TRAVEL AND TOURS

Manu, situated in the southeast area of Peru, is one of the largest natural parks in South America. The area of the park encompasses parts of the jungle department of Madre de Dios and parts of the Andean department of Cusco. Manu protects 2 million hectares (4.5 million acres) of a territory loaded in flora and fauna species, and a variety of habitats that include high Andes, cloud forests, and lowland tropical rain forests. UNESCO has officially recognized this natural paradise as a world heritage site. Manu is a Biosphere Reserve because it contains the best existing example of biodiversity in protected areas endemic areas of cloud forest as well as of rain forest. Humans have altered the greater part of the forests in the world. Fortunately, Manu has remained undamaged and untouched by modern civilization.

In The Manu, we can see a great variety of animals in their natural habitats, including the: Black Caiman (Melanosuchus niger), Giant Otters (Pteronura brasilensis), the strange Spectacled Bear (Tremarctos ornatus), the majestic Jaguar (Panthera oncathe) Tapir (Tapirus terrestris), the Ocelot (Felis pardalis), 13 species of primates, and a thousand species of birds including seven species of Macaws (Ara sp.).

Manu also contains 10% of the world plant species, including several species of figs and palms, as well as innumerable species of medical plants that scientists are currently cataloguing. One hectare of forest in Manu can have up to 220 species of trees, while a single hectare of temperate forest in Europe or North America may only have 20 species of trees. The Manu National Park is almost certainly the most biological diverse and protected park on the planet.

NATIONAL PARK ZONES

* CULTURAL ZONE

The Cultural Zone is one of the zones from Manu National Park which covers high mountains, cloud forest and low jungle. There you will find small villages, settlers and native communities working in productive activities such as agriculture and extracting lumber at a low scale, under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Park Authorities. This controlled area has the purpose to act as a buffer zone to the Intangible and Reserved Zones.

* CLOUD FOREST

While rossing over the eastern border of the Andes, travelers to Manu National Park, often encounter a thick blanket of clouds. This is where the Cloud Forest begins, the strange and ethereal forest where we can find the spectacular Cook of the Rock, Spectacle bear and scores of dripping tree ferns, bromeliads and Orchids. Ranging in elevation from 11,500 to 4,500 feet (3,500 to 1,500m.a.s.l.), the Cloud Forest is one of the environmentsthat has been least studied, at least 50% of its plant species are found nowhere else on earth. Heavy mists and frequent rains (up to 23 feet, or 6 meters annually) support the cloud forest's crowded, stunted shelter of evergreen trees. In a procedure called "cloud stripping", the leaves cause the condensation of the humidity from the clouds. Water is therefore always forming on the plant surfaces and dripping to the ground. The perpetual humidity of the cloud forest makes it a perfect home for epiphytes - plants that live on other plants and take their moisture and nutrients from their surroundings, not the ground. As dirt accumulates on branches, lichens and mosses, a migration process begins and is rapidly followed on ferns, bromeliads and orchids.

* RESERVED ZONE

This zone which runs along both sides of Manu River covers a vast extension of primary forest and it is dedicated only to Tourism and Research. Being the river the only possible access to this area, it is fairly easy to manage and protect from no authorized visitors and poachers. Because of its mega-diversity in flora and fauna, scientists consider this area as a living laboratory.

* INTANGIBLE ZONE

This is the biggest part of the Park, covering an extension of 1'800, 000 hectares of immaculate jungle. Few protected areas in the world are as large as this Intangible area and none of them is as unspoiled and rich in wildlife species. In this Zone, tourism is not permitted and for that matter or any other activity, except scientific investigation at the Biological Station of Cocha Cashu where for the last 25 years Peruvian and international scientists have been conducting research projects of flora and fauna.

There are several tribal groups such as Yoras / Yaminahuas, Matshiguenkas / Kugapacoris, ,Mashco Piros, Amahuacas and others. Some of these groups refuse to have any contact with the outside world.