Amazon Basin - Peru - page 945

vehicles slide off the road. It's safer, more comfortable and more reliable to take the cost-
lier tourist buses offered by Cuzco tour operators. Many tour companies in Cuzco offer
trips to Manu.
Sights & Activities
After Paucartambo, the road continues for 1½ hours to the entrance to Parque Nacional
Manu ( zona cultural; admission S10 for independent travelers at the turnoff to Tres
Cruces, a further 13km). The next six hours to Pilcopata are through spectacular cloud
forest , occupying a humid elevation of some 1600m and home to thousands of bird spe-
cies, many of which are yet to be officially identified. There are several lodges at which
you can enjoy phenomenal bird-watching (including, if you are lucky, the rarely
glimpsed cock-of-the-rocks, with striking scarlet plumage and elaborate mating dances).
The next village, Pilcopata , is the end of the public bus route and indeed contact with
the outside world of all kinds: the last public phone (and cell-phone reception) before
Manu is here, along with Manu's main police station. There are basic hotels (beds around
S15) and stores too. Pickup trucks leave early every morning for Atalaya (45 minutes) and
Shintuya (three hours).
The road beyond Pilcopata can be nigh-on impassable in wet season, which is why
most vehicles give up the ghost at Atalaya , and switch to boat (all Manu tour agencies
continue by boat from here). To continue by rough, rough road beyond here to Salvación
(where there is a national park office) and Shintuya (with limited basic accommodations)
is possible, but slightly pointless, as there are more boats available for continuing down-
river in Atalaya. Just past Shintuya, Itahuanía has Manu's emergency hospital.
The long boat journey down the Río Alto Madre de Dios from Atalaya to Boca Manu ,
at the junction with the Río Manu, can take almost a day. Boca Manu village has basic fa-
cilities and is known for building the region's best riverboats: it is interesting to see these
vessels in various stages of construction. Independent travelers: again, bear in mind that if
you are not on a tour with a licensed Manu tour agency you will not be permitted entry in-
to the zona reservada, although continuing on down the Río Manu to the Manu Wildlife
Center and Puerto Maldonado may be possible. The Boca Manu airstrip is currently only
accessible by private plane. Because of this, many companies are using the other route to
Manu (a flight into Puerto Maldonado followed by a road trip toward Iñapari and a trip up
the Madre de Dios).