Manu is a rainforest and National Park east of Cuzco. Although it is small, it holds 10% of the bird species in the world, 9 species of monkeys, numerous mammals including the jaguar, two types of crocodiles, and numerous snakes, inlcluding the anaconda. Only 20% of the park is visitable to tourists, and the remaining are not open to anyone, except scientists with special permits. In these areas, native tribes still exist.

We drove the 11 hours from Cuzco to the entrance to the rainforest, descending 11,000 feet along the way. We went through alpine scrub, down to cloud forest, down to rainforest. We saw Inca tombs along the way, as well as stopping in a few villages. The first night was spent at a very simple lodge at the edge of the park.

The next day we drove further through the forest, and came across a fer de lance snake on the road. Its the 3rd most poisonous snake in South America. We eventually reached river level, and the rest of our trip would be by boat and foot. The jungle certainly looked dense, and this looked like the type of place where all this wildlife would be.

We headed down the river, and stayed the night at a simple lodge in the jungle, where we could easily hear all the sounds of the night and morning...primarily the whooping of the howler monkeys which are the loudest animal in the world. You can hear them from up to 4 1/2 miles away.

The following morning we got up very early to take a floating trip to the macaw licks, where hundreds of parrots and macaws come to feed on the salt deposits in the clay each morning. We were actually in a thatch covered boat that floated very slowly, so as not to disturb them at all. We looked through small openings. Watching was fascinating. Slowly, and then quickly, hundreds of parrots, of probably 4 different types came down to the licks. Parrots make a lot of noise by the way. They congregated at the licks for about 1 hour, feeding away. Every once in a while something would scare them, and they would all fly away, only to slowly return a few minutes later when things seemed safe. All the while that this was going on, we would see pairs of macaws arrive and rest in the trees above. First there were just a few. But after a while there were dozens. It was as if they were showing up for a party, and most of them appeared in pairs, like couples. Very slowly and carefully, they made their way down to the licks. At this point the parrots left, and the macaws slowly started feeding. But they were very deliberate with the way they came down. Nothing sudden. Eventually they were all feeding, and we counted over 70 of them. We stayed and watched this for about 2 hours total, and then left them on their own. That night we spent camping at the Ranger station.

The following three days were spent taking boat rides, and hiking through the jungle. We camped at a great camp spot in the forest, but near the river. We saw white caimans (similar to a small crocodile) everywhere along the river, though the much larger black caiman eluded us. We specifically went rafting on a lake to see the giant river otter, which are barely visible in this photo. They were 6 of them, and they were very entertaining, as they were fishing and then fighting over those fish. The giant otter is extremely endangered and this is one of the only places to see them. We also found on the shore capybara as well as red howler monkeys, who were very shy. On one of the walks through the jungle, we encountered the common wooly monkey right directly above us. They were very curious and came lower as we approached, making a racket. Our guide said that if we stayed too long, they would start throwing branches at us, and possible try and pee on us, so we took a few pics and kept moving.

We also took night walks, which were spooky as hell. The rainforest is a scary place to begin with, and then to go at night is sort of crazy. We found the 2nd most poisonous snake in South America, the coral snake on a tree next to the path. We also found a scorpion spider. Can you get a more ominous name than that? Interestingly, despite its looks and name, completely harmless.

On the last day, we stopped at the only village in the forest, where we were greeted by Fernandito. This village is almost entirely devoted to making boats, as well as catering a little to the tourists who come through. We were catching a flight back from the Manu "airport" in the middle of the forest. It was a small 6 seater, and from the time that it landed to the time that we boarded and took off was no more than 10 minutes. Got a great view of the expansive rainforest underneath us as we flew back to Cuzco.

I tried to keep track of the wildlife that we saw, though by no means did I capture everything. Its impossible to take photos of most of this stuff unless you have very expensive camera gear, so I have pictures of almost none of it.

Birds

Cock of the rock, Golden Quetzal, Parrots, Swifts, Mountain Caracara, Road-side Hawk, Venezuelan Flycatcher, Paradise Tanager, Plumbeous kite, Ovependola, Tiger Heron, Black Hawk, Snowy Egret, Kingfisher, Osprey, Horned Squeeler, Swallow, Blue and Yellow Macaw, Scarlet Macaw, White Necked Heron, Black Caracara, Razor Billed Curassow, Red and Green Macaw, Orange Cheeked Parrot, Blue Headed Parrot, Meely Parrot, Jabiru, Caped Heron, Black Skinner, Great Egret, Moscovy Duck, Large Billed Tern, Lapwing, Sand Colored Nighthawk, Orinoco Goose, Neotropical Cormorant, Water Jacana, Hoatzin, Limpkin, Tinamoo, Common Piping Guan, Smooth Annie, Trogan, Chestnut Fronted Macaw, Snake Bird, Toucan

Mammals

Brown Capuchin Monkey, River Otter, Giant Otter, Capybara, Heath Tailed Bats, Red Howler Monkey, South American Red Squirrel, Common Wooly Monkey, Black Spider Monkey, White Faced Capuchin Monkey

Reptiles and Insects

Vine Snake, Coral Snake, Fer De Lance, White Caiman, Sideneck Turtle, Tree Frog, Iguana, Scorpion Spider, LOTS of other spiders

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