Amazon Tours Peru Manu Biosphere 7days

Amazon Tours Peru Manu Biosphere 7days

Amazon Tours  Peru  Day 01 : Cusco  Cloud Forest to Pilcopata Manu Park .

We leave Cusco early in the morning to start our adventurous trip! First, we are taken by private transport to the place called Ninamarca to observe pre-Incan “chullpas” (tombs) of the Lupaca’s culture.

Then, we continue to Paucartambo, a colonial town with narrow streets and beautiful church, where people still keep their old customs.

Then, we ascend to the viewpoint Tres Cruces (3,900 masl) to observe one of the best sunrises of the world! From there, we start descending to the Manu National Park, a place of presence of cock of the rock (a Peruvian national bird), hummingbirds, strikingly coloured quetzals, trogons, spotted flycatcher and woolly monkey.

From flora, we can view a variety of orchids, mosses, ferns, etc. Finally, we get to Pilcopata (700 masl) where we overnight in Tikari Lodge after enjoying dinner and shower.

 Amazon Tours Peru Day 02 : Manu Park Pilcopata  / Atalaya Port to Boca Manu  .

After breakfast, we get on our private vehicle to ride for one and half an hour to the main port of the Manu National Park – Atalaya (500 masl).

There, we board a motorized boat to continue for about 7 hours navigating on the Madre de Dios River. Along the river, we have a great opportunity to observe various species such as herons, vultures, kingfishers, turtles and some of 13 monkey species living in Manu! In the afternoon, we reach our next lodge situated in Boca Manu where we spend the night.
Optional: A night walk in the amazon Manu Tour

Amazon Tours Peru Day 03 : Boca Manu – Cocha Otorongo -Manu Biosphere .

Today, we say good-bye to the Madre de Dios River to change for a navigation on the Manu River offering us other amazing views of a great variety of species living in and around it such as groups of turtles, white caimans, capybaras, jaguar (Panthera onca) resting on a log and watching its territory.

In the afternoon, we reach a next jungle lodge called Otorongo that offers us basic rooms with bathrooms. Later on, our Tour Guide takes us to the Otorongo Lake where an observation tower is placed allowing us to watch giant otters living there. During that, the Guide teaches us functions and secrets of the jungle.

After that, we return to the lodge to have dinner and spend the night. Optional: A night walkm in our trips Manu Tour

 Amazon Tours Peru Day 04 : Manu Biosphere  – Cocha  Otorongo  – Cocha Salvador  .

Today, we visit the Salvador Lake in our silent rowing boat that allows us observing a family of playful giant river otters, black caimans as well as many rare bird species including a prehistoric bird called shansho!You can be sure that animals here in wild Amazon Manu have never suffered from hunting by people! In the afternoon, we return to our lodge near Otorongo Lake to have a rest and sleep. Optional: A night walk in the Manu Tour

 Amazon Tours Peru  Day 05 :Manu National Park – Cocha Otorongo – Boca Manu .

In the morning, our group starts the travel on boat from Otorongo Lake and explorer to amazon offering us to see more wildlife.we follow some Amazon paths while watching other mammal’s species. afternoon, we return to our lodge to rest inthe Reserve center Manu Tour

Amazon Tours Peru   Day 0 6: Boca Manu to Manu Rainforest Lodge.

Today surely starts with a howler monkey scream that wake us up. After breakfast, we navigate on the Manu River to Boca Manu. We change there for the Madre de Dios River and continue navigating until reaching Rainforest Lodge, a place of our next overnight in wildlife Manu Tour

 Amazon Tours Peru  Day  07 : Manu Rainforest Lodge – Atalaya Port Return to Cusco.

We wake up very early today to go by boat to see a 10 minute far away parrot clay-lick! After that, we get back to the lodge where we are served breakfast adding us energy for our last travel so that we board a motorized boat and start navigating towards the Atalaya Port. Our private vehicle awaits us there to take us back to Cusco. We arrive there approximately between 6 and 6:30 pm.

IMPORTANT
You need to be vaccinated against Yellow Fever as well as to bring some anti-malaria tablets with you .

