from: Dilwyn Jenkins: The rough
guide to Peru; Rough Guides, New York, London, Delhi; 6th edition
September 2006; www.roughguides.com
The permit in Cusco for Zones B
and C - severe restrictions for Zone A with Nahua natives
Permits to visit Manu are granted to groups only (mainly to established
tour companies operating out of Cusco), and done so according to
quotas, in order to limit the number of people in the reserve at any
one time and throughout any particular year. It's virtually impossible
to get permission by going it alone, and no settlers, hunters or
missionaires are allowed in, while tourists are allowed into Zones B
and C only as part of organized visits with guides, following the basic
rules of non-interference with human, animal or vegetable life. Zone A
is restricted to the occasional scientist (usually biologists or
anthropologists) and indigenous groups, including the recently
contacted Nahua [native] people. However, if you're a naturalist,
photographer, or can demonstrate a serious interest, then it is
sometimes possible to gain a special permit for restricted areas;
contact INRENA in Lima (p.559).
Preparation
All of the necessary provisions and equipment should be bought in
Cusco, and this is one journey where you'll definitely need as much
petrol as you can muster [purchase] (a 55-gallon drum is probably
enough) [for payment to a canoe guide later]. A sleeping mat is also a
good idea even if only to sit on during the long journey to Shintuya; if the truck is carrying
fuel, wear old clothes and cover your baggage properly. If you can
afford one luxury, make it a sturdy pair of binoculars, preferably
brought with you from home (p.559).
Approaching the reserve
Flight to Boca Manu: Manu
Biosphere Reserve is better reached from Cusco than it is from Puerto
Maldonado. Flying direct to Boca Manu will dramatically affect the
price and the amount of time you get in the reserve (it's only a
30-45min flight but costs $300-400), and twin-engined planes can be
chartered from the airport in Cusco.
Buses
Note the one-way traffic: From Paucartambo
onwards, the precipitous and gravelly nature of the
road down through the cloud forest to the navigable sections of the Río
Alto Madre de Dios means that access is supposedly limited to one
direction per day, except Sunday, when it's a free-for-all. You can
travel down on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and back up on Tuesday,
Thursday and Saturday (p.560).
Buses from Cusco to Salvación:
Most people travel there on transport organized by their tour
operators;
otherwise, buses operated by Gallito de las Rocas (Avenida Manco Capac
105, Cusco, T. 084-277255) go to Pilcopata
and usually beyond to Salvación
at about 10am
most Mondays and Fridays ($7, a 10-14hr journey
depending on road conditions).
Trucks from Cusco to Shintuya:
Trucks,
generally loaded to the brim with beer, fuel and passengers, leave
Cusco from Avenida Huascar, and some from the [Jirón] Coliseo, every
Monday,
Wednesday, Friday and Sunday for Shintuya
($6; a 20-30hr journey in
good conditions) (p.560) resp. 18-24 hours journey (p.568).
From Cusco to the Manu reserve in
details
The only viable way of visiting Manu
is by joining an organized tour through one of the main Cusco agents,
which is safer and generally cheaper than doing it yourself. However,
you can travel independently as far as Boca Manu, but unless you've
secured a highly exclusive special permit,
you then have to head away from the reserve on one of the canoes that
go most weeks (cargo and river permitting) to Puerto Maldonado. For
this you'll need to be well stocked and prepared for a rough voyage of
several days - plus a few more if you have to hitch along the way. The
only significant settlement en route is Boca Colorado at the confluence of
the Ríos Colorado and Madre de Dios, a small gold-miner's service town
full of vermin [insect beings], human and animal. Remember, this region
is well off the beaten tourist trail and is relatively wild territory,
populated by colonos,
indigenous Indians, and even smugglers and terrorists (p.559).
The first four-to six-hour
stage is by road to the attractive town of Paucartambo, over stupendous narrow
roads with fine panoramas of the region's largest glaciated mountain of
Ausungate, a major apu - or
god - for the Incas and also the locals today. From Paucartambo
onwards, the precipitous and gravelly nature of the road down through
the cloud forest to the navigable sections of the Río Alto Madre de
Dios means that access is supposedly limited to one direction per day,
except Sunday, when it's a free-for-all. You can travel down on Monday,
Wednesday and Friday, and back up on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
(p.560).
