DAY 1 : Cusco – Guadalupe Lodge
Departure from Cusco in the morning time (pick up from your hotels), the beginning of the Manu
Road passes through numerous dry inner-mountain valleys and picturesque villages. This gives
you a quick overview of locals’ lifestyles and colorful clothes. A brief call at Ninamarca will give
you the possibility to explore the pre-Incas tombs within this well archaeological site. The road
includes various stops, so you can enjoy seeing the surrounding landscapes varying from high
mountains to humid forests. The next disembark will occur in the village of Paucartambo which
features a beautiful arched colonial bridge. From Paucartambo the altitude will keep on
increasing and the setting gradually gets enveloped by a cloudy mist. The road leads you to
Acjanaco pass consisting of the main gateway to Manu National Park where the environment
dramatically changes from dry to wet valleys. Do not miss the splendid view when looking down
toward the lowlands! The lush and misty cloud forest surrounded by massive rocks and
waterfalls is perhaps the most fragile and threatened type of rainforest. In such an environment
filled with lichens and moss-carpeted soil, spotting birds and monkeys will be the main target.
You will get the chance to stare at a large variety of birds ranging from the Peruvian national
bird, the brightly red Andean Cock-of-the-Rock displays to tanagers, toucans, or quetzals. The
path will head down to the Guadalupe lodge (560 m./1837 ft). Overnight at Guadalupe Lodge.
DAY 2 : Guadalupe Lodge –Casa Machiguenga.
We depart after having early morning breakfast, along with the driving toward the Diamante
native Community (4 hours by car) we can appreciate the view of how we will leave behind the
Andean Mountain and getting immersed into the dense rainforest, amazing views of the river
flowing towards the horizon and gradually the mountains disappearing and much flatter of
evergreen forest covering most of the landscape. You will be able to observe myriads of colorful birds such as; macaws, parrots, toucans, caciques,
oropendolas, this road section it’s the newest transect across mature and pristine rainforest in
the lower basin of the Alto Madre de Dios River, this travel route provides good chances to
observe some interesting wildlife such as peccaries, monkeys that may wander along the road.
Once at Diamante native community, we embark on a motorboat and navigate down (30
minutes) the crystalline river of Madre de Dios. We will reach the confluence with the Manu
River, we stop briefly at the Limonal ranger station for check-in then, we travel upriver we’ll
search diligently for any signs of Jaguar, still, only a slim chance but this river is perhaps the best
location to find this magnificent mammal, just a few curves up the river the environment will
change, there will be orders of magnitude more to look at, from hundred if not thousands of
swallows and butterflies, every single sandbar being occupied by something interesting, we will
keep a close watch for wildcats. In the mid-afternoon, we pass by the trailhead of the Otorongo
Oxbow Lake, where we will be able to walk inside of pristine and to have an impression of how
the forest looks like it by inside, there is a trail network that allows visiting a canopy tower that
overlooks the Otorongo lake and few other wooden platforms to observe some aquatic wildlife
and alligators. This forest section also harbors one of the largest kapok trees, visitors can walk
nearby its root system to see its enormous size.
We continue navigating some additional 40 minutes to reach the Casa Matsigueka lodge which
it´s set aside a short distance from the Rio Manu in the heart of Manu National Park and staying
the following nights at this peaceful place with pristine surroundings. * Night walks optional and
depends of travelers’ desires.
DAY 3 : Casa Machiguenga(Salvador Oxbow Lake, Macaw Clay Lick, Night Walk)
We will have the better part of our journey to enjoy the Manu´s Wilderness, on this morning you
will explore the Salvador oxbow lake famous for its population of Giant Otters who usually
breeds there, they can be seen at different times of the day, this gregarious and playful
carnivorous spend a good deal of their time fishing or playing by any side of the lake or just
taking a sunbath on their favorite dead logs. We’ll have access to a floating catamaran (two large
canoes connected by wooden planks) with chairs set up for bird and wildlife viewing (which
makes paddling around the lake easily and comfortably. Apart from looking for the giant river
otters, we’ll have the chance for many of the lake edge species, including the fabulous Hoatzin,
Agami, and herons, interesting raptors, colorful macaws Oropendolas and caciques, just floating
around the lake will be one of the joys of the trip, large predators such as; Black caiman can be
seen at the edge of the lake, this tour will take most of the morning time. (Please notice that the
time to visit the Salvador lagoon on this day is subject to availability)
During the midday, we walk across a mature forest populated by the large & majestic Brazil nut
trees following the main path we reach the Macaw Clay Lick which is also one of the highlights
of the trip, the large and noisy Red and Green Macaws among a few parrots and parakeets
gather all together and perch on a cliff and they can be observed eating some piece of clay. The forest around Salvador Lake and the lodge are some of the best Amazonian rainforests we
have seen, and a nice network of trails allows us to leisurely stroll on flat trails the rest of the day.
We will also search for more species of monkeys such as white-fronted capuchin, Pygmy
Marmoset, Emperor Tamarins, Red Howler monkeys, and the large and charismatic black spider
monkeys on the canopy trees. In fact, this is the forest section where visitors will be able to
observe a large number of primates. Overnight at casa Machiguenga, *the night walk is
available on this day.
DAY 4 : Casa Machiguenga–GuadalupeLodge
This morning, the breakfast will be arranged on the boat to optimize our time so we’ll board our
river transport and begin the journey down the Rio Manu back to the Rio Madre de Dios. This
will be another opportunity for catching the sunrise in the amazon rainforest while floating on
the motorboat.
This boat journey traversing the rainforest provides chances to observe aquatic birds on the
sandbars, side-necked turtles sunning on the logs, Caymans at the edge of the river, or even
glimpses of the magnificent jaguar on the banks of the river.
After about 4 hours of motorboat drive, we will reach the confluence of the Manu and Madre de
Dios River to turn the navigation upstream. We will boat up the fast-flowing braided and clear
water for a short while. We reach the Diamante Native Community where our ground transport
awaits us and will transport us to the Guadalupe Lodge.
DAY 5 : Guadalupe Lodge–Cusco
Your morning walk along our garden to learn about some medicinal plants and tropical fruits
and other interesting plantations, we can easily observe many colorful birds flying over, we enjoy
our tasty breakfast and get ready to pack as you will soon start hitting the road again to Cusco.
The way back offers some last impressing views of the exuberant cloud forest. Do not miss the
splendid views while reaching the top of the impressive mountains and the encounter of these
two geographical regions.
The arrival in Cusco should be around 4 pm. it would be depending on traffic conditions while
driving towards the city center.
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9 Days - 8 Nights
