Peru is one of the top birding destinations in the world, you can find about 20% of the total species of the world, birding in Peru is wonderfull and Manu is the crown jewel of Peru’s birding areas, biodiversity is unique, nowhere else in the Andes is there an easily accessible road that travels through pristine cloud forest from the treeline down to the lowlands! And at the bottom of the road, there is an excellent selection of rainforest lodges where you can comfortably bird one of the biodiverse habitats in the world, you will have the chance not only bird watching but also to see the fabulous endangered wildlife of the tropical rainforest.
Manu Complete - Central Endemic & Pelagic Trip - 25 days
Even with the best birding in Peru – Manu, some of our customers want to visit some additional areas where they can find some other endemic birds, at the same time, if you visit Peru depending of the season you have good chance to see some sea birds that’s why we decided to combine our traditional Manu tour with coastal – pelagic boat trips, and dry intermontane Andean valley’s tour to see more birds. having good chance for bird photography enjoying the nature and Culture, all together in one single tour.
Day 1. ARRIVING TO LIMA – PERU.
The participants will be picking up at International Jorge Chavez Airport, Lima – Peru, transfer service will be waiting you to bring you to your hotel, which is located in Miraflores, to take a rest to be ready for the next day.
Night: Lima.
Day 2: SANTA EULALIA VALLEY.
The spectacular scenery of the Santa Eulalia Valley provides an appropriate backdrop for tracking down a number of rare endemic birds. Our primary targets are the extremely localized Rufous-breasted Warbling-Finch and Great Inca-Finch; while looking for them we’re likely to encounter other goodies like Bronze-tailed Comet, Black Metaltail, and Rusty-crowned Tit-Spinetail, Black-necked Woodpecker, Rusty-bellied Brush-Finch – all Peruvian endemics. More common species we may encounter through the day include Canyon Canastero, Giant Hummingbird, Peruvian Sheartail, White-capped Dipper, White-winged Cinclodes, Andean Swift, Torrent Duck, White-tipped Dove, Sparkling Violetear, Peruvian Sheartail, Purple-collared Woodstar, Pied-crested Tit-Tyrant, White-browed Chat-Tyrant, White-capped Dipper, Chiguanco Thrush, Cinereous Conebill, Blue-capped Tanager, Blue-and-Yellow Tanager, Mourning Sierra-Finch, Band-tailed Seedeater, Golden-bellied Grosbeak, Scrub Blackbird and Andean tinamou sometimes cross the road, around midmorning Andean Condor can impress us flying by in front of our eyes.
Night: Santa Eulalia. B:L:D.
Day 3: MILLOC MARCAPOMACOCHAS.
This is one of the most exciting birding days in Peru, in spite of a relatively low total species count due to the high elevation – almost every bird we’ll see is a specialty! We’ll start by scouring a patch of Polylepis forest for the rare White-cheeked Cotinga. Other birds here include Stripe-headed Antpitta and Striated Earthcreeper. Giant Conebill, We’ll then move up the Milloc Valley, ticking off puna birds on the way: Black Siskin and Bright-rumped Yellow-Finch are common, while we’ll concentrate on finding Black-breasted Hillstar and a variety of canasteros (including the endemic Junin Canastero) and ground-tyrants (including the rare migrant Black-fronted Ground-Tyrant). In the afternoon we’ll bird the famous Marcapomacocha area where we will hope for a plethora of special birds, including the enigmatic Diademed Sandpiper-Plover, the stunning White-bellied Cinclodes, and the incongruous Olivaceous Thornbill. Additionally we can get streak-Throated Canastero, Common Miner, Slender-billed Miner, white-winged Diuca-Finch, Gray-Breasted Seedsnipe, and with luck rarities like Puna Tinamou, Rufous-Bellied Seedsnipe and Dark-Winged Miner, We’ll return to paved roads in the late afternoon, after a tiring but very rewarding day of birding and bumping along dirt roads, we drive to La Oroya to spend a night.
Night: La Oroya. B:L:D.
Day 4: JUNIN LAKE.
