Author: Manu Jungle Trips Travel Peru

MANU NATIONAL PARK ROUTE

Manu National Park Route: The translation of Ninamarka is “the city of fire” in Quechua: nina means fire and marka means place or town.

This name could be due to the fact that, especially during the winter, small fires can be seen burning on the ground in the distance. Traditional belief holds that these fires marked the hiding places of Inca treasures. manu reserved zone 

Tour – Manu Reserved Zone

In Ninamarka, there are beautiful pre-Inca stone chullpas, or funerary towers. Important people, such as local chiefs

or priests, were possibly buried in these tombs. These are remnants of the Lupaca kingdom, whose center was north

of Lake Titicaca. Both the Incas and the Lupaca were experts in cultivating the different ecological zones of the Andes. Unfortunately, there are no archaeological studies on Ninamarka.

Reserved Zone of the Amazon – National Park

MANU NATIONAL PARK ROUTE – ACJANACO

Acjanaco is located at the beginning of the Biosphere Reserve on your route and is also the southernmost part of the Reserve. It is 3,200 meters above sea level. The road to the left leads to the Tres Cruces viewpoint, famous for its spectacular sunrise, which can only be observed here and in Japan.

The best time to see it is in July and August. For the rest of the year, the area is usually too cloudy. Clouds form due

to moisture rising from the jungle side of the mountains. The Incas used to observe the summer and winter solstices

from Tres Cruces. From this natural platform, they also contemplated the immense expanse of the Amazon rainforest, which represented the eastern limit of their known world.

To the east, the highest mountain of the Biosphere Reserve can be seen, Apu Kanahuay, at 4,050 meters above sea level. The translation of “Apu Kanahuay” from Quechua is “the one who is close to God.”

Descending from Acjanaco, the treeless alpine grassland begins to transform into a strange dwarf forest. At lower altitudes, this forest becomes a mysterious cloud forest before reaching the  manu tropical rainforest.

 KNOSNIPATA VALLEY

Known as Knosnipata in Quechua, this valley is located at 900 meters above sea level. It has been inhabited for many decades.

Initially, opportunists and missionaries arrived, but more recently, settlers have been landless farmers from the highlands, especially from Puno.

• The stony soil is poor and not very fertile. Millennia of torrential rains have eroded its natural fertility.
• Despite this, the valley inhabitants still cultivate rice, cassava, coca, bananas, and other fruits, as they have for decades.

The three main settlements in the valley are Chontachaca, Patria, and Pilcopata. However, the valley has lost population in the last two decades due to soil exhaustion and exploitable wood depletion.

ALTO MADRE DE DIOS

Large open cliffs along one side of the river are visible shortly after leaving the port of Atalaya. If you look closely, three different layers can be distinguished:

• Lower reddish soil: ancient seabed from millions of years ago, when the Amazon Basin was an inland sea.
• Layer of large stones: corresponds to an ancient riverbed.

Current soil layer.

The Alto Madre de Dios River extends approximately 150 km in length. It receives water from the snow-capped Pucará, southeast of Paucartambo. Smaller rivers like Pilcopata, Piñi Piñi, and Tono form the Alto Madre de Dios,

which later joins the main river, forming the Madre de Dios River. This water eventually joins the Beni River in Bolivia and forms the Madeira River in Brazil, flowing into the Amazon.

 BOCA MANU

The small village of Boca Manu (the mouth of the Manu) is the capital of the Fitzcarrald district. It is located at the confluence of the Alto Madre de Dios and Manu rivers. Here, the sediment-laden waters of the Manu River, dark brown in color, meet the clearer waters of the Alto Madre de Dios, whose clarity is due to its origin in the high Andes. macaw clay lick  manu 

Manu Promoters:

Celestino Kalinowski was a naturalist by vocation and inheritance. His dream was to establish a natural museum in Manu and preserve this area from human exploitation. He visited Felipe Benavides, president of national parks, to communicate the need to restrict access to loggers, hunters, and gold prospectors. peru bird 

In May 1973, the Manu National Park Reserve was declared. Since 1977, the park has enjoyed Biosphere Reserve status granted by UNESCO.

