Jungle Tour To Peru – Manu Tambopata Reserve

admin — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 07:23:49 +0000

You haven’t seen Peru until you’ve at spent a few days exploring the Peruvian Amazon. With an unbelievable diversity of species, the jungle is teeming with life in every square meter. Its sheer fertility and abundance is difficult to describe. It’s like life decided to “go crazy” here, with all that flies, slithers, crawls, swims, jumps, climbs, and oozes – all going about their business, but somehow interconnected in one highly complex and massive web of vitality. A few days exploring this diversity will imbue you with a deep understanding of why the Amazon Rainforest is entirely worth preserving and why it should be a “must-see” on your bucket list of places to visit.

At Inca Jungle, we offer Peru Jungle Trips to the rainforest preserve surrounding the Puerto Maldonado region. Puerto Maldonado is a small town that’s located about an hour plane ride from Cusco. From here, the Tambopata National Reserve is easily accessible by boat. This 679, 000-acre reserve shelters a plethora of diverse flora and fauna species.
Several jungle lodges are located around the region, and depending on the time you have and your interest, you can travel deeply into the jungle (3-4-hour boat ride from Puerto Maldonado) to the more remote lodges, or if you have less time, you can travel 45 minutes to the most accessible lodges, such as the Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica. The deeper you go, the more animals you will be likely to see, although in truth you are likely to see a variety of species at any of the choices we mention here.

The Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica is an upscale lodge that’s great for your Peru honeymoon or couple’s retreat. Selected as one of the world’s 25 best eco-lodges by National Geographic Traveler, the Inkaterra boasts 35 wooden tribal-inspired cabañas. Over 540 bird species have been recorded on its surrounding trails. A trip to the quietly reflective Lake Sandoval to look for endangered giant river otters, or a nocturnal hike to view caimans and other night creatures are both on offer. The lodge features a “canopy walkway,” a system of wooden bridges where you can gain an overview of the jungle below and spot wildlife that frequents the jungle canopy, including monkeys and sloths. There’s also a spa located right on the banks of the Madre de Dios River that offers full services using all-natural products, which are sure to delight vacationing couples.

If you have more time, a great option is the Refugio Amazonas, located four hours from Puerto Maldonado. If you have kids, this is the trip to bring them on. Activities such as canopy and tree climbing, wildlife viewing, piranha fishing (careful, they bite!) and viewing of nocturnal species are only a few of the activities that will delight everyone in the group. Your entire family will be enchanted with the teeming abundance of jungle life. This lodge offers discovery trails especially for children, and they even have a program for those hard-to-please teenagers in your life!

On your jungle trip to Peru, you and the kids can also visit macaw and mammal clay licks: many jungle species eat dirt to get needed minerals. You can see peccaries, deer, and other species if you visit at the right time of day.

One relatively new activity on offer is aerobotany, where working with scientists, visitors get to fly a drone over the jungle canopy and aid in important scientific research on the flora in the area.

For an even more remote and pristine jungle experience, visit the Tambopata Research, inside the Tambopata National Reserve. This is the lodge for those that are truly passionate about the diversity of flora and fauna found in the jungle. The Center offers some of the best wildlife-viewing opportunities in South America, and over 30% of its visitors actually have spotted an elusive jaguar!

Whether it’s with the kids, as a couple, solo, or in a group, Inca Jungle, your personalized travel agency in Peru, will work closely with you to craft a custom itinerary for your Peru jungle adventure.

Machu Picchu: one of the 7 Wonders of the World was built by the Incas

admin — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 07:18:24 +0000

Human beings have built wonders since the beginning of time, demonstrating not only their ability to survive, but also their good taste. Thanks to the work of thousands of people it was possible to build monuments as impressive as the 7 Wonders of the World. In ancient times there was already talk of these majestic works of civilization – the Colossus of Rhodes, the Lighthouse of Alexandria and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus were some of the most famous 7 Wonders of the Ancient World.

Although there is now little or nothing left of these magical places, not everything is lost – imposing wonders worthy of being seen at least once in a lifetime are still standing, and many of them are on the bucket lists of millions of people around the world.

These impressive examples of human talent have given rise to the 7 Wonders of the Modern World, chosen by one hundred million people during a public and international contest held in 2007 that aimed to find the new wonders of humanity.

From Pre-Columbian Jewel to World Attraction

The Wonders of the Modern World chosen were Christ the Redeemer in Brasil; the Great Wall of China; the city of Petra in Jordan; the Taj Mahal in India; the Coliseum in Rome; Chichen Itzá in Mexico and, of course, the fascinating citadel of Machu Picchu, located at the gateway to the Cusco jungle, in Peru.

The charm and magnetism of the extraordinary Inca city came out ahead of true architectural miracles such as the Acropolis of Athens, the Alhambra of Granada or the Eiffel Tower of Paris, thanks to millions of votes from all over the world.

This was how the already powerful attraction of Machu Picchu reached more people all over the planet, becoming the Latin American tourist jewel par excellence. Thanks to its incomparable charm, it has also received visits from famous people, who had Machu Picchu at the top of their bucket list – the poet Pablo Neruda, the King of Jordan, Abdullah Al-Hussein, the revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara, as well as contemporary artists such as Beyoncé, Jim Carrey, Cameron Diaz and Zac Efron, are some of the celebrities who have been amazed by Machu Picchu.

Machu Picchu, Cusco

The Story of a Wonder

Built during the reign of the Inca Pachacutec (15th century), the citadel is divided into two important areas: the agricultural part and the urban part. While the first comprises a vast network of platforms or artificial terraces, the second is made up of various buildings and squares which include the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Three Windows, the Main Temple and the Temple of the Condor.

The majestic Inca citadel is surrounded by temples, terraces and water channels, and was built at the top of a green mountain, characteristic of a region known as the “eyebrow of the jungle” (the boundary between the jungle and the mountains). It was built with large blocks of stone, joined together without any kind of filling material.

Nowadays, it is considered to be Cultural Heritage of Humanity because it is recognized as an important political, religious and administrative center of the Inca era. Its buildings follow the classic Inca style: buildings with stone walls polished in a rectangular shape, joined together without the use of filling materials, and trapezoidal doors and windows.

Machu Picchu, Cusco

Things to note:

• Its temperature varies between 6.2° and 29.5°, since it is located in a subtropical zone. Its rainiest months are from November to March.
• Its majestic architecture comprises some 140 structures throughout the citadel.
• The average altitude of the citadel is 8,040 ft above sea level.
• Machu Picchu was declared “Historic Sanctuary of Peru” in 1981.
• Machu Picchu Opening hours:
• Entrance: from 06:00 to 16:00.
• Open until 17:00.

Getting to Machu Picchu

Many people going to Machu Picchu choose to enhance the experience by retracing the steps of the ancient peoples on what is known as the Inca Trail.

Nowadays this has been hugely commercialised, and whilst this doesn’t detract from the experience, it does mean there is a vast and potentially daunting amount of options available. These range from short treks easily walked by most, to week-long hikes that take you into the depths of the surrounding jungle and can even incorporate zip-lining and white water rafting. The prices vary hugely depending on what the package includes and it’s definitely worth shopping around.

For the less adventurous, mini bus and train services can get you to Machu Picchu both cheaply and easily. Almost everyone going to Machu Picchu will pass through the town of Aguas Calientes (lit. Hot Waters), however if you don’t want to do any walking at all it is necessary to get here by train due to the lack of roads.