MANU NATIONAL PARK

Located in the tropical rainforest of the departments of Cuzco and Madre de Dios, the Manu National Park, with an extension of 1.7 million hectares, is Peru's greatest natural reserve, both for the number of species that it harbors as well as for the diversity of eco-systems to be found there. It was established as a national park in 1973 and declared a Mankind Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987.

The reserve covers the entire watershed of the Manu River, running across an extraordinary range of altitudes, running from 4,300 m. above sea level in the high Andean plain down to 200 meters in the Amazon Basin. The area is home to dozens of tribes: Mahuaca, Huachipaire, Machiguenga, Piro, Yora, and Yaminahua- as well as others that have yet to make contact with the outside world. The park is also a haven for more than 20,000 plant varieties, 1,200 butterfly species, 1,000 bird species, 200 species of mammals and an unknown quantity of reptiles, amphibians and insects. There are wide varieties of tropical habitats with endemic species of plants and animals.