In 1887, John Kalinowski arrived in Peru to study the Madre de Dios jungle. Thanks to him, valuable examples of

fauna and flora were discovered. His son, Celestino Kalinowski Villamonte, inherited his vision and passion for the

Peruvian jungle, conserving enigmatic territories with myths and mysteries, such as the great Païtiti, the lost city of the Incas.

The efforts of Kalinowski and Benavides resulted in the Manu Reserved Zone in 1968, declared a National Park in

1973, and recognized as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1977. Ten years later, it was declared a Natural World Heritage Site. tambopata macaw clay lick 

Manu is the result of the inspiration and effort of a few nature lovers, such as the Kalinowskis and Felipe Benavides.

The Unconquered Jungle – Manu National Park

The oldest evidence of Manu dates back to 1750 B.C. and belongs to the Arahuac. Neither the Incas nor the Spanish

dominated this territory, associated with Païtiti, which would later suffer from exploitation by rubber tappers and loggers. Manu’s history is a primordial mystery.

The oldest archaeological remains include cassava and avocado, cultivated between 1750 and 1000 B.C. by the

Arahuac, ancestors of the current ethnic groups of Manu (especially the Matsiguengas). French anthropologist Alfred Métraux noted: sandoval lake 

“The role of the Arahuac in the development of civilization in South America has been considerable.” They were mediators in the exchange of products and deities between the hidden jungle and the mountains.

Amazon Peru manu information .

Biosphere Reserve Information  Amazon Wildlife : :Major ecosystem type: Mixed mountain and highland systems / Tropical humid forests Amazon Peru Manu Information. Major habitats & land cover types:

Cloud forest; alpine grasslands of the Andes; rainforest; humid forest; humid sub-tropical forest; very humid sub-

tropical forest characterized by mahogany (Swietenia sp. and Cedrela sp.) and the palm Phytelephas macrocarpa; very humid low mountain forest; lakes and rivers; agroecosystems.

• Location: 11°17′ to 13°11’S; 71°10′ to 72°22’W
• Area (hectares): total 1,841,806.
• Core area(s) 1,532,806
• Buffer zone(s) 52,000
• Transition area(s) 257,000
• Altitude (metres above sea level): +240 to +4,000
• Manu National Park Amazon Wildlife :

The 3.7 million-acre Manu National Park  Amazon Wildlife  was formed in 1973 and was inscribed on the

World Heritage List in 1987. Tourist lodges are not allowed in the park itself. In 1980 a relatively small area to the

east of the park was designated as a Tourist Reserve Zone, reserved for tourist and commercial activities  Amazon Peru manu information .

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION  THE MANU PARK AMAZON  WILDLIFE Amazon Peru manu information :

The park is located in the provinces of Manu and Paucartambo (Departments of Madre de Dios and Cuzco

respectively), comprising lands on the eastern slopes of the Andes and on the Peruvian Amazones. The limits to the north are the watershed separating the catchment basins of Manu and de las Piedras rivers (72° 01’W, 11°

17’S); to the south the area where the road from Paucartambo to the north-west turns to

Tres Cruces (71° 30’W, 13° 11’S); to the east the region on the left margin of the Alto Madre de Dios River to the

Pilcopata River, Department of Cuzco (71° 10’W, 12° 18’S); and to the west the watershed separating the

catchment basins of the Manu and Camisea Rivers – also the limit between the Departments of Cuzco and Madre de Dios (72° 22’W, 11° 45’S)
ALTITUDE :From 365m (Manu River mouth) to 4,000m (Cerro Huascar)

PHYSICAL FEATURES :

The park is located on the eastern slopes of the Andes and extends down from precipitous mountains. The entire

area is situated within the Amazon River basin and protects almost the entire watershed of the River Manu and

most of the tributaries of the River Alto Madre de Dios.  Alluvial plains are found along the rivers where sediments

may be deposited on a seasonal basis. The hills occupy the lowlands between the rivers and are relatively small

with slopes between 15% and 50%, forming an undulating topography, which covers much of the park to Amazon Wildlife.