It's another 30km to the turn off to
Tres Cruces, at the reserve's southern tip; from here the road
winds down, at times along narrow stretches of quite bad track with
drops of well over 300m only a few feet away. Somehow the beauty
overrides the scariness for most people, and a surprising amount of
wildlife can usually be spotted as the track continues downhill -
Andean guans, mountain motmots, woodcreepers, oropendulas and the
brilliant-red gallo de las rocas
(the national bird of Peru) can all be seen. Of course, you're more
likely to get a glimpse of these if you're traveling with a good guide
who has a ell trained eye (p.560).
Settlements in the high jungle on
the way
The first settlement you come to in the high jungle is Chontachaca, which is Quechua for
"Chonta Bridge" (chonta being
the common hardwood palm whose wood is used throughout the Peruvian
Amazon for Indian bows and arrow points). Vehicles rarely stop here,
and shortly beyond you pass through the slightly larger Patria, another frontier-type
village, where coca is grown in some quantities. Turkeys, pigs and
children play beside the road and the town's grassed-over, neglected
concrete fountain says a lot about this place, which is more noted for
its cock-fighting fiestas than anything else. Around here the jungle is
being cleared for cash crops and, occasionally so much vegetation is
being burned that planes are occasionally unable to land in Cusco
because of the rising smoke (p.560).
At the next town, PILCOPATA,
the road crosses a river over a new steel bridge; to the right, a
rickety old wooden one is left to decay in memory of a (p.560)
truck that destroyed it and fell into the water in the mid-1990s. Most
buses and trucks stop here for the night, and there's a basic hotel, a
few small shops and a simple market here. The road then skirts
[follows] the Río Alto Madre de Dios.
The forest around here hides some fascinating petroglyphs, etched onto
boulders by Indians before the Spanish arrived. However, these are
along the Río Pishiyura, hidden in the restricted area of Manu and
reported to be protected by a still largely unacculturated group of Mashco-Piro Indians, who shoot
arrows at intruders.
This is also one of the areas where the legendary Inca city of gold -
El Dorado, or Paititi - is reputed to lie.
The following day takes you on to the small riverside settlement of Atalaya (10-12hr from Cusco); some
tours cross the river to spend the night at an old hacienda which has
been converted into an attractive tourist lodge - Amazonia Lodge (half
board), 600m above sea level on the edge of the cloud forest. The food
here is excellent and it's one of the few Peruvian jungle lodges to
have solar-heated showers; the owners can be contacted in Cusco (Ramiro
Yabar Calderon, Calle Matara 334, T. 084-231370, e-mail:
amazonia@correo.dnet.com.pe. They offer full board and excursions in
the region and frequently work with Manu Expeditions. There are also a
few restaurants in town (p.561).
Twenty minutes down the road from Atalaya, at the pueblo of Salvación, 28km before Shintuya, the
Manu Biosphere Reserve has an office where your guide will usually be
expected to show his permits. There are also a couple of rough hostels
and one or two places to get some food - a bowl of jungle soup or, if
you're lucky, fish with manioc.
Two hours beyond Atalaya, at Shintuya,
the road finishes. There's no hotel, but there's no problem about
camping if you ask permission - the best spot is beside the small
stream that enters the main river (the water is cleaner here) (p.561).
Shintuya: Self destruction by
timber, trucks, and gold
Trucks, mostly carrying timber, go from here to Cusco every Tuesday,
Thursday and Saturday.
The Dominican Mission here has been in existence for forty years,
though recently many of the indigenous members have left after making
good money with their chainsaws - some of them now own trucks to
facilitate the supply of timber out to Cusco and beyond (p.561).
Keep a watchful eye on your baggage, as Shintuya also has a sizeable
transient population, passing to and from the gold-mining areas
downriver [with mercury contamination of the rivers] (p.561).
Find a canoe in Shintuya - and go
further - Boca Colorado - Boca Manu - Piro natives in Diamante on the
air strip
Normal boats between Shintuya and Boca Manu are irregular, 1 daily on
average, a trip of 6 hours (both directions) (p.568).
