• Peru Guide

  • Introduction to Peru
  • Weather
  • Things not to miss
  • Entry requirements
  • Money
  • Getting around
  • Public holidays

• Explore Peru

  • Lima
  • Around Lima
  • The south coast
  • Arequipa
  • Around Arequipa
  • The Titicaca Basin
  • Cusco
  • The Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu
  • Around Cusco
  • The Central Sierra
  • The North
  • The Jungle

• Cities

  • Arequipa
    
  • Ayacucho
    
  • Cusco
    
  • Huánuco
    
  • Iquitos
    
  • Lima
    
  • Trujillo
    

Peru Guide

The Jungle

The Manu Biosphere Reserve

Encompassing almost two million hectares of virgin cloud- and rainforest on the foothills of the eastern Andes, the Manu area was created in 1973 as a national park, and elevated to the status of Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1977. In 1987 it became a World Natural Heritage Site. About half the size of Switzerland, the Manu Biosphere Reserve covers a total of 1,881,200 hectares of relatively pristine rainforest, from crystalline cloudforest streams and waterfalls down to slow-moving, chocolate-brown rivers in the dense lowland jungle – a uniquely varied environment. The only permanent residents within this vast area are the teeming forest wildlife; a few virtually uncontacted native groups who have split off from their major tribal units (Yaminahuas, Amahuacas and Machiguenga); the park guards; and the scientists at a biological research station situated just inside the park on the beautiful Lago Cocha Cashu, where flocks of macaws pass the time cracking open Brazil nuts with their powerful, highly adapted beaks.

For flora and fauna, the Manu is pretty much unbeatable in South America, home to 20,000 vascular plant types (one five-square-kilometre area was found to contain 1147 species of vascular plants, almost as many as in the whole of Great Britain), with over 5000 flowering plants, 1200 species of butterfly, 1000 types of bird, 200 kinds of mammal and an unknown quantity of reptiles and insects. Rich in macaw salt-licks, otter lagoons and prowling jaguars, there are thirteen species of monkey and seven species of macaw in Manu, and it still contains other species in serious danger of extinction, such as the giant otter and the black caiman (Melanosuchus niger).

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 missionaries are allowed in, while tourists are allowed into Zones B and C only as part of organized visits with guides.