The alluvial plains and hills above 1,500m mainly comprise sedimentary rocks of the Superior Tertiary (1 to 111

million years old) and Recent Quaternary (less than 1 million years old). The mountainous area above 1,500m is 

formed of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of the Precambrian and Palaeozoic era (more than 440 million

years old). The adjacent reserved zone Amazon Wildlife Amazon Peru manu information .

  mainly comprises the flood plains of the lower Manu river, down to its confluence with the Rio Alto Madre de

Dios, and over long periods of time the river has wandered over the plain leaving a number of ox-bow lakes.

CLIMATE TO MANU  NATIONAL PARK AMAZON WILDLIFE :

Amazon Peru manu information .

 The area has a wide range of climates, from the cold, dry Andes to the hot, humid Amazon Wildlife forests.There

are however, no long term records of rainfall or temperature in the park, and up to 1985 continuous records of

rainfall were only available for two years (1976 and 1982). At the Biological Station of Cocha Cashu (400m), the rainfall between September 1976 and August 1977 was 2100mm. There is a rainy season from October to April

with an average monthly rainfall of more than 200mm. From early May to late September rainfall decreases to

less than 100mm per month. There is a slight variation of air temperature during the year. The coldest month is

June with an average temperature of 11.1° C the hottest month is October with 25.4° C. There are virtually no

records of rainfall within the park above 650m. At Pilcopata (650m) the mean annual rainfall (1971-1980) was

3929mm and all months have more than 100mm of rain. July is the driest month with an average rainfall of 188mm.

Higher up into the Andes rainfall drops again, and temperatures fall significantly to average a few degrees above

zero. Fog is common all year round in montane forest regions to Amazon Wildlife

VEGETATIO TO MANU BIOSPHERE  AMAZON WIDLIFE :

Amazon Peru manu information .

With a park the size of Manu Amazon Wildlife, with a wide range of altitude, vegetation varies widely, however the most widespread vegetation types found are tropical lowland rainforest, tropical montane rainforest and Puna vegetation (grasslands).

The lowland forests occur on the alluvial plains and the interfluvial hills.

Those on the hills may experience seasonal water supply, given the monthly variation in rainfall, while the forests on the alluvial plains are likely to be seasonally flooded.

The montane forests experience less variation in the water supply and are exposed to lower temperatures. The

management plan (La Molina, 1986) maps 14 forest types using the Holdridge system (after Tosi, 1960), although,

given the lack of rainfall data, this must be to some extent speculative. Despite the high diversity of plant species in

this region, the flora of Manu is still poorly known and floristic inventories must be considered as preliminary (Gentry, 1985).

The few collections of plants are those of Foster (1985) and Gentry (1985) made in the alluvial plains near the

Biological Station, and in the Tres Cruces region of the uplands. Other collections have been made by Terborgh (1985) and Janson (1985) on trees where birds andprimates obtain food. Despite this, in the last ten years, 1147

plant species have been identified in the park within quite a small area (500ha), and it is likely that the number of

species to be found within the park is well over this figure. More recent data (Saavedra, 1989) indicate 1,200

lowland vascular species and a single one hectare .

Cocha Cashu

Cocha cashu research station supported more than 200 tree species. In a hectare plot on the alluvial plains, 17

trees with a diameter of more than 70cm were found (4 to 11 trees with such a diameter would be more usual). The

biggest tree was a Ceiba pentandra (120cm), while others included the locally rare Poulsenia armata (110cm) and

Calycophyllum sp. (117cm), and locally endangered Swietenia macrophylla (105cm) and Dipteryx odorata (100cm).

The most common tree in the plot was Otoba parviflora (IK), and other highly abundant species included palms of

the genera Astrocaryum, Iriartea and Scheelea, two species of Quararibea (Bombacaceae), Guarea and Trichilia

(both Meliaceae from the subcanopy), one Pouteria (Sapotaceae), Pseudolmedia laevis (Moraceae) and Theobroma cacao (Sterculiaceae). Another striking feature of these forests is the high abundance of Ficus spp.,

of which there are at least 18 species – only 15 Ficus species are mentioned in the Flora of Peru (Standley, 1937).

