Manu Cultural Zone 5 days

The Manu National Park is a protected natural reserved zone, situated in Southeastern Peru, parcially ubicated in the regions of Cusco & Madre de Dios, within the provinces of Paucartambo & Manu. With a territory of 1'532,806 hectares (or square

hectometers), it's divided into 3 great zones: the National Park, with 1'155,806 ha.; the Reserved Zone, with 257,000 ha. and the Cultural or Transition Zone, with 120,000 ha. It also has the world categorization of being a Biosphere Reserve Zone.

Spanning from 300 mosl, in the junction of the Manu river with the Madre de Dios river, until reaching the 3,800 mosl level at the top of the Apu Kañajhuay mountain. Some researchers, adventurers, scientists, geographers and historians really do believe that within these virgin big expanses of this great reserve holds the hidden secret city of Paititi, the legendary "El Dorado" or 'The Lost City of the Inkas'.

Now you can visit this portentous park going into an adventure by public minibus, private van, bike, motorboat or by foot...just you need to put some stamina to it, you won't regret your 5-day/4-night getaway into the wilderness, to disappear completely from the surface of the earth, to become just one with nature, get lost for these 5 days & start a new conscience with nature, wild as it is. Go or come, enjoy Manu.

ITINERARY:

DAY 01: Soon after breakfast, we leave Cusco by private bus, driving through the Sacred Valley and after that, going up slowly and crossing the Andean mountains. We stop at the ancient inka cemetery of Ninamarka to see the burial towers called "Chullpas", before we beginour quick descent towards the provincial capital of Paucartambo, famous for its 4-day patronal feast celebration called, the "Virgin of Carmen" (14-18 July, every year) where you are invited to join to participate into one of the different 24 Ayllus-nations (cofradies), after your crazy stay here, you ascend to the Abra or mountain pass of Acjanacu, where you'll be entering to the magic & mysterious Manu National Park, here in the high jungle starts the long and winding biking downhill to the amazonic plain and also to the Cloud Forest through the mysterious dwarf tree forest, our threshold into the amazing adventure of visiting the Paititi, where we might take a small walk here and then; after that mini-adventure, we continue down to the Cloud Forest in the hamlet of San Pedro. Here, we make a hike and the flora reveals a variety of orchids and different parasitic plants. The fauna abound here with rare birds such as the famous Gallito de las Rocas, "Tunki" or 'Cock-of-the-Rock', the almost extinct "Bespectacled Bear" and many other wildlife. We continue then onto a local lodge in the town of Pillcopata, capital of the Province of Kosñipata, in the river Kcosñipata valley. Here in Pillcopata you'll find the junction (before reaching the Pongo de Ccoñec) of the 5 rivers forming the Alto Madre de Dios river: the Kosñipata, the Piñi Piñi, the Qeros, the Pillcopata and the Maestron rivers.

DAY 02: We leave early after breakfast driving towards Atalaya, our starting river port. On the way, a stop to see many different kind of plants, Coca groves and fruit trees. We also make a stop at the lookout, at the top of the Pongo (river strait rapids) of Ccoñec, where you will have a good viewpoint of the river and the jungle. From Atalaya we continue down by motorboat to Aguas Calientes, where we will enjoy a swim in the natural hot springs. From here, we leave to Bonanza where we will take walks in the jungle. We will camp inside the jungle for the night.

DAY 03: After our breakfast, we take a hike along another longer pathway in search for wildlife. Optional - a visit to a native community (the Wachipayre and the Machiguenga tribes live here). Around noon, we continue our trip to the hamlet of Bonanza, where we will spend the night close to the river. In the late afternoon, we take a shorter hike in the nearby jungle. At night we look for crocodiles in the nearby lake. Early night sleep.

DAY 04: We start early our walk into the jungle. We bring only the equipment we gotta need for one camping night, deep inside the jungle. We walk through the primary jungle, where we see many of the giant rainforest trees like Ceiba and Cedar. We come back to our camp around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Later, in the mid-afternoon we go to relax ourselves and explore the area for wildlife.

DAY 05: We walk back to the main river and take the boat slowly upriver in order to look for birds. Here there will also be a possibility to visit the native community of Shipeteari. We arrive in the late afternoon to a sandbank near Buena Vista, where we make our camp for the night.

OUR SERVICES INCLUDE:

  • Private bus Cusco-Pillcopata-Cusco (4-day expedition).
  • Private boat Atalaya-Yanayacu-Atalaya (5-day expedition).
  • Bilingual guide (English-Spanish), local guides and the staff.
  • Camping equipment (tents, mattresses, kitchen, raincoats, rubberboots & life jackets).
  • First-aid kit.
  • Food brought from Cusco, local tropical fruits & Mineral water.

TOURS DO NOT INCLUDE:

  • Sleeping bag.
  • Personal equipment.

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