Peru Guide
The Jungle
The Amazon, the rainforest, the selva, the jungle, the green hell (el infierno verde) – all attempt to name this huge, vibrant area of Peru. Few people think of Peru in terms of jungle, yet well over half the country is covered by dense tropical rainforest, with its eastern regions offering unrivalled access to the world's largest and most famous river, the AMAZON. These days, as a global centre for biodiversity, the Peruvian jungle is a conservation priority. Some areas of forest, like the Manu Biosphere Reserve possess between 150 and 200 different tree species per hectare, and Manu is also home to over 200 mammal species and over 13 different primates (not including tourists).
Whether you look at it up close, from the ground or a boat, or fly over it in a plane, the Peruvian jungle seems endless. In fact, it is disappearing at an alarming rate. Campaigns raising awareness of its importance as a unique ecosystem and as a vital component of the global environment (not to mention the wealth of wildlife and sheer beauty of the vegetation) have brought the matter into the international spotlight. Across the planet, deforestation is responsible for some twenty percent of carbon emissions, themselves one of the main causes of global warming. The tropical rainforest is also both a massive store of carbon and a natural soak for additional carbon, as the trees are continuously growing.
Outside the few main towns of the Peruvian jungle, there are few sizeable settlements, and the population remains dominated by between 35 and 62 indigenous tribes – the exact number depends on how you classify tribal identity – each with its own distinct language, customs and dress. For most tribes, the jungle offers a semi-nomadic existence, and in terms of material possessions, they have, need and want very little. Communities are scattered, with groups of between ten and two hundred people, and their sites shift every few years. For subsistence they depend on small, cultivated plots, fish from the rivers and game from the forest.
Highlights
1 Pampa Hermosa Lodge Just eight hours' drive from Lima, this sumptuous cloud forest lodge, one of the jewels of Peru, offers access to a Cock-of-the Rock refuge, where Peru's national birds dance every evening; in an adjacent reserved woodland, South America's oldest and largest cedar trees sway quietly in the breeze.
2 Iquitos A fun, vivacious city, ridiculously hot during the day, with an equally sizzling bar and club scene when the sun goes down.
3 Tambopata-Candamo Reserve You'll be hard-pushed to find anywhere as rich in flora and fauna as this, the most biodiverse area of rainforest in the Amazon.
4 Manu Biosphere Reserve Another excellent place to experience a truly pristine rainforest and see plenty of jungle wildlife – from giant otters in secluded lakes to motionless caiman littering the river banks.
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