We’ll do whatever present conditions require to find the Critically Endangered Junin Grebe this morning. Currently we plan to take a small motor boat out into the deeper parts of Lake Junin to ensure good views of this hard-to-identify bird. Our second main target is Junin Rail ( Laterallus tuerosi), this species is recently described, known from a very small area of marshland around Junin lake, where habitat quality is declining There are many other interesting birds at Lake Junin, including Puna Plover and Andean avocet (seasonal), and a variety of waterfowl, Plumbeous Rail, Silvery Grebe, White-tufted Grebe, Cinnamon, Puna, Yellow-Billed Teals , Andean Negrito, Slate-colored and Giant Coot, Chilean Flamingos are sometimes present. We’ll drive back to Lima in the afternoon.
Night: Lima. B:L:D.
Day 5: PELAGIC BIRDING / COASTAL BIRDING.
We pick you up from your hotel to take a boat for our birding pelagic trip, priority is to see sea bird we spend most of day birding in the ocean, attracting seabirds we use Chumming: We make a gue of rotten fish entrails and old fish left-overs, oil mixed with pop-corn. this smells horrible, all the seabirds have acute sense of smell. When chumming the boat suddenly gets surrounded by Storm Petrels some albatross and several different species of sea birds: Peruvian Diving-Petrel, Sooty Shearwater, Cape Petrel, Markham´s, White-vented, Wilson´s and Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels. Chilean and South Polar Skuas, Waved, Gray-headed, and Salvin’s Albatross and more birds depending of the season, Pelagic trip usually brings a sea sickness, if you had bad experience you can think about following alternative.
Night: Lima. B:L:D.
Day 6: FLIGHT TO CUSCO – DRY INTERMONTANE VALLEY.
Early morning transfer to the airport, flight to Cusco, arriving here we cross the town, and drive to north west, along the way we stop in the first andean lake, Here we will look for some missing specie of high Andean wetland and some prey birds American Kestrel, Aplomado Falcon, Cinereous Harrier, Variable Hawk and Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle depending on the season, migrant boreal or austral shorebirds (waders) may be present.
we keep driving toward Limatambo area, dry intermontane valley with some localizes species: Pale-tailed Canastero, White-eared Puffbird, taczanowski’s Tinamou.
night birding can give us some good rewards: Koepcke’s Screech-owl (Peruvian endemic) and rare and Local Buff-fronted Owl, next to Great-horned Owl.
Night: Mollepata. B:L:D.
Day 7: MOLLEPATA AREA.
we spend most of the day in Mollepata valley a recently birding spot found in our birding explorations,here are present Apurimac specialties where we are going to look for Apurimac endemic, before to find this place people had to go until Abancay area 5 Hours hours driving about from Cusco. just few people has the opportunity to visit the area, targets are Apurimac Spinetail, Apurimac Brush-Finch, Pale-Tailed Canastero, Vilcabamba Tapaculo, chestnut-Breasted Mountain-Finch, Creamy-Crested Spinetail, White-Tufted sunbeam, Rusty-Fronted Canastero all of them endemic species additionally we’ll get Black-Tailed Trainbearer, Mountain Velvetbreast, Red-Crested cotinga, Tit-Like Dacnis, Crimson-Mantled woodpecker, in the afternoon we drive to Ollantaytambo where we have a garden birding, Bearded Mountaineer, Green and White Hummingbird (endemics) will be our target.
Night: Ollantaytambo. B:L:D.
Day 8: ABRA MÁLAGA – HUMID FOREST.
