Mike in the Wild

Highest on almost everyone's wish list in the rain forest was spotting monkeys.  Of course seeing a wide range of exotic and tropical flora was expected, as was the amazing variety of butterflies and birds.  And no one was disappointed with the jungle scenery.  But Wild Watch Peru's three-day trip from Cusco to a corner of Amazonia couldn't guarantee an encounter with our simian cousins in the wild.  Our guides certainly looked for monkeys on our approximately ninety kilometer drive from high mountain cloud forest into the lower jungle environment.   Our two-night stay at idyllic Guadalupe Lodge, nestled near Manu National Park's wilderness, didn't provide an opportunity either.  A round trip river boat trip on the Madre de Dios River, a tributary of the Amazon, struck out too.  Even our muddy walk through dense forest to Machuhuassy Lake left us longing for a primate encounter. However, thanks to a stop at Dos Loritos, a wildlife rescue and r...

A visit to the Peruvian Amazon almost certainly involves navigating one of the massive river's tributaries.  On my recent trip to the area I explored a tiny section of the upper Madre de Dios river as part of Wild Watch Peru's three-day Manu Short Trip.  It's a savory taste of the rain forest on an easy two-night excursion from the bustling city of Cusco in the Andes.   Rivers drain tremendous volumes of water through the greater Amazon basin, as the relatively flat land welcomes moisture collected in the high Andes Mountains to the east .  The Madre de Dios carves a path through these jungle landscapes, all the while creating frequently changing channels that are bordered by rocky beaches or clay cliffs.  Frequently these channels loop and cross, often creating new waterways.  The old, untraveled course becomes either a swamp, like much of the terrain, or what's called an oxbow lake. One such lake I had the pleasure to visit in the area was Machuh...

A vacation in Peru almost certainly involves a visit to Machu Picchu, the spectacular Incan citadel in the Andes.  It's an easy excursion out of Cusco, a city that also serves as a base for exploring other pre-Colombian ruins, colonial towns and stunning Andean scenery.  And thanks to several tour companies, the Peruvian Amazon is an easy drive over and down the Andes for an even more exotic discovery. The Amazon rain forest actually covers sixty percent of Peru, where moisture from the high Andes feeds massive rivers that all eventually source the Amazon River.  The tributaries of one of these waterways, the Madre de Dios, collects water in the mountains northeast of Cusco.  200 kilometers away from the ancient city, 10,000 feet lower in altitude, is Atalaya, where the wide river is just navigable enough for wildlife-hungry tourists.  As part of their three-day Manu Short Trip, Wild Watch Peru drives you as far as this sleepy riverside town for a motor...