Into the Jungle – or not

Going into the jungle at Manu was one of the biggest decisions we made. Whilst others go the jungle in North of Peru, Ecuador, Brazil or even Bolivia where it is still relatively pristine and cheap, we decided to go into Manu Biosphere Reserved zone as so much of the jungle is virgin rainforrest. We had read many good things about Manu, and when we made contact with Pantiacolla tours, we knew we had made the right decision. Maryanne is a passionate Dutch biologist who fell in love with Manu so much so that she married a local and has stayed here for the past 20 years. Manu has been a heavily protected zone for well over 30 years, and as such the wildlife viewing is amongst the best in the world. The animals are not frightened of humans, and will take you in with much curiosity.

That said, we were not informed until the day before departure that there had been some pretty horrendous landslides on the road to the jungle. But we were assured that it shouldn't be a problem and we would depart as planned. Well, we got 3 hours into our tour, reached a town of Paucartambo, and heard that 7 landslides were still in need of clearing. It was election day, so the machines were unlikely to be deployed on the road. So rather than push ahead, we stayed the night in this little town. It could have been worse – election day was rather interesting – indigenous people came into the town in their traditional dress from miles and miles away and stayed well into late evening.

The next day we set off early – but were still thwarted. We waited for the machines to arrive some two hours later and one by one the landslides were cleared. We got stuck on a “river crossing” at one point and needed a truck to pull us out. We waited hours for a massive landslide to clear as machines from both directions were utilised. Just when we thought the worst was over, we crossed the other side of the Andes and into Amazon terrain and of course there was another landslide. This time there was no machine, just lots of man power. The road was so eroded that people had to strategically rebuild the road wide enough for traffic to pass. It was too much for my nerves by this point – I really needed a Valium and a lie down. But needless to say we eventually made it to our first lodge, safe and sound and in time to see the “Cock of the Rock” birds at pre-dusk.