Abra Malaga is Highly rich in endemic species, we’ll make an early today we drive over the pass, where we will see a complete different habitat: the upper cloud forest starting at a large patch of Chusquea bamboo We’ll hope especially to encounter some good mixed flocks which could contain Parodi’s Hemispingus(rare in the area), Unstreaked Tit-Tyrant, Cusco Brush-Finch, Marcapata Spinetail Inca wren (Peruvian endemic Birds) Puna Thistletail, White-browed Conebill, White-throated and White-banded and Tawny-rumped Tyrannulet, Three-stripe Hemispingus and Black-capped / white Browed Hemispingus, Plush-capped Finch (or Plushcap) and many others. Undulated and Rufous Antpittas are frequently heard calling but are very hard to see, as are Diademed and Trilling Tapaculos. Hummingbirds to look for include Amethyst-throated Sunangel, Saphire-vented Puffleg, Scaled Metaltail and Sword-billed Hummingbird. the restricted-range Pale-footed Swallow, Chestnut-bellied Mountain-Tanager, Blue-Capped Tanager, Scarlet-Bellied Mountain-Tanager, and other Tanagers On the way back we look for Junin canastero Cream-Winged and White-winged Cinclodes, and some andean Species.
Night: Ollantaytambo. B:L:D.
Day 9: ABRA MALAGA POLYLEPIS FOREST.
We’ll drive until the Pass from where we hike up to the Polylepis forest to explore this unique habitat. The three best birds to be found here are Royal Cinclodes, Ash-breasted Tit-Tyrant and White-browed Tit-Spinetail. While these, especially the highly sought-after cinclodes, are sometime elusive, there are many other Possibilities include Line-fronted Canastero, Streak-Throated Canastero, Tawny Tit-Spinetail, Puna Tapaculo, Blue-mantled Thornbill and Giant Conebill. Stripe-headed Antpitta, Andean Flicker on the valley floor we’ll check a variety of Ground-tyrants, Sierra-Finchs and Seed Eaters In the afternoon we’ll drive to Cusco.
Regular to Good physical conditions are needed, and if you want to avoid this hike we can drop you at the train station a day before, so you can enjoy the amazing Machupicchu, in the evening we can meet in our hotel in Cusco please see our bird tour extension, see our itinerary for more details.
Night: Cusco. B:L:D.
Day 10: To UPPER MANU ROAD.
We’ll spend the morning birding at Huacarpay Lake , looking for wetland species like Many-coloured Rush-Tyrant and Plumbeous Rail and searching the adjacent scrub for Rusty-fronted Canastero, Streak-fronted Thornbird and a variety of others. We’ll then make the drive through the dry Andes towards Manu, hoping to find three endemics en route: Chestnut-breasted Mountain-Finch, Bearded Mountaineer, and Creamy-crested Spinetail. In the afternoon we’ll have our first crack at the humid forest, hoping for treeline specialties like Golden-collared Tanager, Moustached Flowerpiercer, and – with lots of luck – the rare Scribble-tailed Canastero.”
Late in the day, we will have our first chance for one of the enigmatic and endemic red-and-white Antpitta.
We spend the night in the humid montane forest, enjoying the stars with the opportunity to look for some nocturnal birds located in this area: Yungas Pygmy-Owl, Rufous-banded Owl, Swallow-tailed Nightjar.
Night: Wayquecha Lodge. B:L:D
Day 11: MIDDLE MANU ROAD.
After a morning around Wayqecha, looking for more high-elevation species like Grey-breasted Mountain-Toucan, Red-and-white Antpitta, Puna Thistletail, Marcapata Spinetail, Rufous-capped Thornbill, and many others, we’ll work our way down the Manu Road, birding the most productive areas. Possibilities are nearly endless, from relatively common specialties like Blue-banded Toucanet and Handsome Flycatcher to mega-rarities like Greater Scythebill and Andean Potoo. We should encounter some good flocks that could include a variety of tanagers as well as Versicolored Barbet, Striped Treehunter, Inca Flycatcher, and even Band-tailed Fruiteater if we’re lucky. In the not-so-rare but difficult category are Hazel-fronted Pygmy-Tyrant, Unadorned Flycatcher, and White-throated Antpitta… sound like enough to keep us busy for the day?.
We will spend the night in cloud forest in more temperate environment at 1400 meters of height less than the previous night (4593,176 ft,) in the ideal habitat for the Cock of the rock.
Night: Cock of the Rock Lodge. B:L:D.
Day 12 – 13: MANU – CLOUD FOREST.
