Amazon: Peru Adventure Trips

Peru is a multifaceted travel destination offering something for everyone and every type of trip. However there is one area in which the country is peerless: in the range and diversity of its possibilities for adventure tours and trips. Doubtless best known for its wealth of trekking routes, not least the Inca Trail, Visitors to Peru are also blessed with many other opportunities for adventure, including in one of the most challenging of all Earth’s environments; the jungle.

Peru is a huge country, but dense jungle makes up for 60% of the landmass and here you can find wildlife that you’ve never seen before along with riddled webs of waterways and rivers. The best location for adventurous travellers.

There are several points from which one can access the Amazon in Peru as it covers quite a large amount of territory. Tours can be done across the main areas of the jungle, from the north of Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve and Iquitos to Tambopata National Reserve and Manu National Park in the south.

Tours can be of varying lengths but, generally speaking, the more time you can spend, the deeper you can penetrate into the jungle. This will allow you a better opportunity of viewing a great variety of flora and fauna.

Manu is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the most untouched areas of jungle in the world. It offers a better chance of seeing more animals than you will typically find in Tambopata, including many types of monkeys, jaguars, tapirs, giant otters, black caimans, spectacled bears and more. Somewhere around 1000 different bird species make their homes there. Some tours start in Puerto Maldonado from where river transport is taken to enter into the jungle. Sometimes, going from Cusco on land transport is done.

Tours to Tambopata also start in Puerto Maldonado and often include river travel as well as hiking. Night walks are especially popular as many of the animals are more active at this time. There are some tours which offer visits to clay licks where you will have the best chance of seeing a large variety of parrots. The minimum length of tour is 3 days and 2 nights although, as mentioned earlier, longer tours will allow you to see more. Some tours, particularly the shorter ones, are in areas where the animals seen are fed regularly and it is more like seeing them in an animal park as opposed to in the wild. The main plus to this choice is that wildlife is guaranteed which isn’t always true with remote tours. This can be of particular benefit if you are traveling with children.

To get to the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, you will need to first get to Iquitos. You need to head into the jungle 120 km in order to get to this reserve, and not many tours go that far. However, if you really want to see wildlife, you will want to get to this area where it is protected. In addition to many varieties of birds, you can see giant turtles, monkeys, black caimans, manatees and, most spectacularly, pink dolphins. A particularly excellent way of taking advantage of this lush area is by walking along the canopy trail which takes you through the jungle at a height of more than 30 meters.