Upon our arrival to the m Matsigenka lodge, you can take a refreshing cold shower and have a delicious buffet lunch prepared by our expert chef. In the afternoon your expert Manu amazon guide will lead you to the Otorongo oxbow lake to search for families of giant otters fishing catfishes, zungaros, pacos or gamitamas. Also you can spot black caimans, monkeys, hoatzins, and many other endemic birds of the Manu Reserved area.

** The highlight of the day in the Manu jungle is the observation of white and black caimans if addition of a family of giant otters.

Day 4: Safari Lodge – Salvador and Otorongo Oxbow Lakes.

• Activities: We’ll visit two incredible lakes; of the Manu Reserved Zone. We´ll be amazed by a wonderful sunset; on the amazonian plain.
• Lodge Altitude: 450 meters above sea level.
• Considered: A lot of walking around the forest; and paddling around the lake.
• Weather: Warm, humid and with mosquito.

You will be woken up by your guide very early to have a nutritious breakfast. Then you will walk for 1 hour to the Salvador oxbow lake to observe giant otters beginning their daily fishing labor. Capuchin monkeys are also very active in the morning, so you will see them jumping from tree to tree in the shores of the Salvador lake. Also if you are lucky you can see black caimans hunting mammals, fishing or just resting in the lake. Then you will hike in the Manu jungle forest looking for 800 years old trees, that have never been touch by human beings. Among the trees you will spot are: The Kapok tree, the Brazilian chestnut tree and the Mahogany.

Afterwards you will hike 1-hour back to the lodge to have a delicious buffet lunch. After resting for a bit and taking a cold shower you will walk to the Otorongo oxbow lake, where you will look once more for herons, hoatzins, peccaries and dozens of monkeys jumping from tree to tree. Remember that the chances to spot animals depends on luck, and every opportunity of going to the oxbow lake is a great occasion to observe new animal species or the same ones you already seen but now in different daily situations. Your guide will also lead you to the summit of a wood tower to you be astonished by the beautiful sunset over the Manu Peruvian Amazonian plain. At night we’ll enjoy a rewarding organic buffet dinner prepared with local ingredients.

** Manu and its reserved zone gives you the luck of observing incredible wildlife in its oxbow lakes.

DAY 5: Safari Lodge – Blanquillo Lodge – Mammal Clay Lick.

• Activities: Observation of mammals with nocturnal habits; from a hidden wood tower.
• Lodge Altitude: 280 meters above sea level.
• Considered: 6-hour on a motor boat. Cold shower and box lunch.
• Weather: Warm, humid and with mosquito.

Today you will visit a different stunning region of the Manu reserved zone, where you will spot mammals. To start this amazing day in the Manu jungle, you will have a nutritious buffet breakfast. You’ll be driven in our motor boat, for 4 hours back the Alto Madre de Dios river; along the way you will have a new chance to spot white caimans resting on the banks, kingfishers, different types of herons, turtles and maybe this time the great jaguar. Then you continue two more hours through the Alto Madre de Dios river to the lodge in Maquinachayoc. Upon arrival to the lodge you will take a refreshing cold shower. In the afternoon you will hike for 1 hour to a hidden tower in the jungle to observe incredible creatures.

The Manu mammal clay lick attracts many species that cannot be seen anywhere else in the rainforest. Some animals, like the jaguar or the giant anteater, are very elusive. Due to their shyness and scarcity, you will most likely see them while being hidden in the wood tower. The species that are more active during the late day are the peccaries who comes in herds of 5 to 20.  Other wildlife may also appear, from deer, porcupines, tapirs, ocelots to parakeets. Furthermore, the area is sometimes home to a rare harpy eagle nest. At night let’s have a delicious dinner and explore the forest to look for different nocturnal Manu reserved zone animals.

** What a day in the Manu national park to spot mammals in a clay lick located deep in the jungle.

DAY 6: Blanquillo Lodge – Macaw Clay Lick – Blanco Oxbow Lake –

Observatory Tower.

• Activities: A lot of animals and plants to observe; and learn about them.
• Lodge Altitude: 200 meters above sea level.
• Considered: A lot of walking around the forest; and paddling in the lake. Cold shower.
• Weather: Warm, humid and with mosquito.