We’ll have 2 full days around Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge – this is tanager paradise! Depending what birds we need, we’ll visit elevations from 800 m. – up to 2500 m.( 2624,67 ft. – 8202,1 ft.). We can expect at least a couple great mixed flocks during our stay which could include Golden-eared (uncommon), Golden-naped, Black-goggled, Orange-Eared, Fawn-breasted, Yellow-throated, Spotted, Paradise, Golden, Bay-headed, and Black-goggled Tanagers, Golden-olive Woodpecker, Olive-backed Woodcreeper, Montane Foliage-gleaner, Grey-mantled Wren, Streak-necked, Slaty-capped and Lemon-browed Flycatchers, the restricted-range Bolivian Tyrannulet, Marble-faced Bristle-Tyrant, Tropical Parula, Russet-crowned and Three-striped Warblers, Slate-throated Whitestart, Golden-eyed (or Deep-blue) and Bluish Flower-piercers, Blue-naped Chlorophonia, the restricted-range Slaty Tanager, Yellow-throated and Common Bush-Tanagers, Black-faced (or Dark-faced) Brush-Finch (split from Rufous-naped). There is even an undescribed tanager species known from this location ( «Bamboo Tanager» – «San Pedro Tanager» ), although it appears to be very rare, Yellow-rumped and Yellow-breasted Antwren, Ash-browed Spinetail, and many, many more. Away from flocks we’ll search for Crested and Golden-Headed Quetzal, Andean and White-eared Solitaires, Amazonian Umbrellabird, and Solitary and Black-and-chestnut Eagles, rare and Difficult to detect Black-Streaked Puffbird.
The lodge gardens are visited by Many-spotted Hummingbird, Violet-fronted Brilliant, Booted Racket-Tail, and others, sometimes including Wire-crested Thorntail and the rare Buff-Tailed Sicklebill and of course Andean Cock-of-the-Rocks are frequently seen in the area – if all else fails, we can visit a lek!
Behind the garden there is a trail system where we can look for Chestnut-breasted Wren, Scaled Antpitta, Rufous-breasted and Short-tailed Antthrush’s, Slaty Gnateater and the endemic Cerulean-capped Manakin (very rare). Night birding is usually slow, but we should see Lyre-tailed Nightjar, Band-Bellied Owl and Rufescent Screech-Owl is also a possibility.
Night: Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge. B:L:D.
Day 14: LOWER MANU ROAD.
This day we’ll be focused on the lower part of the Manu Road where we’ll try for some very difficult endemics: Black-backed Tody-Flycatcher, Cerulean-capped Manakin, Peruvian Piedtail, and even an beautiful but undescribed tanager species known from this location ( «Bamboo Tanager» – «San Pedro Tanager» ), although it appears to be very rare, species of tanager are possible – feeling lucky? There are lots of others to hope for too, including Lanceolated Monklet, Two-banded Warbler, Chestnut-backed Antshrike, Stripe-chested Antwren, Versicolored Barbet, Golden-collared Honeycreeper, Fulvous-breasted Flatbill, Cinnamon-faced Tyrannulet, Ornate and Lemon-browed Flycatcher, Cabanis’s Spinetail.and many more birds Around mid-day we’ll have a quick look for some open country birds.
we’ll arrive in the afternoon for a short walk around Villa Carmen lodge (biological station recently working in tourism 500m – 1640,42ft ), this area will provide different selection of trails with special habitats in the southeast of South America «Bambo» where many specialties are restricted to this type of habitat and make bird watching so special around Manu National Park.
we have a night birding with some great night birds: Stripe, Black-banded and Spectacled Owl are some goodies that we can get, including Tawny-Bellied Screech-Owl (Garden guy)
Night: Villa Carmen Lodge. B:L:D.
Day 15: AMAZON FOOTHILL.
The bamboo forest offers a great selection of birds restricted to this habitat so we will be birding full morning looking for all possible specialties.
