MANU NATIONAL PARK ROUTE

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.