Birding "Eden": Manu Wildlife Center

Duration: 11 days/10 nights

Two Departures 2007: August 12th & 22th

Guide: Thomas Valqui

Route: Lima/Cusco/Manu Wildlife Center/Cusco/Lima

Highlights: Birding one of the world’s most diverse spots. Surprising comfort, no complicated logistics or bumpy roads. Macaw clay lick, 3 huge canopy towers for superb canopy birding & 8 distinctive habitats to bird (including bamboo). A great way to learn about Amazonian birds.

Includes: Guided tours by specialist (Thomas Valqui plus local guides where needed), transportation in Manu (boat and plane), entrance fees, accommodations at hotels and lodges, Machu Picchu train and most meals according to program.

Not included:International airfare Domestic airfares Lima-Cusco-Lima (ca. 250 US$), airport taxes (ca. 40 US$), personal expenses. Not included are three lunches and four dinners (ca. 100 US$), which are all in cities, to give you freedom of choice and because some people skip meals. Also not included meals in day 1 and day 15 where you might not be in Lima depending on your international flights.

ITINERARY

Day 1 (12th and 22nd August)
Arrive in Lima, reception and transfer to hotel,
Overnight at Sonesta El Olivar*****

Day 2 (13th and 23nd August)
Visit to the Villa marshes. Birds we will be looking for in this typical coastal marshes are Peruvian Thickknee, 5 species of Ducks, Great Grebe, Gray-hooded Gull, Many-colored Rush-tyrant, Wren-like Rushbird, etc. If time allows we will then head to the port of Pucusana for some gulls, terns (Inca Tern), the Humboldt Penguin, the Seaside Cinclodes, and other seabirds. We will also stop at desert scrub for seedeaters, hummingbirds, Sheartail, Peruvian Miner, pruvian Meadowlark and others. Overnight at Sonesta El Olivar*****.
Meals : B

Day 3 (14th and 24nd August)
Early morning flight to Cusco and transfer to hotel. Afternoon birding at the Huacarpay lake and marshes. . These Wetlands, a RAMSAR site, will show us a nice complement to the coastal Villa marshes in Lima. In the marshes we will look for Puna Teal, Andean Duck, Sivery Grebe, Yellow-winged Balckbird and many more, and in the surroundings our champions will be the Rusty-fronted Canastero and the Spectacular Bearded Mouintaneer, Overnight at Novotel**** or similar.
Meals : B

Day 4 (15th and 25nd August)
Short flight to Boca Manu where you will join your guide for a 2-hour birding boat trip to MWC. Afternoon walk on the MWC trail system, which includes “the grid”. Overnight at Manu Wildlife Center.
Meals : B, L, D

Day 5 (16th and 26nd August)
Early morning visit to the spectacular macaw clay lick, a short boat trip from the lodge. From a specially designed blind we will witness this colorful display of hundreds of macaws and parrots. After the birds leave we will visit an oxbow lake on our way back to the lodge for a late lunch, followed by an afternoon of birding on the trails.   Overnight at Manu Wildlife Center.
Meals : B, L, D

Day 6 to 8 (17th to 19th and 27th to 29th of August)
We will spend the next 3 days birding in a variety of habitats. Our activities will include extensive birding in terra firme forest, where the grid will give us access to several known territories of hard to get birds, follow mixed species flocks and spend time in flooded forest. One morning will be spend at the canopy tower, where birds will be at our level or below. We will also visit the bamboo island for almost all of the specialists of this unique habitat, look for the Rufous-fronted Antthrush in the Heliconia thickets by the Antthrush trail, and visit a typical large oxbow lake. For many the highlight will be the colorful spectacle of the macaws and parrots at the clay-lick, which we will enjoy from a specially designed blind.
Overnight at Manu Wildlife Center.
Meals : B, L, D

Day 9 (20th and 30nd August)
An early boat trip with some birding on the river will take us to the airstrip at Boca Manu, where we will spend a few hours birding secondary habitats and forest edge, before returning to Cusco by small chartered aircraft.  You will have the afternoon free for city touring or relaxing.  Overnight at Novotel or similar****.
Meals : B

Day 10 (21th and 31nd August)
Return to Lima by plane. We wil be picked up by our car and move north to the Reserve “Lomas de Lachay”. This “mist-oasis” harbours 4 peruvian endemics and many other birds we will not have seen in our trip so far.  Overnight at Sonesta El Olivar *****.
Meals : B

Day 11 (22th and 1st September)
Transfer to the airport for international flight.
Meals : B

Prices 2007

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