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Here you will start your overland journey to Boca Colorado for 45 minutes by car, followed by four hours and half motorized boat journey ride upstream the Madre de Dios river in between we plan on a delicious boxed lunch at the beginning of the boat journey to Manu Wildlife Center. Later we make our first acquaintance with the rain forest, exploring some of the 30 miles of forest trails that surround the lodge. We can find some of the 12 species of monkeys, including the Spider Monkey and Emperor Tamarin. After dinner there will be a night walk along the trails, in search of the nocturnal birds and animals of the rain forest (B,BxL, D)

DAY 3 - FRIDAY: FRIDAY: MANU WILD LIFE CENTER - MANU NATIONAL PARK (Manu Park Wildlife Center): An; early; start; (inevitable; on; wildlife; expeditions),; a; delicious; breakfast; is; followed; by; boat; journey; in; the; motorized; canoe; trip up the Madre de Dios; River; .

We; make a short visit to the village of Boca Manu, riverside capital of the remote and sparsely populated Peruvian province; of Fitzcarrald. The main activity; here is building dugout boats for travelers on the river. Logging is prohibited here, so the resourceful villagers work entirely with lumbe broughtdownriver by floodwaters.

Now we turn northward up the chocolate‐brown waters of the Manu River into the lake‐rich lower Manu National Park. The pristine quality of the forest is instantly apparent, with abundant birdlife and no signs of outside development. We check into the park at Limonal ranger station and then proceed upstream, as our boat drive

steers skillfully through shallows and driftwood snags. Orinoco Geese and Horned Screamers strut on the beaches, Capped and White‐necked Herons patrol the shoreline, and countless sunbathing turtles dive off their log perches as we approach.

After some six hours on the river we reach the Manu Park Wildlife Center, a simple but comfortable low‐impact lodge nestled almost invisibly in the forest. If time permits us, we will take a short walk before dinner to stretch our legs and enjoy our first encounter with virgin rain forest. (B,Box Lunch,D)

DAY 4 - SATURDAY: MANU NATIONAL PARK (Manu Park Wildlife Center): Cocha Salvador & Cocha Otorongo

Today we visit two lakes near our camp. Park authorities determine the time of our visit to Cocha (Lake) Salvador; depending on this schedule, we will visit Cocha Otorongo earlier or later in the day.

Our trail to Cocha Otorongo begins some 30 minutes downstream from the camp. This brief river journey to the trailhead can always offer the chance of a thrilling wildlife sighting.

Perhaps we will spot a family of capybaras, the world’s largest rodent, looking like giant Guinea Pigs as they browse on the riverbank, or if we are very lucky, a solitary jaguar might stalk slowly off an open beach into the forest, flicking its tail in annoyance at our intrusion. On the short trail to the lake we may spy one or more of the park’s 13 monkeys species leaping through the canopy high above. And some of the trees which form that canopy -- such as kapok, ironwood and figs, will astound us with the vast size of their trunks and buttressed root systems. These are oxbow lakes, formed when the river changed course, leaving a landlocked channel behind. The lakes are abundant in fish and wildlife, and provide optimum habitat for caimans and the Giant Otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), one of the Amazon’s most endangered mammal species. This lake enjoys maximum protection, and boats are not allowed.

However, it features two dock platforms and a 50ft tower from which to scan the trees and marshy shoreline for monkeys, kingfishers, Anhinga (a large, long-necked waterbird), and countless other species. We have a good chance of sighting the resident Giant Otter family as they dive for the 4Kg. of fish that each individual consumes daily. Cocha Salvador is the largest of the area’s lakes, at 3.5 Km, or some two miles long. It is also home to a family of Giant Otters. We cruise the lake on a floating catamaran platform, which offers superb new perspectives of lake and forest. The lakeside trees are often alive with monkeys; Scarlet, Chestnut-fronted and Blue-and-gold macaws beat a path overhead; a variety of herons and egrets scout the water’s edge; and the reptilian eyes and snouts of caimans, motionless as logs, may be spied beneath the branches. Somewhere on the open water or in among toppled bankside trees, we may spot the sleek heads of the shy Giant Otters.

