Travel Tips

Thousands of Macaus and parrots congregate here to feed on the minerals of the clay lick. There is a floating observation deck about 40 feet back where you can all of this. Most trips to the Manu National Park include this stop.

At night time when the sun sets you realize just how alone you are in the middle of the Amazon in this place. This place is truely isolated.

Of course in the Amazon there are kinds of night visitors lioke this guy who was the size of my hand.

What the heck is that thing?

Manu National Park consists of lowland tropical and cloud rainforest. The drive to the park from Cuzco takes you through some amazing cloudforests. A new waterfall awaits you around every corner.

Trees of this size are a dime a dozen in Mnu National Park. Due to the parks protewction and mostle its isolation there are many huge trees like this to be found. This tree couldn't even fit completely in the picture. I was holding on to a vine until my guide warned me about the many varieties of biting ants, expecially the bullet ant, which live in the tree. The bullet hand is about the size of a bullet and I guess it earned it name because its bite is as painful as being hit by a bullet.

In the National park the campsite are very rustic and consist only of an open platform with a raised roof. This set-up s very inviting to a lot of unwanted night guests. The campistes also have showers that are tapped into the river water. These are not the kind of showers that you want to relax in. During my showers I remember trying to balance washing myself with trying to avoid the huge spider in the corner of the ceiling and the huge cock roach on the floor. There usually are other creatures too. So needless to say you get in and you get out.

Thes guys seldomly found elsewhere in the Amazon, are found everywhere in Manu. The guy in this picture is about 14 feet and right as we rolled up top our campsite with ideas of swimming in the river to cool off from the heat, we saw him slip into the water. It is amazing how quickly he can disappear beneath the water.