PERU JUNGLE TOURS

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PERU JUNGLE TOURS

Peru currently has roughly 5 percent of its territory protected by a system of around 50 national parks, reserves, sanctuaries and other designated areas, a process which has developed extremely well since it was begun in the 1960s. Two of these protected areas, the Manu Biosphere Reserve and the Tambopata-Candamo Reserved Zone, can be found in Peru's southern jungle while the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve can be found in the northern jungle and accessed from Iquitos.

It is by now common knowledge that Peru is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of tourist resources, not just because of the priceless archaelogical remains that abound in our country, but also because of its share of the Amazon River basin.

This is the least populated territory in Peru, with only 600,000 people living in its 80,000 kM2 (30,880 sq miles) of jungle area. Its capital is a riverside city known as Puerto Maldonado with 25, 000 Inhabitants. Near Puerto Maldonado, there are several attractions such as the Sandoval and Valencia lakes, next to the Bolivian border (by river, 4 hours from the city), These wonderful places give the tourist the opportunity to fish, be close to nature, and be in contact with native communities.

Activities include viewing giant Macaw clay licks in Tambopata, Plunging through waterfalls, and chilling out in hammock houses be the riverside, climbing hundreds foot ladders into the conapy and using a machete to cut your own path through the dense forest.

Peru has the most biodiversity section of rainforest in the world. Manu, Peru’s largest reserve covers an area 1716295 hectares (4.3 million acres) and has 15000 different species of plants, 800 species of birds including the Harpy eagle, Jabiru, Jungle goose, Cock of the rocks and the strangely Hoatzin. The sorts of mammals you are likely to encounter are the spider Monkey, giant river otter, jaguar, ocelot, spectacled bear, Huemal deer and the strange capybaras, the largest rodent on the planet.

The Peruvian Amazon is the area of the Amazon jungle that is confined within the territory of Peru, from the east of the Andes to borders with Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil and Bolivia. This region comprises more than half of the country and is an area with great biodiversity and endemism. The Peruvian Amazon is the second largest jungle after the Brazilian Amazon.

The Peruvian Amazon is traditionally divided into two distinct ecoregions:

The lowland jungle (in Spanish Selva Baja) is also known as Omagua region, Walla, Anti, Amazonian rainforest or Amazon basin. This ecoregion is the largest of Peru, standing between 80 and 1000 meters above sea level (masl). It has very warm weather with an average temperature of 28°C, high relative humidity (over 75%) and large amounts of rainfall. Its soils are very heterogeneous but almost all have river origins, and due to high temperatures and high rainfall they are poor soils with few nutrients. It contains long and powerful rivers such as the Apurimac, Mantaro, Amazon, Urubamba, Ucayali, Huallaga, Marañón, Putumayo, Yavarí, Napo, Pastaza, Madre de Dios, Manu, Purus,Yurua and rio Tigre.

The highland jungle (in Spanish Selva Alta) is also called Rupa-Rupa region, andean jungle, ceja de selva. This ecoregion extends into the eastern foothills of the Andes, between 1000 to 3800 masl. Temperatures are warm in the lowlands and colder in higher altitudes. There are many endemic fauna because of the isolation caused by the rugged terrain of this area.

PERU JUNGLE TOURS