These social animals play and fish together, and we may see them sprawled on a fallen tree trunk, dozing or gnawing on a fish. (B,L,D)

DAY 5 - SUNDAY: MANU NATIONAL PARK - MANU WILD LIFE CENTER: Macaw Clay lick project, Canopy Tower & Tapir Clay lick

We set off downriver at dawn. At this hour chances of wildlife encounters are excellent. We return to the Limonal park station. After reaching the turbulent union of the Alto Madre de Dios and Manu Rivers and then the village of Boca Manu, we may drop off some passengers returning to Cusco. After ninety more minutes downstream we arrive at Manu Wildlife Center in time for lunch. After a delicious lunch is followed by a short boat ride downstream. We walk through the forest for some minutes, where we find the Macaw Lick Project. The hide provided with individual chairs and a convenient place for cameras and binoculars is our ringside seat for what is usually a spectacular show.

In groups of twos and threes the scarlet Macaws come flapping in, landing in the treetops as they eye the main stage below the eroded clay banks of the river and the occasional villain, a menacing and unwelcome Great Black Hawk. The drama plays out in first in tentative and then bolder approaches to the lick, until finally nearly all the macaws form a colorful and noisy spectacle on the bare banks, squabbling as they scrape clay from the hard surface. Later, we continue to explore and discover the rainforest, its lore and plant life, on the network of trails surrounding the lodge, arriving in the late afternoon at our 34m/112ft Canopy Tower. On its platform we witness the frantic rush-hour activity of twilight in the rain forest canopy, before night closes in. Then we set off along the “collpa trail”, which will take us to the lodge’s famous Tapir Clay lick. Here at the most active tapir lick known in all the Amazon, our research has identified from 8-12 individual 600-pound Tapirs who come to this lick to eat clay from under the tree roots around the edge.

This unlikely snack absorbs and neutralizes toxins in the vegetarian diet of the Tapir, the largest land animal of Latin America. The lick features a roomy, elevated observation platform 5m/17ft above the forest floor. The platform is equipped with freshly-made-up mattresses with pillows. Each mattress is covered by a roomy mosquito net. The 10-m-long, elevated walkway to the platform is covered with sound-absorbing padding to prevent our footsteps from making noise. This Tapir Experience is unique and exciting because these normally very shy creatures are visible up close, and flash photography is not just permitted, but encouraged. Many prefer to nap until the first Tapir arrives, at which point your guide gently awakens you to watch the Tapir 10-20m/33-66ft) away below the platform. Most people feel that the wait is well worth it in order to have such a high probability of observing the rare and elusive Tapir in its rain forest home. (B/L/D)

DAY 6 - MONDAY - Manu Wildlife Center to Cusco or Lima: We leave our lodge very early on the two hour and half return boat trip downstream to the Colorado Village, the breakfast will be serve on the boat while you enjoying early morning wildlife activity as we go, of course this is a perfect time to take advantage of valuable early morning wildlife activity along the river, in additions this journey allows us to see several lowland native settlements and gold miners digging and panning gold along the banks of the Madre de Dios River. We will stop in the far-west type gold-mining town of Colorado to start our overland journey to Puerto Carlos for 45 minutes, then you will cross the Inambari River for 15 minutes boat trip to Santa Rosa, finally a van or bus will drive us in approximately two-hours to the airport in Puerto Maldonado City, here you fly by a commercial airplane to Cusco or Lima, with this assistance your jungle adventure ends. (B)

ADDITIONAL TOURS IN CUSCO & THE SACRED VALLEY
Customize this Trip by adding extra days to any location. Please explore below or contact one of;our local expert travel advisors

• BEST COOKING CLASSES: HALF DAY TOUR
• 1/2 DAY MORAY, MARAS & THE SALT MINES TOUR: PRIVATE or with a GROUP
• PRIVATE 2 DAYS INCA TRAIL TO MACHUPICCHU
• 2 COLORS CANYON HIKES
• WAQRAPUCARA: FULL DAY HIKE
• RAINBOW MOUNTAIN FULL DAY HIKE: PRIVATE or with a GROUP
• PALCOYO 3 NEW RAINBOW MOUNTAINS: FULL DAY PRIVATE HIKE
• HUMANTAY TURQUOISE LAKE FULL DAY HIKE: PRIVATE or with a GROUP
• CHONTA CONDORS FULL DAY HIKE
• HUCHUY QOSQO & MACHU PICCHU: 2 DAYS PRIVATE HIKE
• PRIVATE APURIMAC CANYON & WATERFALLS
  
• WHITE WATER RIVER RAFTING
• MOUNTAIN BIKING IN MARAS & MORAY: PRIVATE FULL DAY TOUR
• HORSE RIDING IN MARAS & MORAY: FULL DAY TOUR
• ATV TOURS IN CUSCO

• CUSCO TO PUNO & TITICACA LAKE
  

• NAZCA LINES & PARACAS
  

• AMAZON: TAMBOPATA RESERVE | MANU NATIONAL PARK