Top Hiking Trails in the Peruvian Amazon Rain Forest
Peru is one of the 9 countries where the Amazon forests lie. Rainforests cover Peru’s northern and eastern borders. You can evaluate the Amazon trip you want to make in Peru in two parts.
- North; Iquitos
- In the south; Puerto Maldonado, Manu and surroundings
Peru is such an interesting country that while the west of the country is dominated by completely dry deserts due to the Andes Mountains running through the middle of the country, the east is covered with Amazon forests where the rain never stops. So these two photos are from the same country.
Iquitos
Located in the north of the country, Iquitos is the most popular city of the Peruvian Amazons. It is famous for the sacred ayahuasca rituals of shamans, local visits and nature. However, this ritual and local visits have unfortunately again fallen victim to the marketing effect and have completely lost their naturalness. Let’s say it from the beginning that the shamanic rites you will attend, the visits to the natives and the trips under the name of Peru ayahuasca tour are completely fictional. Still, it can be preferred to have this experience. The main event in Iquitos is magnificent boat trips on the Amazon River, piranha hunting, forest trekking and its magnificent nature that will make you feel like you are in a movie scene. There is no land transportation to the city of Iquitos. It is possible to come here by plane or by boat over the Amazon River. Arriving via flights from major cities such as Lima and Cusco would be the most preferable and most comfortable method. Or to come to the riverside cities such as Pucallpa and Tarapoto, which are the closest small settlements to this region, by bus and continue on the road by boat. Let’s mention that the boat trip, which will last for days and where you will not find much place to sleep except your own hammock, will be quite tiring. There are also ships coming to Iquitos from Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil. Of course, as the distance gets longer, the time to pass on the road may increase up to 3-4 days. With fast boats, this time is shortened, but of course the price goes up quite a bit. Traveling on a narrow and cramped boat on the Amazon River in the pitch black of night may not be the adventure of your dreams.
Iquitos Travel and Travel Guide
We don’t think you will like Iquitos, a small colonial city, because of the fact that it is a bit of a neglected city and marketers constantly swarming you. The city doesn’t have much to see, except for a few public markets. The most famous one is Belen Market (Mercado Belen). In this market, you can find unusual food and drinks such as crocodile and turtle meat, ayahuasca tea. The best thing to do in Iquitos is to agree with an agency according to the tour you want to choose quickly. There are daily Amazon tours and overnight tours. In daily tours, a few tribal visits are made as a show. You also see a few wild animals in cages. It’s a purely theatrical setting. Tours with accommodation for 1 to 3 days are ideal. In this tour, you can take a wonderful forest walk with a guide, go piranha hunting, and meet and see wonderful animals up close.
Especially monkeys, when they see you, let alone being afraid of humans, they come directly to you and look for food. Sloth, toucan bird, crocodiles and piranhas are other animals you will get the chance to see during the tour. The 2-3 meter long fish you see in the river scares people. After seeing such an environment, you will understand why you had to come to the Amazons with a guide rather than on your own.
Puerto Maldonado
The closest area to reach here is Cusco, Peru’s famous city that hosts Machu Picchu. Puerto Maldonado is 1 hour away from Cusco by plane and 8-9 hours by bus. The best option is to come to the region with a tour package from Cusco. Or you can come to Puerto Maldonado and get your tour package from here. The choice is up to you. When you come to the center of Puerto Maldonado, you have to leave most of your belongings in the city before moving on to the area where you will stay in the Amazon. Since most of your tour will take place by boat, you cannot take a lot of luggage with you. Your stuff is enough to last you for a few days. You can leave the remaining items with the tour company you have agreed with. After taking your necessary belongings with you, we go to the area where there are hut-shaped huts called Lodge (bungalow house) where you will stay by boat on the Madre De Dios River, a branch of the Amazon River. From that moment on, you stay in touch with the wonderful nature that makes you feel like you are in the Amazon until the end.
You will be accompanied by gigantic trees, monkeys jumping from branch to branch and their cries during the forest walks you will participate in with a guide. According to your luck, you can see otters, black caimans and piranha fish on boat and forest excursions. There are predators such as anaconda and cougar in the region, but it is not always possible to see them. Some important places you can visit in Puerto Maldonado;
- Sandoval Lake
- Lake Apu Victor
- Monkey Island
- Tambopata Candamo National Park
Spectacular places from each and every one of them. We can even assertively say that; The thinness of the boat you are on, as if it will topple over at any moment, the sweltering humidity and heat, the flies and grubby insects that are constantly wandering around will always remain in the background with the effect of this magnificent view.
Manu National Park (Parque Nacional del Manu)
This is Peru’s largest national park covering an area of 17 thousand km² and one of the best preserved virgin areas of the Amazon forest, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The park is in really good condition for now in terms of cleanliness and naturalness, due to the lack of a highway to the interior and the difficulty of reaching the city of Manu. It is possible to go to a certain part of the park by road from Cusco. There are tour voyages over the Madre De Dios river. There are local tribes in some parts of the park, and villages on the riverbanks, in which animals such as giant otters, dozens of monkey species, thousands of bird and butterfly species, capybara, jaguar and anaconda are located. You can visit Manu National Park with comprehensive tour programs from Cusco. We can say that those who are 4 days old are quite ideal.
