Peruvian Amazon

With its unspoilt rainforest teeming with life, the world-famous Amazon is on every nature lover’s wish list. Spending time in this precious environment is both a pleasure and a privilege. The Manu and Tambopata reserves are in different parts of the Peruvian Amazon and both provide excellent jungle experiences and homely lodges, while a cruise provides more creature comforts when resting between excursions.

• Peruvian Amazon flora and fauna:  Expect to be amazed by the Amazon’s richness and diversity. The dense primary rainforest contains many thousands of plant species ranging from towering trees to delicate orchids, colourful bromeliads to giant water lilies. All manner of wildlife thrives here: monkeys, tapirs, jaguars, giant otters, caiman and birds galore including parrots and macaws often seen en-masse at clay licks.
• Manu Biosphere Reserve:  With the highest bird, mammal and plant diversity of any park on Earth, Manu is the ultimate Amazon destination. Intersperse hikes through the jungle with catamaran rides and visits to canopy platforms and hides for a comprehensive experience of the rainforest. Manu’s highlights include watching tapirs at a clay lick, sightings of the Andean cock-of-the-rock and a riverbank clay lick attracting thousands of macaws and parrots.
• Tambopata National Reserve:  This huge reserve contains floodplains, wetlands and lakes as well as tropical jungle and is home to an impressive array and mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects and birds. Water and land-based activities showcase this richness and expert guides ensure you don’t miss a thing. Keep a special lookout for giant otters, harpy eagles, black caiman and, if you’re very lucky, a jaguar.
• Iquitos:  The largest city in the Amazon region is under two hours flight from Lima and offers day trips into the rainforest to observe wildlife and visit indigenous tribes as well as being a starting point for Amazon cruises. In the city you can see the grand mansions of former rubber barons built during the rubber boom of the early 20^th century including an iron house designed by Gustav Eiffel, the central square and main church.