Lianas are common, and 79 lianas of 43 species were found within 1,000 sq.m. With the current knowledge of the

flora of the park it is not possible to give a detailed account of threatened, endemic or potentially economically

important species. Swietenia macrophylla and Cedrela odorata which grow in almost pure stands, are two of the

species economically important for their wood, while Theobroma cacao and Quararibea cordata (IK) are both

cultivated for their fruits outside the park to Biosphere Amazon Wildlife.

YOURS  ROUTE  TO MANU NATIONAL PARK  – TYPICAL DANCES.

Town and Peru, which is why the dancers use specific costumes and masks in each performance. Here are a few

examples of them: Las Qollas” represents the ethnic group which lives in the high altitude of the region and who

has been in conflict with “Chunchos”, the inhabitants from the jungle since time immorial. “ Los Majeños” are the

horse handlers from the valley of Majes from the coast, who came to trade vine and liquors for coca, fruits and

wood during the colonial time. Los Contradanza” is a parody of European salon dances. The dancers represent a

European couple with expensive fine clothes. To do this they wear white maskes. “Capac negro” are the African

slaves, brought by Spaniards to Peru. They are the guardians of the Virgin, and deserve the name Capac which means “senor”.

Auqas chilenos” are the Chilean invaders of Peru during the Pacific War of 1879 to 1883. When the “Chileans»

dance, they do it going backwards, symbolizing a retreat. “Waca-Waca” represents a spanish bullfight “Capac

Qolla” are traders from Altiplano. los Saqras” are the devils, who, when the image of the Virgin is carried through

the streets, need to look for,refuge on the rooves.

 

PROTECTED AREAS: MANU NATIONAL PARK & MANU JUNGLE TOURS

Areas Manu National Park- Explore the Shores of Vilcanota – Manu Jungle Expeditions:

The Vilcanota River cuts through a dramatic canyon over 100 feet deep, its powerful waters crashing against the jagged cliffs.

Amidst a lush landscape of mosses, orchids, and epiphytes with translucent yellow leaves, the river roars as it

carves its way through this breathtaking terrain.

On a narrow ledge, we observe the river’s passage between these ancient cliffs, sculpted over centuries by relentless erosion.

Then, as if appearing from nowhere, two agile figures race upstream, moving effortlessly through the turbulent waters.

These are the torrent ducks (Merganetta armata), remarkable birds perfectly adapted to navigate the fierce currents of mountain streams. Manu Jungle Trips

Found in the wild, fast-flowing rivers at elevations above 1,000 meters, these ducks thrive in unpolluted waters.

Their incredible swimming and diving abilities enable them to access a rich supply of aquatic insects and larvae, undisturbed by competitors.

In the same habitat, the smaller dipper (Cinclus leucocephalus), a tiny black-and-white bird, also hunts for underwater food, demonstrating a similar talent for swimming.

As we leave the river behind and continue along the shore, the vibrant world of the high jungle reveals itself.

Fuchsia-colored flowers attract hungry hummingbirds, whose rapid movements pollinate the blossoms with pollen attached to their foreheads.

Nearby, emerald beetles seem to struggle to navigate through the dense floral labyrinth, while the forest floor

teems with colorful butterflies drawn to overripe fruit.

The sight of caterpillars with bizarre, otherworldly appearances adds to the surreal beauty of this ecosystem.Manu Jungle Trips

Flora and Fauna of   Areas Manu National Park .

The high jungle is also home to elusive creatures like the Andean bear (or spectacled bear), a solitary, vegetarian species that thrives in the cloud forests.

We might also encounter the pudú (Pudu mephistopheles), a miniature deer no taller than a foot, which roams in

search of buds and fallen vegetation.

As we venture further into the forest, the chorus of bird songs fills the air, their calls resonating through the humid, dense atmosphere.

The sanctuary of Machu Picchu, part of this protected region, is home to over 300 species of birds, including both

massive condors and tiny, vibrant tanagers.