But if you're traveling independently, you can charter your own canoe
when you look for one with a reliable boatman / guide, and if you've
brought some
of your own fuel to bargain with, it should be relatively easy to find
a decent deal at the mission; the Moscosa family (especially Cesar,
Pepe and Darwin) are reliable guides. Boats from Shintuya cost from
around $300 for a week (though it can be double this if it's a busy
season); if it's beg enough, and most are, the boat can be shared
between as many as seven or eight, and the price of an extra week isn't
that much more. Remember that tings happen on a different timescale in
the Peruvian jungle, so get the boat organized as soon as you arrive,
and try to make an early start the next day. If it can be arranged,
it's a good idea to take a surplus, small dugout canoe for entering
smaller channels and lagoons. Alternatively, you might be able to catch
one of the cargo boats prepared to take passengers direct to Boca Colorado, for around $25.
Downriver, in a lancha with
outboard motor, it's half a day down the Alto Madre de Dios to Boca Manu, a mere 300m above sea
level and little more than a small settlement of a few families living
near the airstrip. There are no hostels here (people do camp on the
other side of the river, but these are mostly visiting Indians or tour
groups) and while there is a small shop here (prices double (p.561)
those in Cusco, with no guarantee of supply), the population mainly
serves the gold-mining settlements downstream towards Puerto Maldonado.
Close by is the native Piro community of Diamante, responsible for managing
the airstrip, a major link to Cusco. In 1983, when it was controlled by
cocaine smugglers, this was the scene of Hollywood-style drama, when an
unmarked Colombian plane overloaded with cocaine crashed into the
vegetation at the end of the airstrip. The gang leader had his men
torch the plane after the crash; its remains are still there in the
undergrowth. The Peruvian army later regained control of the strip, but
now the Piro make a little money from each flight that uses it and sell
good, cheap artesanía at the small hut that serves as the airport
terminal.
Tours in the Manu reserve
Accessible only by boat, any expedition to Manu is very much in the
hands of the gods, because of the temperamental jungle environment; the
region experiences a rainy season from December to March, and is best
visited between May and August when it's much drier, although at that
time the temperatures often exceed 30°C (86°F) (p.557).
The highlight of most organized visits to Manu is the trail network and
lakes of Cocha Salvador (the
largest of Manu's oxbows, at 3.5km long) and Cocha Otorongo, both bountiful [very
rich] jungle areas rich in animal, water and birdlife (p.558).
There are quite a few organized tours competing for travelers who want
to visit Manu. Many are keen to keep the impact of tourism to a
minimum, which means limiting the number of visits per year (it's
already running well into the thousands). However, they do vary quite a
bit in quality of guiding, level of comfort and price range. If you go
with one of the companies listed below, you can generally be confident
that they have a good reputation both for the way they treat their
tourists and the delicate ecology of the rainforest itself (p.562).
Tour operators in the Manu reserve
Caiman
[Jirón] Plateros 359, Cusco, T. 084-254041, Fax 254042, e-mail:
explorcaiman@terra.com.pe
A relatively new company, but with some experienced and professional
guides, Caiman specialize in Manu, basically offering 4 days and 3
nights from around $300. Their 6- to 9-day tours are better, since they
do include exploring within the Manu reserve itself, including Lago
Otorongo, with a chance of spotting the giant river otter family that
lives there (more in the region of $500-600).
Ecological Adventures Manu
[Jirón] Plateros 356, Cusco, T. 084-261640, Fax 225562, e-mail:
manuadventures@terra.com.pe, www.manuadventures.com
Jungle-trip specialists and one of the first operators running trips
into Manu, with their own vehicles, boats and multilingual guides.
Their camping-based tours are cheaper than most, with the 8-day option
going in and out by bus, but they also offer shorter options which go
in by bus and out by plane. Tour-only price for 5-night trip from $580.
Expediciones Vilca
[Jirón] Plateros 359, Cusco, T./Fax 084-253773, Fax 251872, e-mail:
MANUVILCA@terra.com.pe, www.manuvilca.com; or: Calle Saphi 456, T.
084-681002
Manu specialists, they have a good reputation and their guides are well
informed, taking eco-tourism seriously. Their 8-day tour includes
camping in Zone B, plus a visit to the macaw lick at Blanquillo as well
as 3 nights in albergues,
from around $600-790, depending on whether you take a bus or plane in.