Our Manu exploration trip starts very early, you will leave the lodge at 4 in the morning and you’ll sail up the river for 20 minutes to the river bank from where you will hike 45 minutes to the Blanquillo macaw clay lick. Here there is a huge kapok tree with 45 conditioned seats that are located just 50 meters away from one of the most amazing clay lick in the Manu national park. You will have and live a fantastic colorful show; hundreds of red, blue, green and yellow macaws flying close to you. Also you will observe green and blue parrots and parakeets and perhaps to their predators such as the black hawk and jaguar.

There are some nutrients that Amazonian animals simply cannot get from the leaves or fruits. While scientists are still arguing about what it is, it’s probably salt. After all, living far from the salty Atlantic Ocean, and separated from the nearby Pacific by gigantic Andean mountains, means that salt is hard to come by here in the Amazon Rainforest. It is hardly on the ground, neither in the rain nor in the rivers. So the animals in the jungle need to find a way to get sodium. The way many animals do this is eating clay. In fact, that’s where the Mammal clay licks and macaw clay licks in the Manu national park are the perfect spots to watch animals.

Following, you will go to the Blanquillo lodge to have a nutritious breakfast. Then you will walk for 1 hour to the Blanquillo oxbow lake to spot giant otters, black caimans and around 600 types of birds. You’ll have a box lunch while you paddle a wood catamaran looking for amazing Manu animals and birds. In the afternoon you’ll come back to the lodge, so we can take a cold shower. Then in the late day, you will walk up to a 42-meter-high canopy tower to contemplate a stunning sunset over the Amazonian Peruvian plain and the Madre de Dios river. Also from this tower you will observe many types of birds coming back home after finishing their daily feeding labor.

** What a combo, IncaGo Expeditions gives you the chance to spot macaws and mammals in the best Manu reserved zone clay licks.

Day 7: Blanquillo Lodge – Camungo Oxbow Lake.

• Activities: A lot of animals and plants to observe; and learn about them.
• Lodge Altitude: 200 meters above sea level.
• Considered: A lot of walking around the forest; and paddling in the Camungo lake. Cold shower.
• Weather: Warm, humid and with mosquito.

One of the noisiest animals in the Manu national park will wake you up this morning. Herds of howler monkeys live around the Blanquillo lodge. This beautiful howler monkey is fighting to survive. In fact, its work is very important for the regeneration of forests, but it is in danger of extinction according to the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The joy you have of still seeing them in large numbers and in their wild habitat. After a delicious and varied organic breakfast, you will hike for 45 minutes to the Camungo lake; along the way you will see groups of capuchins and spider monkeys jumping around you from tree to tree.

Once you arrive to the Camungo oxbow lake, you will paddle around it, seeking for harpy eagles, jabirus, roseate spoonbills, jungle geese, white herons, another family of giant otters and black caimans. Then you’ll hike through the jungle forest looking for interesting medicinal plants, flowers and bushes. Afterwards you will head back to the lodge to have a delicious buffet lunch. After taking a cold shower and resting for a bit you will hike 30 minutes to a wood tower to observe macaws, eagles, parrots and many other birds coming back home and a fantastic sunset over the Madre de Dios river.

** Camungo oxbow lake keeps interesting and endemic birds of the Manu reserved zone.

DAY 8: Blanquillo – Boca Colorado – Santa Rosa – Puerto Maldonado or Cusco.

After a delicious and last breakfast in your amazing trip in the Manu national park, you will sail downstream for 3 hours to Boca Colorado. Here you will goodbye to the boatman and crew who accompanied you during this lifetime trip in the Peruvian jungle. From here you will ride a private cab for 1-hour to Puerto Punkiri (why the cab?), this is due our private van cannot enter to Boca Colorado.

Then you will cross the Inambari river in a local boat for 20 minutes to Puerto Carlos, here our private transport will be waiting for you. From here is takes 3 hours to Puerto Maldonado from where you can fly to Lima. Or also we can drive you to Cusco. It takes 6 hours to drive you from here to Cusco.

Important note: We can start this Manu reserved zone also from Puerto Maldonado and ending up in Cusco.

Important Note: If you would not like to travel many hours by bus to Cusco; we can take you for two and a half hours to the airport at Puerto Maldonado. Where we will arrive at 2:00 pm. and from where you can fly to Cusco or Lima (the flight tickets are not included).

** This premium tour in the Manu jungle, tours one of the most megadiverse parks on the planet from corner to corner.