Some of our bamboo targets are the wonderful White-cheeked Tody-Flycatcher, Manu, Striated, Goeldi’s, and White-lined Antbirds, Ihering’s Antwren, Bamboo Antshrike, Large-headed and Dusky-tailed Flatbills, Flammulated Tody-Tyrant, Rufous-capped Nunlet, and Brown-rumped and Dusky-cheeked Foliage-gleaners, Red-billed Scythebill, Dot-winged Antwren, Ornate Antwren and Rufous-breasted Piculet If we’re very lucky, we may also get Rufous-headed Woodpecker and Peruvian Recurvebill, but these are usually difficult and rare species, Fine-barred Piculet is one of the local endemic specie found in the area usually around the lodge, Including lowland hummingbirds as well as we can find some mammals – Monkeys, after lunch we leave the lodge, we have some birding on the way Yellow-billed Nunbird and Plain softail are our target before taking a short boat ride to Amazonia Lodge 10 minutes down stream from Atalaya Port.
Scanning from the boat we’ll catch Fasciated Tiger-heron, Garden is wonderful, where we could find Rufous-crested Coquette, Gould’s Jewelfront, and Sapphire-spangled Emerald, Violet-headed Hummingbird, Blue-tailed Emerald, Koepcke’s Hermit (endemic species) rare visitor among a variety of other hummingbirds. A short afternoon walk will get us our first Hoatzin for the trip, Amazonian Antpitta, Black-capped & Cinereous Tinamou, Blue-throated Piping-Guan, Fiery-capped, Band-tailed and Round-tailed Manakins, Bluish fronted Jacamar, Chestnut-capped Puffbird, Spot-backed Antbird, and rare and local threatened Razor-billed Curassow are possible. In the evening, we have a good chance of seeing Tawny-bellied Screech-Owl, but the local Black-banded Owl – though we usually hear it – is much more difficult!
Night: Amazonia Lodge. B:L.D.»
Day 16: AMAZONIA LODGE TO PANTIACOLLA LODGE.
We’ll spend most of the day at Amazonia Lodge, first heading into the hill forest for the most difficult forest birding of the trip. Rewards are there to be found though; flocks typically include Half-collared Gnatwren, Spectacled Bristle-Tyrant, Carmiol’s Tanager, Cuzco Warbler, Yellow-browed Tody-flycatcher, and Rufous-tailed Antwren; with lots of luck we may also find Foothill Antwren, Brownish-headed Antbird or even Sapphire Quail-Dove or Grey Tinamou – now it’s really getting tough! We’ll also visit a White-browed Hermit lek, while other possibilities include Black and Spot-backed Antbirds, Ringed Antpipit, and Round-tailed Manakin. After a mid-morning walk we scan around the lodge (check for soaring raptors and swifts!), we’ll try the floodplain forest for Slender-billed Xenops, Fine-barred Piculet, Black-faced Antthrush, Amazonian Antpitta, Dark-breasted Spinetail,Speckled Spinetail Red-billed Tyrannulet, Black-banded Woodcreeper after lunch we’ll catch a boat down the river for 2 hours about, We’ll start our river bird list too; we should find Fasciated Tiger-Herons among the more common species, depending of the season, Boreal and Austral migrants are present (waders), as well as some different raptors. We’ll have time for an afternoon walk at Pantiacolla; most likely we’ll head for the river edge forest to look for the beautiful Scarlet-hooded Barbet among others. Later we’ll wait on the beach for dusk to fall, watching various parrots and macaws flying over and then hoping for Sand-coloured Nighthawks and Ladder-tailed Nightjar.
Night: Pantiacolla Lodge. B:LD.
Day 17: PANTIACOLLA LODGE.
Pantiacolla Lodge has some of the best bamboo birding in the area; this will be the main focus of this day, though we will explore other habitats too. Some of our bamboo targets are the wonderful White-cheeked Tody-Flycatcher, Manu, Striated, Goeldi’s, and White-lined Antbirds, Ihering’s Antwren, Bamboo Antshrike, Large-headed and Dusky-tailed Flatbills, Rufous-capped Nunlet, and Brown-rumped and Dusky-cheeked Foliage-gleaners. If we’re very lucky, we may also get Rufous-headed Woodpecker and Peruvian Recurvebill, but these are usually difficult. Outside the bamboo we can expect good activity too; we may add Rusty-belted Tapaculo, Red-necked Woodpecker, and Striolated Puffbird, Golden-collared Toucanet, Great Jacamar to our list. And of course this is an amazing place for antbirds – we should build up a good list.