Includes in the  tour Amazon Peru  7 days / 6 nights

• A professional naturalist Tour Guide;
• Motorboat transportation;
• Private vehicle land transportation;
• Entrance to the Reserved Zone of the Manu National Park;
• A professional Cook,
• Meals: 6 Breakfast, 7 Lunch, 6 Dinner and drinking water (Please note: vegetarian option upon request for no extra cost!);
• Accommodation: 6 nights in our lodges;
• First aid kit, including a poison extractor, mosquito bite treatment and an antidote for a snake bite;
• Radio communications;
• Rubber boots.

Not included in the Manu Tour 7 days:

• Any flight nor airport departure taxes;
• Travel insurance;
• Vaccination;
• Breakfast on the first day and dinner on the last day;
• Drinks;
• Tips to local staff.

What to take with you to the Manu Tour 7 days:

• Mosquito repellent (DEET 35 recommended as a MINIMUM!!),
• Original passport,
• Small backpack,
• Long sleeved cotton shirts (preferably green coloured),
• Long cotton trousers,
• Cotton long socks (to be put into your trousers),
• Comfortable walking shoes,
• Sandals or light shoes,
• Rain gear (e.g. rain poncho),
• Sweater (for the beginning of the tour in Andes and the cloud forest only),
• Swimsuit;
• Binoculars (we also rent it),
• Camera and its charger,
• Plastic bags to be used for clothes and a camera,
• A hat as a protection against the Sun or rain,
• Toiletries,
• Small towel,
• Toilet paper,
• Sun cream,
• Sunglasses,
• Flashlight (with spare bulb and batteries),
• A bottled water (1 litre as a minimum),
• Pocket money (Soles) to buy some beverages and souvenirs as well as to tip.

Amazon Tours Peru Manu Biosphere 7days

2. SPECIFIC WEALTH, RELATIVE ABUNDANCE AND BIOMASS The relative abundance of Cocha Cashu species was determined by direct observation on transects. For each of the two main types of habitat, I first established the cumulative curve of the number of species observed during all the days of sampling on transects, a curve which represents the sampling effort .

In the flood plain, it took me around 160 days to observe 66 species. This figure does not include Agalychnis craspedopus or Elachistocleis cf. ovalis, neither Ceratophryinae sp., nor Hyla bifurca, nor Hyla sp.

the presence of which is known only by observations made by other methods. These 66 species were sampled on the 60 hectares crossed by the layons most often crossed during this study; we can therefore estimate that the specific density is 66 species over 60 hectares. The majority of these species (85%) were caught during the first 65 days, but it still took as many to reach the current list. In the terrace forest, 50 days of sampling revealed a density of 49 species over 56 hectares.

Eight of these species  found from the earliest days, however, have not yet been observed in the flood plain, despite more than 250 days of sampling and the use of several techniques. Bufo typhonius, Hyla minuta, Dendrobates ventrimaculatus clearly have a preference for this type of habitat. While the presence .

ventrimacu / atus can be easily correlated with that of bamboos, and that of B. typhonius with streams (two microhabitats that are not found in the plains), I cannot yet characterize with certainty the Hyla minuta habitat. In the absence of precise data on the requirements of a species, it cannot be known whether its presence is random or due to biotic interactions (competition for example)

. If the type of habitat indicates the conditions to which species can adapt, biotic interactions are also capable of playing a role in the distribution of some of them. The requirements of the floodplain species that are missing in the terrace forest are also difficult to define, because the intensity of my sampling was not comparable in the two environments.

The cumulative curve of the terrace forest shows that the number of species observed increased further there at the end of the study; perhaps its real specific richness is close to that of the flood plain? In any case, it is difficult to understand why certain species, such as Physalaemus petersi or Eleutherodactylus toftae, abundant in the floodplain, seemingly lacking in the forest on the terrace.

The number of species sampled varied in proportion to the number of collection days; but the periods when I observed the most coincide with the start of the rainy season (September 1985 and January 1989). Thus, although it is currently difficult to generalize, this time of year is probably when the crops are the most “profitable”.

The relative abundances of species in the floodplain and in the terrace forest are similar . In both cases, none exceeded 15% of the total number of individuals, indicating a high level of fairness in the stand. However, because of the bias introduced by sampling, the most abundant species are certainly underrepresented and, as a result, one might think that the fairness is actually less strong than it seems.

