This is being composed a little under two weeks before we leave on a purely recreational trip led by Ian Fraser of Environment Tours in Canberra. As a teaser here is the itinerary for the formal part of the trip as we understand it:
- Monday 28 September: arrive in Lima. Accommodation in comfortable hotel immediately adjacent to airport.
- Tuesday 29 September: morning flight Lima to Cuzco. Transfer from Cuzco to hotel out of town in dramatic and interesting nearby Sacred Valley, at over 2800 metres above sea level in the Andes. These wonderful mountains tower over us for the next few days. Option of short afternoon introductory walk for local birds, plants, culture and history. Hotel accommodation.
- Wednesday 30 September: Sacred Valley. Visit to Inka ruins at Pisac, and tour of Inka town and ruins of Ollantaytambo. Both places will also afford rich natural history pickings, including the first of numerous hummingbirds! Pisac has excellent craft markets, where those who wish may indulge themselves. Accommodation as for last night.
- Thursday 1 October: Sacred Valley to Aguas Calientes. Early departure by train to the fabled Machu Picchu with an option to get off the train early for an all-day 8km walk to Machu Picchu, starting from the valley floor and ascending to the beautiful site of Wiñay Wayna. Much of the walk is through cloud forest with an abundance of birds and orchids, culminating in a memorable first sight of the city of Machu Picchu from the Gate of the Sun, high above it. Those who choose not to do so will take a bus from Aguas Calientes up to Machu Picchu and meet the walkers at the Gate of the Sun. Accommodation in luxury hotel on the edge of Aguas Calientes, set in rainforest gardens alive with hummingbirds and orchids.
- Friday 2 October: Aguas Calientes to Cuzco. Return to Machu Picchu to explore further. Time to enjoy the offerings of our hotel, including birds and orchids. Late afternoon train trip back to Cuzco. Accommodation in comfortable friendly small hotel in old Cuzco.
- Saturday 3 October: around Cuzco. A culturally focussed day; morning tour to the historic Cathedral of Cuzco and then to the Inka Sun Temple, Coricancha. Afternoon tour to Sacsayhuaman Inka site followed by a walk down to the city; this will certainly produce more birds and flowers. Accommodation as for last night.
- Sunday 4 October: Cuzco to Manu Cloud Zone. The beginning of our Manu adventure. Manu is a vast rainforest area east of the Andes, including the mountain slopes and Amazon lowlands. Early start to visit the teeming wetland of Huacarpay lagoon before driving into the eastern Cordillera of the Andes. A spectacular drive into the high puna grasslands, to cross the Andes 4000 metres above sea level. At the summit we enter the Manu Biosphere Reserve and descend into the rich cloud forest to explore this beautiful habitat 3000 metres above sea level. Accommodation in rainforest lodge.
- Monday 5 October: San Pedro area. Early start to see the Cock-of-the-Rock from a viewing platform above the mating display area (lek), one of the most glorious exhibitions in the whole world of nature. Day spent in the cloud forest viewing wildlife; Woolly Monkeys are a good chance here. Accommodation in a rainforest lodge further down the mountain – 1500masl.
- Tuesday 6 October: San Pedro to Atalaya. Continue descending through forest and farmland to the river port of Atalaya, where we board our large, covered, motorised canoes and head down the Alto Madre de Dios River to our riverside lodge. The canoes give excellent opportunities for watching wildlife, including numerous birds and monkeys; Red Howlers, Dusky Titis, Capuchins and Squirrel Monkeys are all present here. (Whenever we are on the river there will be two canoes, travelling close together, with a guide in each.) Accommodation in Amaru Mayu rainforest lodge.
- Wednesday 7 October: Amaru Mayu to Yanayacu Lodge. Optional early morning boat trip to a clay lick (collpa), where many species of parrots, including macaws, visit for mineral and salt supplements to their diet. Later we shall leave to travel further into the forest to another lodge. Here we will have a chance to see nocturnal animals including the huge Amazonian Tapir and the Douroucouli, the world’s only nocturnal monkey. Accommodation in Yanayacu rainforest lodge.
- Thursday 8 October: Yanayacu to Matchigenga Lodge. Another optional early morning visit to a collpa, where many species of parrots and macaws can be seen. After breakfast, we will travel even further downstream, to enter the near-mythical Manu National Park, where few tourists go. We will have lunch in the boat and later in the afternoon arrive at our lodge and meet the local Matsiguenka people. Accommodation in Matchigenga Lodge.
- Friday 9 and Saturday 10 October: Manu National Park. We will spend two full memorable days exploring the park in the vicinity of the lodge. Much of it will be in the boats watching birds and looking for the rare and spectacular Giant Otters, nearly two metres long. However we will also walk in the forest for plants, reptiles, yet more birds, and searching for White-bellied Spider Monkeys and the noisy Whitelipped Peccary. Accommodation as for previous night.
- Sunday 11 October: Matchigenga Lodge to Blanquillo Lodge. An early departure to cruise down the Alto Madre de Dios River past Boca Manu town, a wonderful seven hour voyage to the private Blanquillo Reserve. At sunset we shall take a short walk to the Blanquillo oxbow lake to look for caimans. Accommodation in Blanquillo Lodge.
- Monday 12 October: Blanquillo Lodge to Puerto Maldonado. The end of our Manu experience, but not before another early morning visit by camouflaged catamaran to the largest macaw lick in the area. Later we will continue down river for four hours towards Colorado village, from where we will be driven to Puerto Maldonado, a frontier town of 25,000 people on the confluence of the Tambopata and Madre de Dios rivers. Lodge accommodation.
- Tuesday 13 October: Puerto Maldonado to Lima. After breakfast we will transfer to the airport for our flight to Lima, where our hotel is in Miraflores, a beachside suburb. In the evening we will share a farewell dinner. Hotel accommodation in Miraflores, Lima.
- Wednesday 14 October: Lima to home. Mid-morning transfer to the airport for flights homeward, to continue dreaming and start skiting.
I have created draft pages for each day of the trip so that it will be possible to start reading on Day 1 (24 September) and continue on down to the end (if you have a few hours to spare)! I will populate them with the usual drivel plus photographs as time permits when we return.
