Manu Wildlife Express

After your flight arrives at the airport in Puerto Maldonado, Manu Wildlife Center provides a private fan to transfer you to Santa Rosa Village. You will get there in about 2 1/2 hours. During the trip, you will take a 10-minute boat ride to Puerto Carlos across the Inambari River. Here, you will start your overland journey to Boca Colorado, by car, followed by a four hour motorized boat journey upstream the Madre de Dios River. They will provide you with a delicious boxed lunch at the beginning of the boat journey to Manu Wildlife Center. You will arrive to Manu Wildlife Center for dinner, and enjoy your first evening in the rainforest!

After a delicious breakfast, you will encounter the rainforest for the first time, exploring some of the 30 miles of forest trails that surround the lodge. You will have an excellent chance of encountering some of the 12 species of monkeys, including the Spider Monkey and Emperor Tamarin, which inhabit the surrounding forest.  You'll walk through the forest for a bit where you find the Macaw Lick project. Macaws will be coming in groups of 2-3, being a beautiful sight for travelers. After, you will return to the lodge for lunch. Later, you will continue to explore and discover the rainforest, including its plant life, and the network of trails surrounding the lodge. In the late afternoon, you will arrive at the extremely high Canopy Tower. On its platform, you witness the frantic rush‐hour activity of twilight in the rainforest canopy, before night closes in. Then, you will set off along the “collpa trail”, which will take your group to the lodge’s famous Tapir Clay lick. Here, at the most active tapir lick known in the entire Amazon, their research has identified from 8‐12 individual 600‐pound Tapirs who come to this lick to eat clay from under the tree roots. The lick features a roomy, elevated observation platform above the forest floor.  

You will leave early in the morning to head to Oxbow Lake. As you circle the lake on the catamaran, you might encounter the Giant Otter family on a fishing expedition, or troops of monkeys crashing noisily through the trees. Dainty Sun Grebes paddle across the water, supple‐necked Anhinga air‐dry their wide, black wings, and perhaps an Osprey scans for fish from a high branch.  Woodpeckers, tanagers, macaws, toucans and parakeets all finally come swooping in to trees surrounding the lake. This is an incredible opportunity to take in the serenity of the wildlife. After lunch at the lodge, your guide is available to lead you on freewheeling expeditions in search of further wildlife encounters. Or, you may take one of the lodge’s many trails on private and personal excursions to commune with the spirits of the rainforest. From the late afternoon until after dinner, they offer an opportunity to ride a boat in search of caiman and other nocturnal life along the riverbank!

On your final morning, it's time to depart back to Puerto Maldonado airport. Depending upon the time you need to be at the airport, your breakfast will be served at the lodge, or on the boat as you go. Of course, this is a perfect time to take advantage of amazing, early morning wildlife activity along the river. In addition, this journey allows you to see several lowland native settlements and gold miners digging and panning gold along the banks of the Madre de Dios River. You will stop in the far‐west type gold‐mining town of Colorado to start your overland journey to Puerto Carlos. Then you will cross the Inambari River to Santa Rosa, and finally, a van or bus will drive you to the airport in Puerto Maldonado City. Stay and explore the area more, or take your flight back to Lima or Cusco!