Manu Cultural Zone 5 Days the total immersion in Manu

DAY-BY-DAY PROGRAM

The route, step by step

Each of the 5 days combines route, history and rest. This is the complete program, step by step.

1. DAY 1

   Cusco – Paucartambo – Cloud Forest

   Departure at 5:30 am from Cusco: a full day of Andean journey. Stops at the Ninamarca funerary chullpas and Paucartambo, the town of the Virgen del Carmen, before the Acjanaco viewpoint and checkpoint (3,560 m). From there the road drops through the dwarf forest to the cloud forest (1,500 m): a green tunnel of orchids, bromeliads and waterfalls where the quetzal, the high-altitude toucanet, the woolly monkey and the spectacled bear live. At dusk, courtship display at the cock-of-the-rock lek. Dinner and first night in a cloud forest ecolodge.

   See the full day

   • Acjanaco 3,560 m → Cloud forest 1,500 m
   • Lunch · Dinner
   • Cloud forest lodge

   
2. DAY 2

   Atalaya – Alto Madre de Dios River – Lowland Jungle

   Departure ~6:30 am with a stop at a hummingbird garden before reaching Puerto Atalaya (500 m), the end of the road. We board a motorized boat on the Alto Madre de Dios: kingfishers, herons, white caimans and capybaras on the beaches. Optional bath in the natural hot springs of Aguas Calientes, surrounded by jungle. In the afternoon, a ~1-hour hike inside a private ecological reserve to the lodge. At dusk, a vigil in a camouflaged hide in front of a mammal clay lick: with patience it is possible to see the Amazon tapir, the red brocket deer and the paca eating mineral clay under the moon. Dinner and night in the lowland jungle.

   See the full day

   • Atalaya 500 m
   • Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
   • Lowland jungle lodge

   
3. DAY 3

   Boca Manu – Limonal Post – Manu River – Salvador Lake

   A day of total river immersion. Early we sail ~4 hours downstream on the Alto Madre de Dios to Boca Manu, where the Manu River — laden with sediments — joins the Madre de Dios. We turn upstream and register at the SERNANP Limonal checkpoint: we officially enter the Reserved Zone, one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. The journey itself is a safari: white and black caimans sunbathing, taricaya turtles lined up on logs, jabirus, capybaras on the beaches and, with luck, a jaguar resting on the shore. Arrival at the camp or lodge near Salvador Lake. Reconnaissance walk at dusk, dinner and optional night walk.

   See the full day

   • Lowland jungle 300 m
   • Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
   • Camp or lodge near Salvador Lake

   
4. DAY 4

   Salvador Lake – Macaw Clay Lick

   At dawn we explore the Salvador Lake, the largest oxbow lake in Manu, by rowing catamaran (engines are prohibited): it is the territory of a giant otter family, the rarest carnivore in the Amazon, which fishes at dawn. Black caimans up to 4 meters, hoatzins and agami herons share the lake. After lunch we sail to a macaw clay lick and observe it from an elevated hide: scarlet and red-and-green macaws arrive in pairs and groups until they number dozens of birds covering the clay wall (peak activity in mid-morning). In the afternoon, a long forest walk with optional ascent to a canopy tower. Dinner and last night walk.

   See the full day

   • Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
   • Camp or lodge in the lowland jungle

   
5. DAY 5

   Upstream – Atalaya – Acjanaco – Cusco

   Last Amazonian dawn: breakfast with the howler monkey chorus and upstream navigation on the Alto Madre de Dios to Puerto Atalaya, with an optional stop at the Shintuya hot springs for a farewell bath. The vehicle makes the almost 3,000-meter climb: lowland jungle, cloud forest, dwarf forest and puna, crossing Acjanaco and Paucartambo with lunch on the way. Arrival in Cusco between 17:00 and 18:30 and transfer to the hotel. End of our services.

   See the full day

   • Breakfast · Lunch

   

WHAT'S INCLUDED

Everything you need, no surprises

GALLERY

The tour in pictures

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS