Amazon Basin - Peru - page 944

( 084-43-7374, 984-714-148; www.amazontrailsperu.com ; Tandapata 660, Cuzco)
This outfit comes reader-recommended and has a growing reputation for providing the
best service among the cheaper tour operators. Tours provide a great deal of quirky insider
information on places en route. Less obvious itineraries, such as one of the supposed sites
of legendary Inca city El Dorado, can be accommodated, and if you're heading on to
Puerto Maldonado, onward boat/bus transport can be arranged to save backtracking to
Cuzco. High-power binoculars are also provided, increasing chances of decent wildlife
sightings. Six-day tours to the zona reservada start from US$1370.

InkaNatura
( www.inkanatura.com ) Cuzco ( 084-25-5255; Ricardo Palma J1 Urb Santa
Mónica & Plateros 361); Lima ( 01-440-2022; Manuel Bañón 461, San Isidro); USA
(Tropical Nature Travel; 1-877-888-1770, 1-352-376-3377; POB 5276, Gainesville
FL 32627-5276) InkaNatura is a highly respected international agency and co-owner of
the Manu Wildlife Center. The operators can combine a visit here with trips to other parts
of the southern Peruvian rainforest, including Pampas del Heath near Puerto Maldonado,
where it also has a lodge.

ADVENTURE TOUR

Cuzco to Manu

This spectacular journey provides opportunities for some excellent bird-watching at the
lodges en route, as well as some of Peru's most dramatic scenery changes. The route runs
from bare Andean mountains into cloud forest before dropping into a steamy tangle of
lowland jungle. You can get as far as Boca Manu, an hour before the entrance point for the
zona reservada, independently. This is challenging but possible, although to either enter
the zona reservada or maximize your chances of seeing wildlife, you will need a guide
and therefore a tour. Most lodges en route will let you stay, but giving them advance no-
tice is advised.
If traveling overland, the first stage of the journey involves taking a bus or truck (or
minivan if you are on a tour) from Cuzco via Paucartambo to Shintuya. Buses run by Gal-
lito de las Rocas ( 084-22-6895; Av Diagonal Angamos 1952, Cuzco) leave at 5am on
Monday, Wednesday and Friday for Pilcopata (S20, 10 to 12 hours in good weather), re-
turning from Pilcopata on the same days at 6pm. Get a taxi to the departure point − it's
difficult to find independently. Cheaper trucks also leave sporadically from the Coliseo
Cerrado in Cuzco for Shintuya (about 24 hours in the dry season). Breakdowns, extreme
overcrowding and delays are common, and during the rainy season (even during the dry)