Pantiacolla usually produces some really great rarity too, but it’s dangerous to predict what it will be – on past tours we’ve sometimes found Long-tailed Potoo, Striated Antthrush, Banded Antbird, or Amazonian Scrub-Flycatcher. Who knows what we might turn up!
Besides our main target birdwatching we have a great forest with lots of wildlife: monkeys 6 types at least, white-lipped Peccary Jaguar and many other surprises, around Pantiacolla Lodge there is small Macaw clay lick, here is the unique chance to see the endangered Blue-Headed Macaw and some others.
Night: Pantiacolla Lodge. B:L:D.
Day 18: TO MANU NATIONAL PARK.
We spend the best hours in the bamboo forest looking our targets species. then we take a boat toward Manu National Park, Most of the birding tours don’t visit this area, we’ll visit Casa matsiguenka, this lodge is managed by local community all the staff are coming from Tayacome and Yomibato Matsiguenka community
Manu National park has incredible biodiversity in the world, this place can offer to show us innumerable quantity of birds and mammals, even with the really small chance, here we have the best opportunity to see the wildlife like the mythical tropical rainforest predator «Jaguar», Black and White Caimans, and several species of monkeys.
Enjoying Nature, wildlife and bird photography you have the best chance from the boat, along the river, we can see Orinoco Goose, Sand-colour Nighthawk, Horned Screamer, Wood Stork, Jabiru, with good luck Razor-Billed Curassow, some common birds along the river bank are Black scrimmer, Yellow-billed and Large-billed Terns, Pied Lapwing, Collared Plover, Cocoi and Capped Heron, Amazon, Green and Ringed Kingfisher, some raptors flying over are possible including the mystery rare Harpy Eagle.
Night: Casa Matsiguenka. B:L:D.
Day 19: MANU – COCHA SALVADOR.
This day our main target is Black-Faced Cotinga, recently described species, today we are going to Visit the Salvador lake we use a Catamaran from where we can get a variety of great birds , Amazonian Streaked-Antwren, Silvered and Band-Tailed Antbird, Long-Billed Woodcreeper, Green Ibis, Limpkin, Grey-Necked Wood-Rail, Sungrebe, Least Grebe, Macaws flying by,
Some mammals are present in the area Black-Spider, Red- Howler, Brown-Capuchin Monkeys and many more.
A big reward for mammals lover are a family of endangered Giant otters, they are part of the fabulous wildlife of the area, in the trails we can get our first lowland understory flock, some other goodies are black-Faced and Rufous-Capped Antthrush, Rusty-belted Tapaculo, Undulated Tinamou, Ringed Antpipit, and Pale-Winged Trumpeter.
Night: Casa Matsiguenka. B:L:D.
Day 20: TO MANU WILDLIFE CENTER.
Today before to leave Casa Matsiguenka we are to look for some of our missing target species, we’ll sail down stream, we have a second chance for the big predator Jaguar, in the afternoon we’ll explore the trail system and the canopy tower in manu Wildlife center depending of the time we can visit the Tapir clay lick where we can see some special birds like Rock Parakeet, Rose-Fronted Parakeet and ofcourse one of the biggest mammals of the tropical rainforest Brazilian Tapir in the evening we have chance for Silky-tailed Nightjar, Ocellated Poorwill, Crested-Owl.
Night: Manu Wildlife Center. B.L:D.
Day 21 – 22: MANU WILDLIFE CENTER.- LOWLAND FOREST.
