Copyright ® Vertigo Travel Peru
✓ Metal canteen 1lt
✓ Towel for face and hands
✓ Toiletries and personal medications
✓ Trekking shoes, tennis shoes and flip flops
✓ Flashlight, spare batteries, adapter and charger
✓ Cabana or cap, sunglasses, sunscreen
✓ Insect repellent (recommended with 40% or more DEET)
✓ Raincoat, poncho and umbrella
✓ Loose-fitting clothing in environmentally friendly colors (not white): long-sleeved shirts, long pants, cotton socks and underwear, bathing suit.
✓ Warm clothes when cold fronts
✓ Binoculars. Minimum increase of 8×25, with strap to wear them hanging on our neck
✓ Imaging camera, adapter and charger; with strap to wear them hanging on our neck
✓ Large backpack and backpack, plastic bags
✓ Toilet paper for the first day of the trip, in a plastic bag
✓ Small denominations of money for incidentals and tips
Total time: Total time 9 ½ hours aprox. including mainly travelling by bus and boat; not considering the informative stops. Leaving Cusco (3400masl/11156ft), very early in the morning, we begin a 10-hours journey over the Andes in our private bus, on a road that partly goes up to 4000 meters above sea level. We travel through traditional Quechua communities and through the spectacular eastern ranges of the Andes, on the way, we have a few stops, to see the pre-inka cemetery of Ninamarca (3800masl/124673ft) or to visit the famous folkloric village of Paucartambo (3025masl/9924ft). Then we continue to “Acjanaco“ (4000masl/13123ft), the park’s entrance from here we descend the eastern slopes of the Andes through cloud forest with lush vegetation (bromeliads, ferns, orchids etc.) in the cloud forest (1600masl/5000ft) we can see wildlife such as our national bird: the bright red, Cock of the Rock (Rupicola peruviana) showing his mating dance. Quetzals, Trogons, Brilliantly colored Tanagers can be seen and possibly the first monkeys, such as capuchin monkey or Woolly Monkeys. We are continuing walking along the road until arriving before dark to the Cock of the Rock Lodge (1392masl/4576ft) where will spend the first night. Overnight: Cock of the Rock Lodge (1392masl/4576ft).
Total time: Total time 9 hours aprox. including mainly travelling by bus and boat; not considering the informative stops. After a very early breakfast we are continuing by bus to Pilcopata (527masl/1729ft) and afterwards to the Atalaya port (500masl/1640ft) located at the Alto Madre de Dios river, from here we will start boating down stream on our dugout tour boat to enjoy the chance to see the great diversity of birds like egrets, vultures, cormorants, later we can visit an Amazonian pond (Machuhuasi) with a high chance to see Hoatzins, a very interesting bird with ruminant digestive system among others different species of birds, finishing our visit we are walking back to our boat continuing downstream until the hotsprings where we are visit and at the same time to enjoy our lunch, afterwards we are going by boat downstream to our accommodations in the evening, arriving at Dorado Lodge (500 m above sea level), where we will have dinner and then spend the night in double rooms with private bath. Night walk on the lodge’s paths to observe the nocturnal fauna Overnight at the accommodations: Dorado Lodge (300masl/986ft).
Total time: Total time 10 hours aprox. including mainly travelling by boat; not considering stops for lunch an toilets services. This day is special, because we will visit the famous reserved zone of the Manu National Park and travel on the enigmatic Manu River, where you can observe the wonderful fauna of this pristine place. In the morning if there is activity, we may visit a clay lick where many parakeet and parrot species eat clay every day. Also the smaller macaws such as the Chestnut-fronted and the Blue-headed Parrot can be found there. After this we take our boat for about 45 minutes downstream the river “Madre de Dios“. Then we enter the reserved zone of the Manu National Park we will briefly stop at the Limonal ranger station (310masl/1017ft) to sign the guest book for the Reserve Zone and continue our way for about 5-6 hours on the Manu River until arriving at the Casa Machiguenga Lodge that belongs to the legendary Machiguenga people. On the way, from the boat, we can see a lot of biodiversity like birds, capybaras, and several species of monkeys, two species of caimans and maybe tapirs. With luck we can also see the biggest cat in South America: the jaguar. Before arriving to our accomodations is the chance to visit the tower of observation in the area of the Otorongo oxbowlake after 15 minutes walk along the access trail, afterwards we are visiting a giant ceiba tree 50meters/164ft high before to take our boat and after 30 minutes down stream arrive to the trail access (5 minutes) to Casa machiguenga. We spend our night at the Casa Machiguenga Lodge (370masl/1213ft) located in the Manu National Park. Double rooms & shared bathroom
Full day According to the booking list at the limonal ranger station we are allowed to visit the Salvador oxbowlake by catamaran with the best chance to find the resident family of giants otters there. This day we will visit by catamaran the famous “Cocha Salvador“ lake, home of the giant otters, this Cocha Salvador is the highlight in Manu park especially in the dry season, is loaded with nesting birds and feeding Herons, Egrets, caimans (South American relatives of the Alligators), terns, Skimmers, Shock-headed & Large-headed Capuchin Monkeys are usually feeding on fruits nearby, naming just a few of them. A visit of the macaws claylick late in the morning and later to enjoy our lunch at the accommodations. In the afternoon we have time to explore the trails on the other side of the Manu river and walk in the primary forests of the Amazon rainforest looking for woolly monkeys, where the sensation is unique, since we are in an ecosystem that has remained unchanged since the formation of the amazon. We spend our night at the Casa Machiguenga Lodge (370masl/1213ft) located in the Manu National Park. Double rooms & shared bathroom
Total time: Total time 6 hours aprox. including mainly travelling by land transportation; not considering stops for lunch and toilets services. Today we are starting the day very with a early breakfast and in the mind time our boat will get ready to start boating down the stream (4 hours aprox.) until Limonal Ranger Station (310masl/1017ft) where the rangers are checking everything is going good, afterward we are boating up stream of the Alto Madre de Dios river for 1.5 hours aprox. To arrive to the Diamante native community to visit some of our friends, they are explaining about Amazonian culture and offering handicrafts as souvenirs, finisinhg our visit we are going back to our boat downstream for 1.5 hours aprox. to Dorado Lodge and enjoying our lunch at the same time. Arriving to the lodge we can explore the trails always like a group with our Tour Guide, then we are back for dinner. Overnight at Dorado Lodge (300masl/986ft)
Total time: Total time 9 hours aprox. including mainly travelling by land transportation; not considering stops for lunch and toilets services. Very early in the morning after our breakfast we are taking our luggage along the trail to the road where we will take our 4x4 transportation from Dorado Lodge, in a trip of approximately 1 hour drive until Salvación where we will take our tour bus continuing driving along the new communal integration road of Manu, the road crosses the ecosystems of the Amazon lowland, cloud forest and highland we make a stop for lunch at Paucartambo afterwards continuing crossing the Andes until Cusco city. We arrive to Cusco city (3400masl/11156ft): about 5pm; transfer to your hotel.