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Manu Expeditions
Our incredibly intimidating modified 4X4 expedition vehicle. We made it back to Cusco this morning, a little worse for the wear, but quite enjoyed the trip!
Peru is approximately two-thirds jungle. The most pristine and protected of the jungle is an area called the Manu Biosphere Reserve consisting of 20,000 square kilometers. It is also the most virgin/pristine jungle probably because it the hardest to get to and the most expensive to get to! There are 13 species of monkeys here (more than anywhere else in the country), 15,000 plants, 1,300 butterflies, and more than a milion insects that have not been even close to documented. To visit Manu Reserve, it is compulsatory to have a guide and there are only eight tour groups with permits to visit the area. We went with a highly recommended group called Manu Expeditions and paid $2700 US for the both of us for 6 days/5 nights. Here is a synopsis of our trip:
May 14 - Manu Expeditions picked us up at 7:30 AM and we had collected the entire group by 8:30 AM. There were 8 of us: Liana & Will, Josh & Linda, Jennifer & Peter as well as Shane and I. All the other three couples
Andes
Beautiful views of the highland. were from California is the Bay area. It was a great little group and we got along well together. Our overland vehicle was pretty serious - a modified 4X4 vehicle with lovely reclining chairds. Our guide was Ricardo Sanchez.
The first day consisted of overland travel through high altitude grassland, passing and visiting small towns along the way before hitting 4100 meters and dropping down into the cloud forest where we stayed the night at the lovely Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge (no electicity but they had hot showers!). The highlands were beautiful, but at times quite scary passing other vehicles on this small, gravel road with a sheer drop below.
May 15 - We got up at 4:45 AM to go watch to the lek (mating ground) to watch the cock-of-the-rock mating ritual. Shane thought I was kidding when I had told him we would be seeing cock-of-the-rocks - he thought I was just being vulgar or something. Cock-of-the-rocks are brightly coloured rainforest birds that live on rocks and outcrops. We spotted several and quite enjoyed the birds. In addition, we also got to watch some brown cappucin monkeys on the groups. We had to travel overland for a couple
Andes
Typical dress of an Andean mother and child more hours and went through a series of small villages, one which is called Atalaya where there were many coca plantations. Our guide tells us that if the coca plant is grown in poor soil conditions, the leaves will be small and full of alkaloids - these are plants used for drugs. However, in Atalaya, the soil is rich and therefore the coca leaves are large and these plants are used for medicinal purposes. On of our travelmates even bought a large bag of coca leaves for tor 1.5 soles (50 cents CAN) along the way.
We eventually reached the small town of Shintuya where we transferred to a fluvial and travelled on the a part of the Amazon river called the Alto Madre de Dios before reading the small Amazonian village of Boca Manu. We overnighted in the rustic huts of Madre de Dios Lodge (private bathrooms with flush toilets, cold showers, no electicity).
May 16 - We left Boca Manu and headed down the part of the Amazon river called the Rio Manu river. Saw an amazing amounts of wildlife along the way: monkeys, turtles, caiman, so many different birds - I won´t go through them
Cock-of-the-Rock
Beautiful bird with an interesting name. all here - see the pics! However, the highlight of the trip was seeing three pumas! It happened very quickly and lasted only about 5 seconds so there was no time for pictures. Pumas are very rare to spot - our guide has only seen them on about 2% of his trips. Unlike jaguars who will continue to sit there if you spot them, pumas do not like to be spotted so they quickly head for the bush. Very exciting! Just a note about spotting wildlife in the Amazon - it not an open area and animals are often obsured by thick vegetation so it takes a lot of patience to view and spot them.
May is the start of the dry season in the Amazon. It was a long 8 hour trip down the Zona Reservada where we would end up near Cocha Salvador (Lake Salvador), the park´s largest and most beautiful lake. We styed the night at Casa Machiguenga Lodge, which is a lodge built and managed by the Machigugenga natives. Bungalows consisted of three rooms, able to house three couples. No electricity, nice communal toilets and showers.
That night, we DEETed up and headed for
Brown Cappucin Monkeys
Looking straight at you! a hike to Cocha Salvador to look for caiman eyes. It was sort of neat - caiman eyes light up when you shine a light at them. However, we were bitten to death so that part of the exerperience was not pleasant.
May 17 - Went trekking again this morning to Cocha Salvador where we went to look at the giant otters. Giant otters have been hunted almost to extinction. Manu is the only place where you can find them now. It was fun to see them. They are not at friendly creatures, but interestingly, swam by our catamaran while going to the other side of the shore. Saw a ton of birds again. Also saw some black spider monkeys, but did not manage to get good pics since they were so high up. Spent the later morning looking at plants and trees in the Amazon. Very interesting. Then spent the afternoon trekking, trying to spot wooly monkeys. It was unfortunately very disappointing - we did not see any.
May 18 - Went trekking to the observation tower at Cocha Otorango. Again, did not see any wooly monkeys. Did find some jaguar tracks and heard peccaries (wild pigs).
Shintuya
Our fluvial. Did spot another family of giant otters. Headed back to Boca Manu.
May 19 - Flew back to Cusco. Shanea and I are now trying to arrange to go to Lake Titicaca tomorrow, the highest lake in the world. Should be interesting!
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Krista
non-member comment
Wow
Wow all these pictures look like post cards, makes me want to be on holidays again... i'm quite jelous as I am stuck here in calgary working! Well it looks like you guys are seeing a ton of stuff and enjoying your holiday so far so keep up the blogs and have a good time!!!