We’ll have two busy days at and around Manu Wildlife Center / Amazon Manu Lodge. The terra firme forest here is excellent, with seemingly endless diversity; some targets include Rufous-capped Antthrush, Semicollared Puffbird, Banded Antbird, Ash-throated Gnateater,Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, White-bellied Tody-tyrant, Royal Flycatcher, Musician Wren and Pavonine Quetzal in addition to a great variety of foliage-gleaners and of course antbirds and flycatchers. The canopy tower is excellent, usually producing at least one good flock during our stay :this can include Chestnut-shouldered and Sclater’s Antwren, Lemon-chested Greenlet, Black-capped Becard, Rufous-tailed Xenops, Grey Elaenia, Lineated Woodcreeper, and of course lots of others. Most of the time the flock is not nearby, so we’ll also watch for Spangled Cotinga, White-throated and Channel-billed Toucans, Ivory-billed and Curl-crested Aracaris, Plumbeous Kite, the noisy Red-throated Caracara, Bat Falcon, Sungrebe, Grey-necked Wood-Rail, , Black-tailed, Blue-crowned, Amazonian and Collared Trogons, and raptors. The ultimate prize here is Red-billed Pied Tanager, which although not common, is a good possibility. An oxbow lake within walking distance of the lodge gives us a chance for Black-billed Seed-Finch and Pale-eyed Blackbird, while White-chinned Sapphire and Sunbittern are the most popular garden birds. First day we’ll be concentrated in the trail system, The second day trip is a relaxing a productive afternoon at an oxbow lake; birding from a catamaran we’ll search for Black-collared Hawk, Sungrebe, Purus Jacamar, Green-and-rufous Kingfisher, Muscovy Duck, and of course the impressive Horned Screamer. This is also another good chance for the rare Giant Otter.
Night: Manu Wildlife Center. B:L:D.
Day 23: TO CHUNCHO LODGE.
On our final morning at MWC, we may try to pin down some stubborn missing species, or visit a nearby trail where the rare Rufous-fronted Antthrush occurs; it can be hard to see, of course! We’ll then travel downstream by boat, we will take a boat down stream for 2 hours about (depending water level) until Boca colorado village, here you will say goodbye our boat crew members, in Boca Colorado we will take ground transport (Taxi) for one hour about, to get Puerto Carlos in this place we are going to take another boat just cross the Inambari River for 10 – 15 minutes.
From here we will take another ground transport to Chuncho Lodge, if time allows we may make some birding stops and short walk around the lodge.
Night: Chuncho Lodge. B:L:D.
Day 24: CHUNCHO MACAW CLAY LICK.
Early in the morning we sail upstream on Tambopata river, after 1.5 hours about boat ride we get the biggest Macaw clay lick in the world, where you can see the three big ARAS together, eating the clay Red-and-Green, Blue-and-Yellow, and Scarlet Macaw and of course some other nice birds, along the river we have another chance for the enigmatic jaguar and some other wildlife: Capybara biggest rodent, monkeys and more.
Late in the day we enjoy the trails looking for some missing species of the lowlands.
Night: Chuncho Lodge. B:L:D.
Day 25: FLIGHT BACK HOME / LIMA.
We leave the lodge after breakfast, there are various flight alternatives for leaving Puerto Maldonado; we usually go for a mid-day option to allow for a morning of birding. This can be productive, especially for the localized White-throated Jacamar; other possibilities include Green Ibis, Southern Caracara, Red-breasted Blackbird, Brazilian Teal, Purus Jacamar, Dull-capped Attila and a variety of other open country birds including seedeaters and raptors. The tour will conclude with our flight back to Lima (or Cusco).» or you can connect one of our bird tour extensión see our itineraries.
B: and snack.
What to Bring:
- Please do not bring too much luggage. For domestic flights you can hold 23 kg. ( 50.7063 lbs.) and 8 kg. (17.637 lbs.) in hand luggage. Extra costs run by yourselves.
- Lightweight comfortable clothing is recommended, i.e. standard field pants and shirts for the entire trip, some jacket for cold places is enough.
- At Ollantaytambo, Cock-of.the-rock Lodge, Villa Carmen and Manu Wildlife Center laundry can be done.
- Sunblock and hat or cap.
- Mosquito or insect repellent.
- An umbrella and rain poncho.
- Rubber boots / gumboots specially for Amazonian Tropical Rainforest area.
- Small flashlight for owling – I will have a strong owling light (guide).