The region’s abundant flora supports a dazzling array of hummingbirds, each with specialized beaks adapted to

pollinate different species of flowers.

Some of these birds are so small that they seem to hover like insects, while others are larger than the flowers they feed from.

In the trees, pisonay and qeuña trees stand tall, their branches filled with bright red flowers, while mosses, lichens,

and bromeliads give the trees an appearance as though they are draped in a green, damp coat.

For botanists, this lush environment is a living museum, with plant species racing to claim every inch of space in the canopy. Manu Jungle Trips

Nightfall in Manu Park:

As night falls, the stars above appear more vivid than in any other place, their brilliance uninterrupted by city lights.

The only sounds that compete with the night sky are the gentle rustling of eucalyptus trees and the occasional call

of an animal in the distance.

The soft glow of the moon illuminates the river, guiding our way as we prepare for an early morning adventure in

search of one of the park’s most iconic creatures: the Cock of the Rock (Rupicola peruviana).

This stunning bird is known for its dramatic courtship display, where males compete for the attention of females in

a breathtaking spectacle of vibrant colors and complex behaviors.

Witnessing this ritual is a highlight of any visit to Manu, showcasing the unique and intricate natural processes of the cloud forest.  Manu Jungle Trips

Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary:

Machu Picchu, established as a protected area on January 8, 1981, spans 32,592 hectares of the Sacred Valley of the Incas.

While most travelers know it for the iconic Inca citadel, the Sanctuary also encompasses 34 archaeological sites,

connected by the famed Inca Trail.Manu Jungle Trips

This region is not just an archaeological marvel; it is a natural paradise, teeming with diverse wildlife, including

the ucumari Andean bear, the quetzal, and the Cock of the Rock.

The Sanctuary’s creation serves to preserve both the archaeological treasures and the unique ecosystems found

within the cloud forest.

The region’s rich biodiversity and stunning landscapes are protected, while also benefiting local communities

through sustainable development programs.

The Inca settlements here are renowned for their harmonious relationship with the surrounding natural world, an

achievement that is still evident in the area’s ecological balance today. Manu Jungle Trips

Yanachaga-Chemillén National Park .

Founded on August 29, 1986, the Yanachaga-Chemillén National Park spans an incredible 122,000 hectares across

the districts of Oxapampa, Villa Rica, Huancabamba, and Pozuzo, in Pasco Province.

This diverse park is a treasure trove of flora and fauna, preserving ecosystems that date back to the Pleistocene era.

With altitudes ranging from 2,500 to 3,800 meters, the park protects a wide variety of species, including rare

orchids, bromeliads, and countless bird species.

The park’s primary goal is to protect the headwaters of the Palcazu, Pozuzo, and Huancabamba rivers, ensuring the

sustainability of agriculture in adjacent valleys while preventing soil erosion.

It also serves as a haven for native communities such as the Yaneshas and Amueshas, whose traditional ways of life

are deeply connected to the land. Manu Jungle Trips

Blue Mountains  Areas Manu National Park

Established on May 22, 2001, Blue Mountains National Park is one of Peru’s largest and most biodiverse protected

areas, covering over 1.3 million hectares. Amazonnia Rainforest

The park spans isolated montane forests and protects a wide range of  habitats, including high-altitude wetlands,

deep foothill lakes, and the biodiversity-rich lowland rainforests. Manu Macaw Clay Lick Blanquillo

Thanks to a collaborative conservation effort between the government and local organizations, such as CIMA (Center for

Conservation, Research, and Management of Natural Areas), the park is one of the country’s most vital conservation zones.in Manu Jungle Trips

Tambopata Candamo – Discovering the Amazon Jungle Paradise:

In the heart of the Amazon, Tambopata Candamo is a paradise for nature lovers and those seeking to immerse

themselves in the ancient wisdom of indigenous cultures. According to local legends, the fireflies of the Amazon are

the earthbound stars, waiting to reunite with their celestial counterparts. Stories like these, passed down through

generations, reflect the deep connection that the indigenous people have with the forest and its inhabitants.

Manu Jungle Trips