Manu National Park, Peru
Manu National Park is such an amazingly rich place for biodiversity that it is also referred to as a biosphere reserve. Huge numbers of plants and animals are protected in large areas of a wide variety of habitats that extend from the cold grasslands of the high Andes down to the humid lowland rainforests of the Amazon basin. No other park in the Andean Mountains protects such a wide range of elevations and no other place has one road that allows access to each of these habitats. For these reasons, Manu was also declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1987 and tops the destination wish list of every world birder.
The national park itself is a strict, protected area that is off limits to everyone except for scientists and native peoples who reside within its boundaries. This doesn’t really affect birders, however, because the same habitats are accessible in the buffer and reserve zones of the park. The edge of Manu National Park is situated about 70 kilometres north of Cuzco, but it usually takes three hours to reach this point due to rough roads. Birders can also fly to the lowland boundaries of the park at Boca Manu or take a very long boat ride (10-12 hours) up the Madre de Dios River from Puerto Maldonado.
To take advantage of the amazing birding in the montane rain forests along the Manu Road, most birdwatchers do the three hour trip from Cuzco to the edge of the park and bird their way down to the lowlands. Not long after the vehicle begins its descent down the east slope of the Andes, birdwatchers get into temperate rain forest. This cool, misty forest harbours a wide variety of Andean bird species that don’t occur below 2,000 meters. Basic Lodging is available in the roadside stop known as Pillahuata and allows birdwatchers to look for specialties such as White-throated Screech-Owl, Barred Fruiteater, Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan and Swallow-tailed Nightjar.
Below Pillahuata, the habitat changes to middle elevation cloud forest and birdwatchers are treated to another group of bird species. Groups of colourful tanagers, flycatchers, foliage-gleaners, the clown-like Versicoloured Barbet and other species move through the dense forest in large mixed flocks while tapaculos and antpittas call from the undergrowth. At 1,300 meters, the Cock of the Rock Lodge is reached and birders are treated to views of many hummingbirds and Andean Cock of the Rock, a brilliant red, white and black pigeon-sized bird that gives amazing displays. This area is also good for more tanagers, Amazonian Umbrellabird and other species of birds that don’t occur in the forests higher up.
Once the lowlands are reached, birdwatchers can stay at Amazonia Lodge or continue on to the Manu Wildlife Centre or other eco-lodges in the area. More than 500 bird species occur at these lowland sites and they can be fantastic for a number of rare hummingbirds, antbirds, bamboo specialists, large raptors and other Amazonian species. There is also a clay lick in the area that hosts Red and Green Macaws and a variety of parrots and parakeets.
Most people decide to fly back to Cuzco after spending time in the lowlands; although, die-hard birdwatchers may bird their way back up the Manu Road in search of species they missed on the way down.
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