Stories
Travel to Tambopata or Manu or Iquitos?
It’s worth asking: is it the right question? When do you ask yourself if you have to travel to Tambopata or Manu or Iquitos? Are we leaving important Amazonian destinations out? And the answer is YES, it is the right question, and NO we are not leaving any important Amazonian destinations out. You may have heard of Tarapoto, Huanuco, or the Selva Central (San Ramon, Oxapampa).
These are all fine and dandy if you’re a birdwatcher. Otherwise, the access vs nature/wildlife cost-benefit analysis just doesn’t cut it. At each of these places, you have to travel further for lesser quality wildlife/nature than at Tambopata. So, we will stick with our original question. And we will answer this question with our two-dimensional lens: access vs nature.
Before getting started, let me say each destination has a mature service offering. What this means is you will find tour and lodging services ranging from homestays with a warm welcome but no running water to some of the world’s most exclusive nature experiences.
Here we go!
Tambopata and the Puerto Maldonado area
There are three main reasons to travel to Tambopata
- You want a good to great nature and wildlife experience
- You want to see the world-famous Macaw Clay Licks that showed up in National Geographic, BBC, etc
- You don’t have much time. The good to great gradient for nature and wildlife depends on your time. If you’ve got four days (or more) you will get a great experience. If not, you will get a good one.
Here is why.
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Access to Tambopata
We are bunching up two Trip Advisor (and Lonely Planet, and Rough Guide, etc) destinations in this section: Tambopata and Puerto Maldonado. They really are the same from the perspective of access. To get to both, you fly to the Puerto Aldamiz airport from Cusco or Lima. There are daily flights (LATAM, Sky Airline) only 30 minutes from Cusco o 1.5 horas de Lima. Once in Puerto Maldonado, all lodges are accessible by river. The closest (Reserva Amazonica) is 30 minutes away.
The furthest (Tambopata Research Center) is 7 hours away (accessible now for a 3.5 hrs journey). Your principal concern here should be: am I staying close to the Tambopata National Reserve? And close means INSIDE or ADJACENT to the Tambopata National Reserve. If so, you will get plenty of wildlife. If not – mmmeeeehhh, you are going to have a dropoff in the quality of nature/wildlife experience. Dr. Varun Swamy actually put it in numbers. He measured monkey density in four locations around Madre de Dios. We placed two of them on a map of Tambopata and surrounding areas to help you visualize the difference.
So, in terms of access – first, check if you are adjacent (i.e. on the same side of the river) to the Tambopata National Reserve. Second try to wrangle four (or more) vacation days for Tambopata. More days = more wildlife observation opportunities and more time to push further into the Reserve
Macaw Claylick by Paul Bertner in Tambopata Peru
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Nature and Wildlife of Tambopata
Nature and wildlife in Tambopata are in good shape. The reserve has been protected since 1990. Before then it was too difficult to get to, so suffered little hunting, fishing, or logging. A three-day trip into the Tambopata National Reserve should produce 3 to 5 species of monkeys (howler monkey, brown capuchin monkey, dusky titi monkey, saddleback tamarin, and squirrel monkeys), agouti and capybara (world largest rodent), white caiman, and giant river otters (if you visit an oxbow lake) and dozens of species of birds.
Don’t forget the treehoppers, scorpion wasps, dung beetles, army ants, tiger moths, and millions (literally) of species of insects. You may even discover a new one. A four-day trip (or more) will take you into the heart of the reserve and add the world-famous macaw clay licks, a 40% chance of seeing jaguar (depending on the season), spider monkeys, and herds of one hundred white-lipped peccary. It’s hard to believe one day makes all the difference. The reason is the “defaunation shadow” we talk about below. In Tambopata / Puerto Maldonado the shadow reaches the reserve boundary– and stops. In that extra day: you cross it.
Check out the wildlife here!
Book with us here!
Manu National Park and the Cloud Forest Road
There are two main reasons to go to Manu:
- You are a birdwatcher
- You have plenty of time (a week or more).
BTW, cancel if you hate bumpy roads or small aircraft (bi-motors, and such). Bonus reason: meet the Machiguenga.
Here is why. And yes, we touch upon Nature / Wildlife first for a reason.
