Amazon Basin - South

Visit the Peruvian Amazon river basin - what to see where to go and what to pack.

"La Región de Madre de Dios se localiza en la esquina del sudeste de Perú, cerca de la frontera con Bolivia y Brasil. Es la selva tropical más accesible desde el Cusco."

Large palm-thatched buildings with individual rooms and separate bathroom and shower facilities connected by covered walkways -- in the midst of virginal rainforest.

Tourists come from around the world to discover Madre de Dios' treasure: Manu National Park. You can see wonderful landscapes, mysterious forests, beautiful lakes and wildlife. Facts, photos and trip planner.

With a treetop canopy walkway — a 1,135-foot-long complex of seven hanging bridges, six treetop observation platforms and two 95-foot-tall towers, the 35 cabañas, raised on stilts with thatched palm roofs, are scattered around the property, with some overlooking the Madre de Dios River; the boutique, and the ENA Spa, the reserve has become an upscale destination lodge.

"Sandoval Lake is acclaimed as one of the most beautiful lakes in Peru, and it certainly lives up to its reputation. It is also a true surprise so close to major civilization - because of the ease of getting there and the ease of being there, and yet the wildlife experience far exceeds most rainforests."

"El Lago Sandoval, en el Amazonas peruano, al este de la cordillera Andina es un paraíso de la naturaleza. Está en la Reserva Nacional de Tambopata.Además de su exuberante vegetación, es un santuario de la fauna (la nutria gigante, el caimán negro, varias especies de guacamayos, el lobo de río, tortugas y grullas entre otros). Una reserva de la biodiversidad con más de 1.000 especies de aves."

"The Manu Biosphere Reserve is one of the most pristine areas of rainforest in the Amazon and consists of the entire drainage basin of the Manu River. There are very few human settlements in the park, and there is no hunting or fishing. Tourism is strictly controlled and visitors are only allowed into the park if accompanied by a registered guide and with a registered tour operator."

"Considered as one of the biggest and richest natural reserves in the world, the one that allows having intimate contact with nature in its most primitive and wildest state."

"By far the richest, most extraordinary biological transect in the Peruvian Amazon, or the world, starts in Cusco and runs northeast by road and river to the great Manu Wilderness." Wildlife, lodges, rivers, tours and camping.

Text, images and additional resources from this PBS Nature series program.

Located in a birdwatcher's paradise in the the Manu foothills/Pantiacolla Mountains.

Photos and text in this six part journal to the Place of the Bears on the Urubamba river.

Things to do and see.

Comments from travelers about Puerto Maldonado, places to stay and things to see and do.

Travel and tours to the three conservation areas in Madre de Dios: Manu Biosphere Reserve, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987; the Tambopata - Candamo Reserve, and with intact populations of several endangered species, such as the giant river otter and the Harpy eagle; and the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park, home to some 450 different species of birds.

Puerto Maldonado is a small jungle town in the south of Peru, the entry point to the Tambopata-Candamo Reserved Zone, one of the areas with the greatest biodiversity in the world, including the world’s largest macaw clay lick.

Pilgrimages to powerful sacred sites in the Andes and Amazon of Peru and Bolivia.

Site includes a brief description of the Amazon area as well as hotels addresses and rates.

"Area for the protection of the fauna and flora of the tropical sub humid forests, constitute one of the richest ecosystems in the world, it possesses a great diversity of wild life that captures many scientists and tourists from all parts of the world."

"It is said that the Amazon forest is the only place that gives one the sensation of witnessing the dawn of time. Thousands of visitors are drawn to the diversity of the area's forests and rivers, arriving in the city of Puerto Maldonado, the capital of the department of Madre de Dios, ready to set out on a journey filled with excitement and discovery."

"Three extraordinary, contiguous Amazon reserves lie only a 25-minute flight from Cusco - the great Tambopata Madidi Wilderness on the Peru-Bolivia border." Tours, lodges and wildlife.

Comments and up-close photos of some of the wildlife.