- You will need a fleece or other light jacket This is noted for the high elevations. We will be in all kinds of weather, but no special clothing is necessary. If you are a person that gets cold easily – perhaps a little more clothing, like a warm hat or light-weight gloves would be in order, like heavy winter type coat/jacket.
- Please using camouflaged clothing would be ok not really any military clothing avoid the second.
- Shower thongs / rubber flip flops will be useful.
Recommendation:
- Binoculars.
- Extra Batteries.
- Camera (Optional).
- Telescope (Optional).
General:
- Birding will primarily be on forested roads and some trails – difficulty is easy to moderate level.
- We will be moving between 0 – 4700 meters, asl (15419.95 feet). Mostly between 3000 to 400 meters.
- We will experience all kinds of weather, but no special clothing is necessary.
- We will have electric power at all our destinations. There are sockets inside all rooms with 220 volt electricity.
- Please note be sure and bring extra batteries as electricity may sometimes go out in sites like Cock of the Rock lodge in Manu Road, (in these places sometimes they have to use electricity generator 6 – 9 pm).
Medical and Health Information:
High altitude information you may find useful. Arriving in Lima is not a problem because is basically sea level, them gradually we will go to the andes, the highest point during the tour is 4700 meters, at hgte higher elevation will be moving slowly just roadside birding a physical effort its minimal, Adjusting to higher altitude is a very individual thing.
Some may feel no effects at all, some may have minor effects, and others may experience great difficulty.
You may feel the lack of oxygen, and will easily get «out of breath» for the first two or three days, so take it easy. You may feel a little nauseous, have a headache, or tire easily.. You will acclimatize to it by producing more red blood cells, so you should make sure you stay well hydrated, as the extra cells thicken your blood.
Drink lots of water, while avoiding alcohol or caffeine. Dehydration can make any effects of altitude worse. Try to avoid overeating the first day.
Please keep in mind our birding tour will be over a wide range of altitudes – and we will be acclimatizing as we move through the different habitats.
By the time we reach the very high altitude of the Paramo we should be adjusted to the altitude. We will be taking our time, birding slowly, and enjoying ourselves. That being said, your safety and well-being is of first importance above all else.
Therefore, I will be making frequent checks to make sure everyone is feeling well. If someone in the group isn’t feeling well our driver will be ready to take the person or the group to lower altitude very quickly.
There are medications available for altitude sickness. Please check with your doctor. For the headache, you can take an over-the-counter medicine, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), or naproxen (Aleve).
Travel insurance
Our suggestion is that you use travel insurance service. The normal price of this tour not cover travel insurance.
Books:
Birds of Peru is the best field Guide.
If you consider you can bring some other field guide are welcome.
+ Prices Include:
- Private transport in all the way.
- All accommodations in all the tour (Lima/Puerto Maldonado).
- Domestic flight from Lima to Cusco – Puerto Maldonado to Lima
- Three meals per day (breakfast, lunch/ picnic or box lunch depending where we are, dinner, snacks, water available all the time).
- Bird guide specialist.
- Bird checklist per person.
- Private boat service in all amazonian tropical rainforest area.
- Entrances to all Birding spots.
- Transfers in Lima, Cusco and Puerto Maldonado.
- Basically full board in a private tour.
– Not included:
- Laundry, calls, medical costs or hospitalization, excess baggage charges, insurance, or other items of personal nature.
What I (guide) will have with me
- Recording stuff Roland R-05/Microphone SENNHEISER ME66/K6.
- Playback set ( iPods- speakers.)
- A Swarovski ATX 80 scope 20-60 zoom
- Green laser pointer
- Owling light.
- GPS.
- Personal Swarovski Binoculars.
- I will be carrying the new field guide Birds of Peru this can be found on www.amazon.com.
Tour Calendar 2023:
- 5th April 2023.
- 28th May 2023.
- 20th July 2023.
- 11th September 2023.
- 3rd November 2023.
If some our fixed departure doesn’t work with you, we can propose a fixed departure with your available dates , also if you need private or customized tour, please contact us for more information, all our tours are totally flexible and adjustable to your needs.