Manu National Park

One of the most pristine and beautiful places on Earth, largely inaccessible and uncorrupted, the Manú National Park boasts an extraordinary plant and animal biodiversity. So much, UNESCO has successively recognised it as a Reserve of Biosphere (1977) and a World Heritage Site (1987).

It extends for almost 1.7 million hectares, embracing an amazing topographical range (from 200 to 4,300 meters above sea level) that encompass many different ecological zones: from the cloud forests and alpine grasslands of the Andes to the rainforests and humid sub-tropical forests. The Park covers the entire watershed of the Manu River and spreads between the departments of Madre de Dios and Cusco, in Southern Peru.

The Manu National Park is probably the most biologically rich region of the Amazon Rainforest. More than 15,000 plant species grow in Manu, and as much as 250 varieties of trees have been found in a single hectare. Animal biodiversity is equally impressive: some 1,000 bird, 200 mammal, and 100 reptile species find shelter within its borders.

Black caimans, woolly monkeys, harpy eagles, Andean cock-of-the-rocks, giant otters, jaguars, and anteaters are some of the most intriguing and beautiful that inhabit the park's habitats.

The Manu National Park is located some 300km from the city of Cusco and forms, together with the adjacent area known as the Cultural Zone, the Manu Biosphere Reserve. Although neither tourism nor tourist lodges are allowed in the park itself, visitors can stay in authorized lodges in the Cultural Zone, where several wildlife reserves, lodges and camps are open to the public.

Visits to the Manu can be organized through specialized tour operators.

Back to Amazon Rainforest