Manu National Park, Peru - August 07, 2017: Manu National Park, Peru

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Amazon Basin

The best-protected tract of the world’s most biodiverse forest, the strange, sweltering, seductive country-within-a-country that is Peru’s Amazon Basin is changing. Its vastness and impenetrability have long protected its indigenous communities and diverse wildlife from external eyes. Tribes exist here that have never had contact with outside civilization, and more flora and fauna flourish in one rainforest hectare than in any European country.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Belén Mercado

    Belén Mercado

    Iquitos

    At the southeast end of town is the floating shantytown of Belén, consisting of scores of huts, built on rafts, which rise and fall with the river. During…

  • Historical Ships Museum

    Historical Ships Museum

    Iquitos

    Moored below Plaza Castilla is the diverting Historical Ships Museum, on a 1906 Amazon riverboat, the gorgeously restored three-deck Ayapua. The…

  • Reserva Nacional Pacaya-Samiria

    Reserva Nacional Pacaya-Samiria

    Amazon Basin

    At 20,800 sq km, this is the most immense of Peru’s parks and reserves. Pacaya-Samiria provides local people with food and a home, and protects…

  • amazonian lodge

    Parque Nacional Manu

    Amazon Basin

    This vast national park in the Amazon Basin covers almost 20,000 sq km and is one of the best places in South America to see a stunning variety of…

  • Tres Cruces

    Tres Cruces

    Amazon Basin

    About two hours beyond Paucartambo is the extraordinary jungle view at Tres Cruces, a lookout off the Paucartambo–Shintuya road. The sight of the…

  • Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm

    Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm

    Amazon Basin

    Ostensibly, the Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm is a conservation and breeding center for Amazonian butterflies. Butterflies aplenty there certainly are,…

  • Río Madre de Dios Ferry Dock

    Río Madre de Dios Ferry Dock

    Puerto Maldonado

    This dock close to the Plaza de Armas is a cheap way of seeing a little of the action on a major Peruvian jungle river (the Río Madre de Dios), which is…

  • Reserva Nacional Tambopata

    Reserva Nacional Tambopata

    Amazon Basin

    The wildlife-rich Río Tambopata is a major tributary of the Río Madre de Dios, joining it at Puerto Maldonado. Boats go up the river, past several good…

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Articles

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Art

Northern exposure: traveling Peru's magnificent North

Aug 21, 2018 • 5 min read

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Amazon Basin and beyond

Beyond Amazon Basin
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