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Nature and Wildlife in Manu
Manu is one of the two gold standards in Amazonian protected areas open to tourism. The other is Tambopata (see above). There are no equivalent nature tourism experiences in the Amazon (until Colombia opens up!). Like Tambopata, Manu has declared a National Park in 1974, before any kind of serious farming, logging, hunting ate it up. Steep mountain ranges with impenetrable cloud forests protect them from squatters and loggers.
It is the only one (including Tambopata) that has vast swaths of an accessible cloud forest. Unlike Tambopata, the Manu Cloud Forest is accessible by road. Thus, in Manu, you get Tambopata plus the cloud forest. That means you get woolly monkeys and cock-of-the-rock. And you add one hundred plus species of flycatchers, antbirds, tanagers, and hummers to your bird list. That is why, if you are a birdwatcher, Manu is your first choice. However, if you are not…
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Access to Manu
Getting to Manu is tough! The Manu Road begins in Cusco and climbs and descends two ridges. It is long (8-10 hours in the dry season) and super bumpy. Not recommended in the rainy season (November through March) as you might get stuck waiting for a mudslide to be cleared. Once you are in the lowlands you still have 4 to 10-hour boat rides, depending on where you are headed. And don’t forget your way back. Chartered small aircraft can get you to the lowlands in no time at all so ask your operator about them. One year they are there, the next one they aren’t. Keep your eyes peeled.
In summary, to repeat what we started out with – if you have the time for a one-week expedition to the Manu area and don’t mind roughing the transport bit, go for it!
And not to forget our bonus reason: Meet the Machiguenga. Machiguenga communities have opened up to tourism with lodge operations in the past 15 years. Check out Casa Machiguenga and Pankotsi Manu Lodge. If you don’t mind modest lodging and food services you will learn a lot from the super friendly and fun-loving Machiguenga. As I tell my kids – in the most exclusive places in Peru, you sleep on the ground.
And worth repeating one final time: if you want to figure out how to choose your Manu jungle lodge operator, we recommend you download our very own (and free) ebook: How to Choose a Jungle Lodge. If you can afford the time, go to Machiguenga for a week!
Iquitos and the Amazon River
There are three main reasons to go to Iquitos.
- You want to see the Amazon river.
- You want to take a cruise boat
- You want to experience present-day Amazonian present-day ribereño culture.
If nature and wildlife are what you’re looking for, stick to Tambopata or Manu.
Here is why.
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Access to Iquitos and the Amazon River
Iquitos and the Amazon river are fairly accessible from Lima. As of this writing, there are daily flights (from Latam, Star Peru, Sky Airlines, and Viva Air). Flights are direct and two hours long. Once you arrive at Iquitos, head to the “Malecon” (as we know piers and breakwater esplanades in Spanish). There you are, that is the Amazon River, the world’s largest river. Not great huh? Looks pretty much like any dirty dock in the world. To really enjoy the Amazon river, you have to go a bit further. Do this by booking a trip with any of the lodges or operators mentioned below.
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Nature and Wildlife in Iquitos and the Amazon River
Iquitos is a bustling city with no road connection to the rest of the world. Thus its 450,000 people consume what arrives by boat or plane or what they can wrangle out of the forest by farming, collecting, fishing, and hunting. And there lies the problem. Four hundred thousand people in the middle of the jungle using chainsaws, fertilizer, shotguns, and fishnets cast a long shadow. A recent study in Manaus, Brazil (pop 2 million) discovered it had a “defaunation shadow” of 1000 kilometers!
In other words, for 1000 kilometers around Manaus, wildlife is affected by human activity such as hunting, fishing, logging, etc. BTW, the fact Iquitos has 400 thousand people means it is the best place to experience present-day Amazonian ribereño culture. As you step off the plane you will get a whiff of street vendors selling macambo and aguaje. Visit the market and you will see fresh carachama fish and bush meat.
Pacaya Samiria National Reserve and Alpahuayo Mishana Nature Reserve
This doesn’t mean Iquitos is hopeless. Here is what it means. It means that if you want to see Amazonian wildlife and nature in good health you will have to take a week to visit El Dorado in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. Or you may find a watered-down nature experience is enough: visit Alpahuayo Mishana Nature Reserve 20 kilometers from Iquitos to spot small endemic ant wrens and small monkeys. Or you may want to splurge on one of the 5 most luxurious experiences in Peru on the Aqua or El Delfin cruise ships. You will experience some of Peru’s finest dining and pink river dolphins!
