Manu Jungle Tour 4D3N

The Manu Jungle Tour is one of the most pristine areas of rainforest in the Amazon and consists of the entire drainage basin of the Manu River. There are very few human settlements in the park, and there is no hunting or fishing. Tourism is strictly controlled and visitors are only allowed into the park if accompanied by a registered guide and with a registered tour operator. Tours must be organised in advance, and all of the agencies have offices in Cusco. It is also possible to organise tours from Lima or abroad, although all operators work with one of the ten official operators allowed into the park. It is possible to visit the Manu area without entering the reserved zone, and much good wildlife can still be seen. However, there is less control on human activity in the area outside the park.

The Manu Biosphere Park consists of two zones: the Manu National Park, which can only be entered by professional biologists with a special permit; and the Manu Reserved Zone, which can be entered by tourists, but only with an organised tour. There are buffer zones around the park, often referred to as the Cultural Zone, although this is no official protection for this area. The Manu National Park covers 1,532,860 hectares, and the Manu Reserved Zone another 260,000 hectares. Manu contains 13 different ecological zones ranging in altitude from 200m to 4,000m, meaning that it has an incredible variety of flora and fauna.

In 2000, almost 3,000 visitors entered the Manu reserved zone compared with 20,000 who visited the Puerto Maldonado area. Although there are no official limits of the number of visitors, the expense of visiting Manu means that numbers are self-limiting. Additionally, agencies are strictly controlled and are only allowed to visit certain parts of the reserved zone, and even then only allowed in for three days at a time.

Tours to the Manu reserved zone are expensive, ranging from about $500 for the cheapest, taking the bus in and out, to almost $2,000 when staying in one of the lodges. The reason for this is that the transport costs are expensive due to the distances involved. However, it is sometimes possible to get discounts on official prices. If an agency has a tour leaving in a day or two and still has spaces, it may be willing to offer a discount to try and fill a place. It can be worth shopping around the see if this is the case.