Manu Wildlife Center: is the ONLY lodge in the Manu Lowlands with ANY of the
following:
- Private bungalows, hot showers, flush toilets.
- 48 kilometers of trails, half in scientific grids.
- Towers at fruiting trees visited by mammals and canopy birds.
- Minutes from the famous macaw clay lick.
(January 1994 cover story National Geographic Magazine)
- World's best Tapir viewing.
The Center has 15 double-occupancy, private bungalows, a complex of flush
toilets and hot showers, and an airy, rustic dining room. Two adjacent bungalows
have a private bathroom (flush toilet and hot shower). All facilities are
screened for your comfort.
The site is incredibly remote and wild and real wildlife enthusiasts find
Manu worth the extra effort and traveling time. The Manu Wildlife Center offers
more wildlife sightings and a higher level of comfort, at a lower price than any
other lodge in the the Manu region.
Explore the 30 miles (48 km) of scientifically-designed forest trails
surrounding the Center to search for the 10 species of resident monkeys, namely
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 delight at the large game birds such as razor-billed curassows and
pale-winged trumpeters, which often pass within 200 yards (180 m) of the lodge.
Weather permitting, on the first night at the Manu Wildlife Center we usually
visit the world's largest known Tapir Clay Lick. From the comfort and safety of
a house blind elevated 13 feet (4 m) above the lick, observe and photograph
these wiggly-nosed, 550-pound (250-kilo) beasts: the largest land animals in
South America. In nearly all parts of the Amazon, tapirs are harder to see than
jaguars. In 1997, more than 95% of visitors to this lick saw tapirs before 10:00
pm on their first or second try.
On the first morning at MWC, we usually boat for 25 minutes down river to see
the only accessible macaw and parrot clay lick in the Manu area. From a silent,
floating catamaran blind pioneered by our macaw researchers, we marvel at the
emerald green and electric blue parrots and the gaudy red-and-green macaws that
arrive by the hundreds to gobble down the clay. This mobile blind allows us to
approach within 20-30 yards (18-27 m) of the 25-foot-tall (8-m-tall) clay bank
for excellent photo opportunities. No other macaw lick in the world currently
permits such close-up, comfortable viewing of this spectacle of nature.
For details about macaw clay licks, see the macaw cover story in the January
1994 National Geographic as well as the award-winning TV shows about Manu.
Though these licks are active nearly year round, the best period for photography
is from July through November, when there tend to be lots of birds and little
rain.
Naturalist guides paddle us around two tranquil oxbow lakes on stable,
custom-built lake catamarans. The birds on the lake edge often include huge
horned screamers, majestic rufescent tiger herons, and weird, punk-crested
hoatzins. Family groups of the world's most social, yet ferocious, otter, the
70-pound (30 kilo) giant otter, catch fish and reproduce on these lakes. The
Amazon's largest crocodilians--black caimans--skulk under overhanging trees by
day and prowl the lakes by night.
The forest near the Center features two or more canopy platforms or towers at
any given time. Our scientists strategically locate these platforms and towers
near fruiting or flowering trees visited by monkeys and a panoply of colorful
canopy birds. Other lodges around the world offer access to the forest canopy,
but none of them can compete with Manu Wildlife Center for such spectacular,
close-up canopy viewing of such a large variety of monkeys and photogenic birds,
including iridescent tanagers, toucans, and hummingbirds.
Manu Wildlife Center is number one in the world for
viewing of canopy wildlife because, unlike most competing lodges, our forest
remains unhunted and full of wildlife, and our scientists and canopy logistics
experts have more practice building platforms and canopy towers for
international TV crews than all other teams in South America combined.
See our special tour programs
