Manu Rainforest Tour 3 Days

Day 01: Cusco – Manu Cloud Forest – Atalaya – Top Manu Avatar Lodge

We leave Cusco at 6:00 a.m. in a private minivan and cross the Andes. Our first stop is the pre-Inca burial towers of Ninamarca, followed by a short visit to Paucartambo, a picturesque Andean village where you get a glimpse of local life and traditional dress. At around 10:30 a.m. we reach the entrance of Manu National Park, the highest point of the trip at about 3,400 m (11,150 ft), and start descending into the cloud forest.

The cloud forest is full of orchids, heliconias and tree ferns, and we make several short walks along the road to look for wildlife. This is the best day for birds and mountain views. After lunch we look for Peru’s national bird, the Andean cock-of-the-rock, as well as the grey-breasted mountain toucan, blue-banded toucanet, roadside hawk, Amazonian motmot, Andean potoo, quetzals, trogons and the Amazonian umbrellabird. We also look for woolly monkeys, the largest monkey in Peru, brown capuchins and, with luck, a spectacled bear, South America’s only bear.

In the afternoon we reach Atalaya (about 350 m / 1,150 ft), already in the lowland rainforest, and continue by boat on the clear waters of the Alto Madre de Dios River to Top Manu Avatar Lodge. After dinner we go on a night walk.

Day 02: Primary Forest Hike – Machuhuasi Oxbow Lake

You wake up to the sound of rainforest birds. After breakfast we hike for about two and a half hours in the primary forest, among giant trees that are hundreds of years old. We look for red howler monkeys, tamarins, white-fronted capuchins, squirrel monkeys, dusky titi monkeys and possibly spider monkeys, as well as toucans, sloths, deer, snakes and tayras. With great luck, a puma. What you see depends on the weather and on luck, and the small things are just as interesting: leafcutter ants, fire ants and the giant bullet ant. If you are thirsty, your guide can show you how to drink water from a liana.

After lunch we explore the Machuhuasi oxbow lake on a balsa raft to look for the prehistoric-looking hoatzin. Walking around the lake through the primary forest, we search for monkeys and peccaries while your guide explains the medicinal plants of the forest, including ayahuasca. With luck we see capybaras, the largest rodent in the world, along with caimans, herons, oropendolas, toucans and monkeys until sunset. Night walk after dark.

Day 03: Parrot Clay Lick – Atalaya – Cusco

We leave early to visit the parrot clay lick, where hundreds of parakeets and small macaws come to eat mineral-rich clay. Back at the lodge we have breakfast and pack, then take the boat to Atalaya and continue by private van to Cusco. We drop you off near the main square at around 5:00 p.m.