- Paucartambo Colonial Town
- The Manu Biosphere Reserve
- The Cloud Forest
- The Rain Forest
- Amazon by bike
You wake up early to leave Cusco and begin a winding ascent into the Andes. The road eventually winds down to the town of Paucartambo Colonial Town,. Leaving Paucartambo you begin your ascent through eucalyptus groves, cultivated fields, and remnant patches of native vegetation. Forty minutes from Paucartambo you reach Acjanaco at 3,500 meter atop the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes. *Depending on the level of biking and the acclimation to the altitude the guide will choose all the parts of the road that may be used for the biking.
At this point you have entered the Manu Biosphere Reserve where you are above the clouds gazing below into the lush jungle of the Amazon. From here all the down hill will be made by bike (The car will be behind us if we need to rest)
As you ascent down from Acjanaco, the baron Paramus starts to change to an elfin forest.
Here you will stop for lunch to admire the view. As you descend further into the cloud forest where the tree canopy covered by mist gives life to numerous epiphytes, moss, luscious green ferns and the Kur-Kur (high land bamboo). This area is a natural playground for a vast number of birds. You make your way to an observation post where, with a little luck, you will be able to watch the fascinating dance of Peru’s National bird, the Cock-of-the-Rock and hopefully spot the Woolly monkey.
You arrive at Atalaya Reserve at 6 p.m. where you will spend the night. After a delicious meal you can enjoy the beautiful surroundings before turning in for the evening.
After breakfast, we set off to the fluvial port of Atalaya by bike and continue by bike crossing different rivers until we reach Salvación. We will travel trough the little village to Chaskawasi lodge where we will have lunch. After lunch we will ride our bike for 20 more minutes to Machuwasi ox-bow lake. We will spend the rest of the afternoon in a small catamaran looking for animals at Machuwasi.
Night at Chaskawasi lodge.
Very early in the morning, we'll take the boat to go to a parrot’s clay lick. That morning we will spend most of the time by boat.
Depending on the time we will penetrate to the jungle doing some trekking, we'll observe the difference between two types of forest: primary and secondary. We'll take this opportunity to learn more details about different aspects of the Amazon jungle we'll start our return to the Lodge. Lunch an free afternoon in the Lodge (with the most active members of the group we can continue our walks looking for different mammals or taking short boat rides in nearby places). At dusk, we'll take a night walk trying to surprise some species of nocturnal animals (monkeys, bats, bamboo rats, insects...). Optional nocturnal visit to the oxbow-lake to search for caimans. Night At Chaskawasi lodge.
After breakfast we'll pick up our baggage and prepare for our return boat trip to Atalaya. During the boat ride we'll engage in bird-watching on both river banks. Once in Atalaya, we'll change our boat for a private car and drive to Pilcopata. From Pilcopata, we'll head by bike to the native community of Santa Rosa de Huacaria where we shall delight ourselves in paradisiacal surroundings with the cordiality of the Matsiguenkas and Huachipairis people. Sleep overnight in Atalaya Reserve.
After breakfast, we shall take our last walk through the jungle. Leaving behind the cloudy forest, we'll go for the last part of our trip which takes us back to Cusco, the Inca capital.
*Again we will choose the best conditions and best places to come back to Cusco by bike.