Manu Wildlife Center

The Manu Wildlife Center is located in the wild and remote Manu wilderness of Peru along the Manu de Dios in the Manu Biosphere Reserve.

Nestled almost invisibly in the forest, it lies just across the river from the trail to Manu’s prime wildlife viewing location, Cocha (Lake) Salvador. This is the largest and most beautiful of the 13 oxbow lakes of the Manu River.

The Lodge provides a perfectly comfortable base for wildlife enthusiasts, photographers, birders and those who simply want a true relaxing rainforest experience. The Lodge is located near a tapir and mammal lick, the blanquillo macaw and parrot clay lick, 2 walk up canopy towers and floating catamarans on 2 ox-bow lakes for observing giant otters and other lakeside birds and wildlife.

Manu Wildlife Center frequently has onsite researchers and scientists – we are proud to sponsor their research. As a lodge we actively promote and give a helping hand to students and post-graduates who do various kinds of scientific research in the area.

These scientists are always happy to share their knowledge and expertise with visiting guests. The lodge relies heavily on workers from the local Machiguenga and Piro indigenous communities and provides jobs and training that help better the standard of living in the local villages without prejudicing their ideal-or idealistic life-style. We offer them choice and opportunity that, prior to tourism, did not exist.

The lodge is strategically located in an area of forest that counts on the highest diversity of microhabitats in the Manu area. There are more than 30 kilometers of trails. This means that there are more species of animals, birds, reptiles and insects than elsewhere in Manu.

Terra firma, transitional floodplain, varzea and bamboo forest is found close to the lodge plus successional willow and cane stands on beaches and river islands, resulting in the highest bio-diversity in the Manu area. An astounding 600+ species of birds have been recorded around the lodge.

The Manu Park Wildlife Center or Albergue Machiguenga features spacious double-occupancy room-size tents with hinged, lockable doors and solid wooden floors. Each tent measures 16.5x10x7 feet (5x3x2.2m), and all are fully screened, with a floor raised on wooden stilts to provide maximum ventilation and coolness, and protection from flooding and insects. A palm thatch roof shelter overhead completes the structure. Each of the extra-long twin beds has a mosquito net.

The camp in Manu Park also features an elevated, screened dining room with wooden floor and a private hot-water showers and flush toilets.

Manu Wildlife Center Is located in a private, 16,190 ha./40,000-acre rain forest reserve adjacent to the one million-acre protected area named the “Amarakaeri Reserved Zone”. The tapir lick is a comfortable ninety minutes on foot from the lodge, while the macaw lick is a half-hour boat journey plus a short walk away.

Visitors will welcome the amenities and comfort of this lodge, the only one in the Manu lowlands with roomy, private bungalows, en suite private bathrooms and tiled, hot water showers — especially if they are arriving from the rustic simplicity of Manu National Park.