They also offer 5- and 6-day trips, including flights to and7or from
Boca Manu from around $720.
InkaNatura Travel
-- in Cusco: Avenida Sol 821, second floor, Cusco, T. 084-226392,
www.inkanatura.com
-- in Lima: Via InkaNatura Travel, [Jirón] Manuel Bañon 461, San
Isidro, Lima, T. 01-4402022, Fax 4229225
InkaNatura offer customized travel, from 4 to 5 days, operating from
the Manu Wildlife Center, where one of the nearby highlights is the
world's largest tapir salt-lick. They also accommodate people at the Cock of the Rock Lodge, 6hr by road
from Cusco, in one of the best cloud-forest locations for birdwatching.
$1050-1150; discounts available to groups of 6 or more. The lodge is
owned and operated principally by Selva Sur, a Cusco-based nonprofit
conservation group. Bookings through its own in-house travel agency,
InkaNatura Travel.
Manu Expeditions
Urbanización Magisterio, 2nda Etapa G-5, PO Box 606, Cusco, T.
084-226671 or 239974, Fax 236706 (Mon-Fri 9am-1pm, and 3.30-7pm, Sat
9am-1pm), www.ManuExpeditions.com
One of the best and the most responsible companies, run by a British
ornithologist, They offer 3- to 9-day camping expeditions into Zone B
and to the Manu Wildlife Center, with solar-powered radio
communications and a video machine. The guides and service are
top-quality, and they speak English; they offer air and overland
transfers to Boca Manu (they have their own overland transport), and
food, beds (or riverside campsite) and bird-blinds are all included.
$688-1595; discounts available to South American Explorers' Club
members.
Manu Nature Tours
Avenida Sol 582, Cusco, T. 084-224384, Fax 234793, e-mail:
postmaster@mnt.com.pe
A highly professional company that operates Manu Lodge, one of only two within
Zone B (p.562),
where you can join their 4- to 8-day programs. They also run 3-day
trips to Manu Cloud Forest Lodge
in their private reserve by the southeast boundary of Zone A, where
torrent ducks, gallos and event woolly monkeys are often seen. $268-299
for Manu Cloud Forest Lodge, $1040-2065 for 4- to 8-day programs;
discounts available to South American Explorers' Club members.
Pantiacolla Tours
[Jirón] Plateros 360, Cusco, T. 084-238323, Fax 252696,
www.pantiacolla.com
A company with a growing reputation for serious eco-adventure tours.
Their cheapest option is also the longest, a 9-day tour that takes
groups in and out by bus and boat, while the more expensive 5- to 7-day
trips go in by road and out by plane from Boca Manu. They have an
excellent lodge on the Río Alto Madre de Dios at Itahuania, and their
tours into Zone B are based in tents at prepared campsites. $675-795;
discounts available to South American Explorers' Club members (p.563).
From the Manu reserve to Puerto Maldonado
The boat back from Boca Manu to Shintuya goes irregularly, 1 daily on
average, a trip of 6 hours (p.568).
Or you also can go:
Down the Madre de Dios river
Boats from Boca Manu to Puerto Maldonado are going irregularly. The
trip is 2-4 days (p.568).
It is possible, if you are adventurous, to follow an unregulated
overland route with few facilities from Boca Manu to Puerto Maldonado.
Although you're more likely to have already found a boat going
downriver from Shintuya, many will also pick up at Boca Manu for the
one-day journey downstream ($10) to the sleazy gold-mining frontier
town of Boca Colorado (also
known as Banco Minero), at the
mouth of the Río Colorado.
Boca Colorado has a number of very basic hotels, but all have rats
running around - they can be heard scampering across wooden-planked
floorboards when the town generator goes off and the settlement's
televisions fade into silence at 11pm every night.
There are also a few simple restaurants serving surprisingly tasty
food. It's possible to camp but, again, don't let your gear [luggage]
out of your sight. From here it's at least one more day ($10-15 as a
passenger in boats going in the same direction, depending on the speed
of the boat) on the Laberinto
- from where it's a two-hour bus ride to Puerto Maldonado (p.563).
