Manu Wildlife Centre

In a spectacular rainforest setting at the foot of the Andes in Peru’s remote southeastern wilderness, Manu Wildlife Centre is the Amazon’s finest wildlife destination, where flora and fauna is both abundant and diverse.

The lodge is located in a private, 16,190 ha/40,000-acre rainforest reserve adjacent to the one million-acre protected area named the “Amarakaeri Reserved Zone”. The tapir lick is a comfortable ninety minutes on foot from the lodge, while the macaw lick is a half-hour boat journey plus a short walk away.

The roomy, private bungalows are equipped with en suite bathrooms with tiled showers and hot water – something that is especially welcome if you are arriving from the rustic simplicity of Manu National Park. Here you can charge batteries, check your email, wash hair and order a drink under the high thatched roof of the spacious all-wooden dining hall, bar and lounge. (Conservation note: the cedar wood used in construction was salvaged from uprooted trees washed downriver by the annual floods).

The most direct way of getting here is via a 35-minute flight by light aircraft from Cusco to Boca Manu at the mouth of the Manu River, followed by a 90-minute ride by motorised canoe down the Madre de Dios River. Alternatively, the trip by road and river takes a couple of days at the very least, although wildlife enthusiasts, birders, and nature photographers find it well worth the extra effort and travelling time!

Manu Wildlife Center offers more and better wildlife sightings, plus a higher level of comfort, than any other lodge in the Manu region - these include:

•              The world's largest tapir lick

•              The most photogenic and accessible large macaw and parrot lick with beautiful orange-cheeked parrot, hundreds of blue-headed parrots, as well as mealy and yellow-crowned parrots. Smaller visitors include white-eyed, cobalt-winged and dusky-cheeeked parrotlets among others.

•              Kilometres of monkey-rich trails through mature rainforest

•              Two 35-metre-high canopy platforms that enable almost everyone to enjoy the rainforest canopy

•              Two mature lakes with abundant hoatzins, caimans and giant otters

You can explore almost 50 kilometres of scientifically-designed forest trails around the lodge to search for the 10 resident species of monkey; the acrobatic black spider monkey, inquisitive brown and white-fronted capuchins, Bolivian squirrel monkey, saddleback tamarin, dusky titi, night monkey, red howler, monk saki, and the spectacular, mustachioed emperor tamarin. Birders will delight in the large game birds such as razor-billed curassows and pale-winged trumpeters, which often pass within 200 metres of the lodge.

This lodge is jointly owned and run by Manu Expeditions and the local Peru Verde conservation group.  

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