Peru Amazon Headwaters Expedition

Cusco · Peru

Extreme12 daysSouth America~£2,000 est.

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Overview

The journey into Manu is a descent through every layer of life on Earth. You leave Cusco across 3,500-metre puna, drop into cloud forest where Andean cocks-of-the-rock display at dawn leks, and keep descending until the road ends and the Madre de Dios drainage takes over. From Atalaya, motorised canoes carry you downriver into the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, a forest that records more bird species than the whole of North America. Days settle into river rhythm: macaw clay licks at first light, giant otter families hunting the oxbow lakes, tapir at mineral springs after dark, and always the outside chance of a jaguar stretched along a beached log. This is expedition travel rather than a lodge holiday: entry to the reserved zone is by licensed operator only, and you sleep in simple platform camps. The dry season, May to September, is the variable that matters - wet-season river levels drown the beaches and clay licks, and the road from Cusco slips. Twelve days runs about £2,000 with permits, boats, guides and full board. Yellow fever vaccination and malaria prophylaxis are essential, binoculars non-negotiable, and there is no phone signal for a week, which turns out to be the best part.