If you want to figure out how to choose your Iquitos jungle lodge or cruise, we recommend you download our very own (and free) ebook: How to Choose a Jungle Lodge. If you can afford it though – CRUISE the Amazon to Pacaya Samiria!
By Kurt Holle
Ok, but what about the cost?
How much will cost a trip to the Amazon?
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What our guest say
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- Valuation Excellent
- 5/5
Jacob Shama May 2024
Yaacov May 2024
secaBoulder May 2024
Cecilia D May 2024
Andrea Breanna Apr 2024
A user Apr 2024
Niko Dietsch Apr 2024
Yuting C Apr 2024
Yuting Chen Apr 2024
Víctor Moscoso Apr 2024
Ari S March 2024
Dreamer627120 March 2024
The lodge is located in the middle of the forest accessible only by boat. The experience was very unique and exciting. Service is great, and the fun part are the nature activities and tours the hotel offers for free. We had an amazing tour guide that had a lot of knowledge and was fun to spend time with. The rooms are totally open to the forest which is really cool the struggle is the there is no privacy at all in between the rooms, also food was pretty basic. All together a very unique experience. Read all
This hotel is the perfect blend of comfort and hospitality, with the natural experience. The hotel is reached by a hours boat ride from Puerto Maldonado, expertly organized and accomplished. Most staff are members of the local Esa Ejja community. The food is good and plentiful. Hot water is always available and lovely bedding features mosquito nets. There is of course no air conditioning (one side wall is open in rach room) and the electricity is off for a few hours at night affecting overhead fans, so I was glad to have brought a small battery powered fan for sleeping. But the best of the experience is the wildlife. Our expert guide Oscar Mishaja introduced us to nearly 100 bird species, along with caimans, river otters, poison dart frogs and capybara. A trip of a lifetime. Read all
Excellent experience overall— really kind and welcoming staff at every point of the journey. All transfers were well organized and smooth. Excellent and educational excursions all around the rainforest. Delicious food for every meal. We had wonderful guides- Freet and Alvaro. Enjoyed our time here! Read all
Unbelievable.... Magical Everything I have dreamed of since I was 8 years old but MORE Read all
We had a surreal experience at Refugio Amazonas. From the well organized transportation to the warm welcome, hospitality and the experience of living in nature - we loved it all. Huge shout out to our guide Boris who went out of his way to ensure we had a good experience and got to watch all kinds of wild life. The meals and cocktails were delicious. And even though this place is smack in the middle of the jungle there was super fast WiFi available. We made unforgettable memories. Read all
We had an amazing time in TRC. From the guide, tours, lounge staff, food and room, everything has exceeded our expectation and like an amazing dream came true. We highly recommend to directly book with the lounge website, so that you got a private guide for your group. Special thanks to our guide Saul, who made this experience extra special! We were so impressed by his knowledge about all the animals and the rainforest. Read all
We had an amazing time in TRC. From the guide, tours, lounge staff, food and room, everything has exceeded our expectation and like an amazing dream came true. This is the only lounge available in Tambopata national park, and this eco lounge takes environment seriously. We highly recommend to directly book with the lounge website, so that you got a private guide for your group. Special thanks to our guide Saul, who made this experience extra special! We were so impressed by his knowledge about all the animals and the rainforest. If you are a natural lover, you can’t miss this place Read all
Excellent and luxurious place, wonderful experience and our guide Boris was first class, he had a unique patience with my 8 year old son. An experience in the tropical rainforest that marks the life of its visitors. In addition to the scientific research that takes place in the place: a whole research center. Rooms: Very comfortable and luxuriou Read all
El mejor hotel para visitar la Amazonia peruana. Hotel eco turístico metido en medio de la selva, equipado para visitar y vivir la selva, su flora y fauna, en todas sus facetas. Todo incluido, con guías preparados y amables, resultó una experiencia increíble para mi familia. Dentro de las opciones no se debe perder el Canopy de 45 metros de altura para observar y escuchar la selva, así como el lago de las tres Chimbadas, lugar único para ver caimanes, nutrias gigantes, monos y aves exóticas. Recomiendo mínimo dos noches!!! Read all
Wunderbare lodge mit freundlichen Menschen. sehr persönliche guides, tolle Tourangebote und super kulinarische Verpflegung ! Wir wurden herzlichst von Caesar empfangen und unser guide JuanJo hat uns phantastische Dinge gezeigt. Wir können die lodge nur wärmstens empfehlen! Read all
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