PERUVIAN AMAZON: MANU Biosphere Reserve and Machu Picchu
July 16 to 27, 2011
Please note: A valid US Passport is required for this tour.
GENERAL INFORMATION
The headwaters and forests of the Amazon are home to what may well be the greatest profusion of life on Earth — an amazing, colorful variety of animals and plants that are a joy to see. If you’re interested in nature, there’s a good chance you’ve always wanted to come here. Join us on an adventure filled with birds, wildlife, culture and history as we visit two celebrated wonders of the world, the Manu World Biosphere Reserve and the ancient city of Machu Picchu.
We begin this adventure in Lima, Peru, but most of our time will be spent at the Manu World Biosphere Reserve, recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage site and acclaimed as one of the most biodiverse areas on earth. We will split our time birding the Manu Wildlife Center trails, visiting the canopy tower and birding from boats on the Manu River and oxbow lakes. Specialties include hundreds of parrots and macaws at a local Macaw Lick. We will search bamboo stands for Rufous-headed Woodpecker, Peruvian Recurvebill, White-cheeked Tody-flycatcher, numerous antwrens and antbirds including the Manu Antbird. We may also see Pale-winged Trumpeter, Sunbittern, Pavonine Quetzal, Striolated Puffbird and Gray-cheeked Nunlet to name but a few of the over 550 species found here. Giant Otters may be visible around the lodge and night birding may produce Long-tailed, Great and Gray Potoos.
To round out our Peru experience, we will return to Cusco and take the train to the town of Aguas Caliente at the base of Machu Picchu, the grandest of all the Inca sites. Machu Picchu is positioned in the most dramatic of settings nestled among Andean mountain peaks. For all its extent — Machu Picchu has some 200 structures, along with brilliant stone masonry — it was almost forgotten until its rediscovery in 1911 by Hiram Bingham. As we wind our way along the Urubamba River we should be able to see Torrent Ducks and White-capped Dippers and once we arrive in the bustling town of Aguas Caliente, the lush gardens surrounding our hotel should yield such specialty species as Green-and-white Hummingbird, Chestnut-breasted Coronet, the endemic Masked Fruiteater and Saffron-crowned Tanager.
ACTIVITY LEVEL: Moderate
PACE, WEATHER, AND TRAVEL CONDITIONS:
The pace of the tour will be generally moderate, although as with most tropical birding, we will have numerous early morning starts and some optional night-time excursions possible. On days where we begin early, we try to build in either siesta time, an early end to the day or optional activities that participants can opt out of if they choose. The itinerary includes several days/nights at elevations over 10,000 feet.
Temperatures will vary greatly on this trip depending in part on elevation. We will go from sea level to the high Andes and then into tropical rainforest. Lima’s average temperature during this season is around 60F degrees and we may experience some drizzle along the coast as land temperatures interact with the Pacific’s Humboldt Current. Cuzco’s weather during this same period should be dry and in the 60’s to 70’s. As we drive over the Andes, we can expect changeable, cold conditions with the possibility of snow. Weather conditions in the Manu should be warmish, but unexpected cold fronts from the south can bring one or two days of heavy rain even during the “dry” season.
The trip involves easy to moderate walking and hiking although there may be instances where participants will have to navigate a muddy section to a path. We will be using boats as the main transportation to and from the Manu so it will be important to be able to negotiate stepping in and out of motorized dugout canoes or other types of boats.
TOUR SIZE: Tour size is limited to 8 participants.
Additional information about the tour, with a list of participants, addresses of motels, lists of things to bring, a reading list, a list of birds which could be seen, and information about weather, dress and so forth, will be mailed to all participants well in advance of the tour.
DATES: Saturday, July 16 (meet at our hotel in Lima, Peru) to Wednesday, July 27, 2011 (flights home)
PRICE: Cost for this tour is $6,395 per person, based on double occupancy. Single supplement (payable if you request single occupancy, or we are unable to find you a suitable roommate) will be $520. A deposit of $500 will hold your place until April 15, 2011, when full payment becomes due.
NOTE: with the single supplement option, we will make every effort to accommodate your needs although some of the lodges do not have single occupancy and will require that you room with someone for these nights.
PRICE INCLUDES:
11 nights lodging, all in-country transportation including flights, boat and train transport and associated transfers via private transportation; all admissions to historic and botanical locations and expert English-speaking guides.
NOT INCLUDED IN THE COST: round-trip transportation from your home to meeting point in Lima, meals as specified in the itinerary, bar beverages, telephone calls, laundry service, airport departure taxes, gratuities for guide, driver & lodge staffs, or other items of a personal nature. Tips for the guide and drivers are customary.
TRAVEL DOCUMENTS: A valid US Passport is required for this tour. Your passport expiration date should be at least six (6) months beyond your tour travel dates.
SEND DEPOSITS AND OTHER PAYMENTS TO:
NJ Audubon Eco-Travel
9 Hardscrabble Road
Bernardsville, NJ 07924
Phone: (908) 204-8998
Make checks payable to the New Jersey Audubon Society
OR, by email to travel@njaudubon.org
TOUR LEADERS
Dale Rosselet has been with New Jersey Audubon since 1983. She has worked in the education department as teacher naturalist, director of education, and currently is New Jersey Audubon’s Vice-president for Education. Dale is a New Jersey native, having grown up near the Great Swamp in northern New Jersey, and now resides in Cape May County. She has been leading domestic and foreign tours for New Jersey Audubon since the late 1980’s. Domestic tours led include South Florida and the Dry Tortugas, Texas (Rio Grande Valley and Big Bend area), New Mexico, Washington State, and Montana. She has also led tours to Churchill and Manitoba, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Panama, Peru, Ecuador and Mexico. Dale’s tropical birding experience has led her to Peru several times in the past and finds that each time she returns, there are new wonders to be amazed by and enjoy.
Alejandro Solano is a trained guide and biology graduate from Universidad Latina de Costa Rica. Alejandro has worked as resident naturalist guide at Monteverde Cloud Forest, as a volunteer in Costa Rica’s national parks, on the MAPS project at the Institute of Bird Populations in California and at the Redwoods Science Lab, Trinity River Restoration Program at Humboldt University, surveying and mapping nests as well as banding birds. He has extensive guiding experience in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and southern Brazil. Alejandro is familiar with NJ Audubon and was the trip leader for our recent trip to Ecuador.