Manu Cloud Forest & Cock of the Rock Lodge

Your overland journey begins at 11,150 ft, with an early departure from the highland city of Cusco. Your destination is the lush cloud forest region where the Andes fall away to the Amazon basin. This is a day of scenic drama and striking contrasts. You first visit a mountain wetland habitat teeming with migrant and local waterfowl, before crossing two mountain ranges between the Cusco valley and the Paucartambo valley. Finally, you follow a sinuous ribbon of highway on its plunge through an extraordinary world of forested cliffs, waterfalls and gorges. You will take leisurely stops to see mountain villages, a hilltop necropolis of chullpas (pre‐Inca burial chambers), and the abrupt ridge top of Ajanaco, which marks the final high point where the Andes begin their swoop into the Amazon basin. After lunch, you will descend through the startling and rapid environmental transformations characteristic of the tropical Andes, passing from grassland and stunted trees through elfin forest, until you wind through a lush and magical world of overhanging trees, giant ferns, monster begonias, countless orchids and bromeliads, and a diverse and teeming birdlife. After around 7-8 hours, you will reach the comfortable Cock‐of‐the‐Rock Lodge.

Early in the morning, you have a chance to view the Cock‐of‐the‐Rock in full, raucous courting display. This lek and its observation blind are famous among birders, since nowhere else on the planet allows so many of these spectacular blazing red birds to be seen so easily. (Note that the very best months for viewing Cocks‐of‐the‐Rock are in September, October and November, although the males display throughout the year.) Afterwards, you can stroll along the clearing formed by the nearby road, spotting other birds, and with some luck, Brown Capuccino or Woolly Monkeys. Your day is meant to be relaxed, and enchanting. As you walk among the woods and waterfalls, you will marvel at the extraordinary variety of orchids, bromeliads, ferns, begonias, lichens and mosses. Along the way, you may encounter some of the most colorful denizens of the cloud forest, such as the brilliant Golden‐headed Quetzal, Gray‐breasted Mountain Toucan, or Blue‐crowned Motmotas. In the afternoon, you can relax at the lodge, enjoying the dining hall viewing platform, or their private forest‐ overlook balcony. Or, you can cross the river on the lodge’s private oroya (cable bridge) and hike the trail on the south side of the Kosñipata River.

After an early breakfast, you set off up the cloud forest highway, pausing here and there to alight and stroll in search of more birds: ones you have already seen, but are too spectacular to ignore, and birds you are seeing for the first time. Or, perhaps, you will get to see monkeys that have so far eluded your group. You will wind your way through the enchanted mountain landscape on your route back to Cusco, knowing that the memory of this will remain with you for years to come!