Despite this bias, however, the fairness calculated by the plot method (see below) confirms this result which therefore seems likely. The distribution of abundances relating to Cocha Cashu is similar to that obtained for the stands of Santa Cecilia (Duellman, 1978) and Boraceia (Heyer et al., 1990) and, in general, for all stands with high specific richness (Terborgh et al., 1990, for example).

By comparing the diversity of samples collected around the buttress roots in Ecuador and Thailand, Heyer and Berven (1973) attributed the higher fairness of the Ecuadorian site to its higher humidity.

The equitable distribution of Cocha Cashu abundances rather suggests another explanation: the numerous species that make up this stand, and whose breeding season is long, would maintain more or less stable populations.

Poor fairness would be observed, for example, when one species is exceptionally abundant compared to the others, as has been observed in the savannas of Bouaké where Bufo regularis, remained very abundant during the dry season, while the other species became rare (Barbault, 1976). In a species-rich stand like Cocha Cashu, even when a common species becomes scarce, its replacement by another may go unnoticed and not affect fairness.

During this study, I observed (only by direct observations on transects) a maximum of 51 species in the same period; this may be due to the alternation of breeding periods occurring either in the rainy season or in the dry season, depending on the species.

Therefore, even if we observe peaks of appearance of young in populations of certain species, as was the case in Hamptophryne boliviana , this does not necessarily affect the relative abundance of stand.

The most abundant Anurans are not the same in the two main types of habitat studied. In fact, not only are the species different, but when they are the same, their abundances differ .

On the flood plain, Eleutherodactylus toftae (n = 160 individuals) appears to be the most numerous species, followed which is the most abundant.

In these two cases, the fact that the most numerous Anurans are also the ones I have studied the best on each of the sites, could have distorted my results. Nevertheless, the greatest abundance in the forest on the terrace of Epipedobates femoralis is certainly not artificial, because the fact has been confirmed by my census of male songs.

The size (SVL) of male Anoures of Cocha Cashu varies between 13.5 mm (Phyllonastes myrmecoides) and 136 mm (Leptodactylus pentadactylus) , while their average weight ranges from 0.13 g (Eleutherodactylus cf. carvalhoi ) to 131.6 g (Leptodactylus pentadactylus).

The size distribution (SVL and weight) generally varies inversely with their relative abundance (r = 0.396, p <0.001); but the species with the most individuals do not belong to the smallest size class

. In the flood plain, the highest relative biomass corresponds to that of Ceratophrys cornuta, a species that feeds on other Anurans, followed by the heaviest species, L. pentadactylus. By comparing the two main types of habitats, there are more medium-sized individuals (40 <SVL <50 mm) in the flood plain than in the forest on the terrace .

The cause of this phenomenon remains unclear. The small number of medium-sized individuals in the forest on the terrace seems to be linked to the absence nocturnal species in streams, where Dendrobatidae are concentrated during the day, which represent the majority of small individuals.

The low weight of Anurans has important implications, particularly physiological. In fact, 80% of the species weigh less than 10 . Thanks to their ectothermy, they have a reduced metabolism rate and energy needs, which allows their existence. These mini Anurans are more energy efficient than endotherms because, per unit of weight, they consume less energy and have a higher biomass production (Pough, 1980; Barbault, 1974b)

The mechanisms that determine the class distribution abundances similar to those observed at Cocha Cashu, but in taxonomically diverse stands, are still obscure (Brown and Maurer, 1989; Blackburn et al., 1990; Tokeshi, 1990).

In the case of the Anoures population studied here, the coexistence of several species belonging to the same genus and sharing the same ecological characteristics (spatio-temporal distribution, mode of reproduction, etc.) could be at the origin high fairness and diversity.

In the two main types of habitat studied, the most abundant species are indeed often phylogenetically close (see for example the case of Eleutherodactylus, .

It remains to understand how several species, apparently similar in their various traits, can maintain similar levels of abundance.

If their coexistence is possible thanks to a uniform distribution of available resources, or because of density-independent factors that do not favor any of the species in particular, such pattern ”of relative abundance could be explained.

Settlements made up of several groups of taxonomic and ecological neighboring species would then be the most equitable. However, we should not forget that Eleutherodactylus are forest, which may explain their predominance in the forest over species that can only be observed on their aquatic spawning grounds, a lake for example.