Manu National Park was another highlight of the trip. Northeast of Cuzco, the park is in cloud forest on the eastern slopes of the Andes and descends into the Amazon Basin. The amount of moisture there is ideal for orchids, hummingbirds, and thick jungle. I liked this more than lower elevation jungle ("rain forest" proper), because one can see a lot more while walking the mountain roads carved into the hillsides here -- due to the "falling away" of the terrain downhill from the road, allowing one to see over the trees on the downhill side -- while one may see only 20 ft on trails in the flat, lower elevation jungle. The Park is one of the world's most biodiverse areas, due to its elevation changes from the Andes to the Amazon Basin. It is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site.
The map above demonstrates the Park and multiple use zone boundaries. Due to ecological sensitivity and the indigenous population, only scientists are allowed into the park itself -- the multiple use zone is the area that tourists are allowed to visit, which incorporates the Madre de Dios River and many of its tributaries. The road to the park from Cuzco skirts this southeastern edge of the park.
One of the neat things about this area is that it is inhabited by indigenous peoples that still have had very little contact (if any at all) with Euro-American culture. The locals call one group "the Naked Ones" because they wear very little clothing. Tour boats were allowed up some tributaries until recently after two hostile encounters with the Naked Ones, who shot arrows into the sides of the boats. It is assumed that these were warning shots because the boats were close enough to the shore that people could have been killed if that was the Naked Ones' intent. It is believed that their hostility may be due to the harm done to native peoples by whites during the rubber boom of the 1800s.
Another group that is much more acculturated is known as the Machiguengas. They have their own lodge that they manage for tourists. It was originally built in their traditional rustic style but tourists complained, so a lodge with more amenities and less exposure to the elements has taken its place. The UNESCO website lists 2 other native groups as well.
After a rough drive that took most of a day, we arrived at the Manu Cloud Forest Lodge. It is located in 50-year-old second-growth forest (though my guides told me the area is so moist and biodiverse that it is virtually indistinguishable from old-growth). I spent 3 nights at the Lodge. It was the first of now many lodges erected in Manu's cloud forest. Built in the A-frame style of a swiss chalet, it appears to be roof and all glass, maximizing views of the jungle surroundings. I read that this Lodge is the only one in the area that donates a portion of its proceeds to the national park.
Cloud Forest Lodge is situated on the Quebrada ("stream") Union, a tributary of the Rio Cocnipata, which flows into the Rio Pillocopata, a tributary of the Madre de Dios, which joins the Rio Madeira in Brazil, which dumps into the Amazon just east of Manaus. These rivers generally flow northeastward toward Manaus. Later, I took a boat due east from northern Peru down the Amazon to Manaus. So here I saw the origins of the southern side of the loop draining the southern Amazon Basin, and would see the northern side later.
Right: The lounge with fire place at Manu Cloud Forest Lodge. The fire was welcome in the evenings, because it was quite cool due to the moisture and elevation of the lodge.
Below: View of balcony over the Quebrada Union from my room's floor-to-ceiling windows.
I went on several guided nature walks from the Lodge over the 2 days I spent there. A huge variety of butterflies was the most immediately impressive thing to me. Most of the following pics were taken of butterflies on the road near the Lodge -- butterflies congregate there to suck remnants of animal urine off the stones with their probosci (which you can see them daintily dab on the rocks). The urine contains minerals necessary to them and stones on the road are the easiest place for them to get those minerals. (Unfortunately, one can also see large numbers of butterflies that have been crushed by the occasional motor vehicle traffic.)
Above left: A photo giving a sense of the cloud forest scenery appreciable from the road.Above right: Butterfly matching colors of tile outside my Cloud Forest Lodge room door. After this I noticed that butterflies are attracted to colors resembling their own. Later you'll see one attracted to my green and black shoe at Iguazu Falls.
I also saw numerous ant colonies here, as well as in the jungle around Iquitos, Peru, and in the Pantanal of Brazil. The one to the right was particularly interesting because these army ants (about 1 cm long) had invaded a rival colony. The cylindrical white objects they are carrying are captured eggs, larvae, or pupae (cocooned larvae) that they will feed to their own larvae.
Right: Termite nest rain forest, with my guide Katie, who stated it wasn't especially large. (It was the biggest I saw during my trip.)
Sensitiva mimosa, a plant that closes its leaves when touched, in order to protect them from insect predation. Closure is based on ion channel signaling and water transport (to decrease turgor), similar to how venus fly traps function.
Left: Flower with name unknown to me.
Right: Andean fuscias.
Right: Lady slippers.
Left & below: Different varieties of orchids. The higher the elevation, the smaller the orchids. The moist air of the cloud forest supports an incredible number and variety of orchids, bromeliads, and other epiphytes (plants that grow on other plants).
Right: A "walking palm". A tree that actually moves along the ground. Each year its roots extend from higher up the trunk to the ground, sprouting out on the sunnier side while those in the shade lower down get abandoned. This growth pattern allows it to gradually maneuver toward areas where light better penetrates the forest canopy.
On the second day I was there, we drove down to lowland rain forest. The walking palm pic and those following (through the Ceiba tree) were taken there. The rest of the tourists took a boat down the Madre de Dios River to the town of Puerto Maldonado and I returned that day to Cloud Forest Lodge.
Left: I don't know what this leafy plant growing up the tree trunk is called . . . but it sure is pretty.
Left: Ceiba tree, the largest tree species in the Amazon Basin. They can grow up to 230 ft tall and grow very wide across the base, due to buttresses designed to hold it upright, given its shallow roots in the wet soil. Their strategy is to maximize photosynthesis by growing above all the other species and then spreading out their branches -- they have no branches lower down.
Maturation of a fern: Some varieties of ferns unfurl their fronds as demonstrated at left. The gooey wetness protects against insect predation, though my guide told me that indigenous peoples eat the resin from some ferns.
We watched the monkeys gradually descend the hillside opposite us, eventually reaching the river at the valley bottom. They were quite acrobatic, with their long hair flowing behind them, sometimes jumping 30 ft diagonally and downward from tree to tree, or 20 ft horizontally by swinging from vine to vine. The most interesting interaction involved a large male approaching a female and her infant -- the female ran all the way around the tree on its higher and smaller branches to get the infant to follow her in order to reach a different tree to escape the male.
Below: Cock-of-the-Rock. These birds unite to form a group called a lek. There is a lek just down the road from the Manu Cloud Forest Lodge. The males congregate before the mating season to practice their song and dance. Viewing is best from August to November.
Left: Ceiba tree, the largest tree species in the Amazon Basin. They can grow up to 230 ft tall and grow very wide across the base, due to buttresses designed to hold it upright, given its shallow roots in the wet soil. Their strategy is to maximize photosynthesis by growing above all the other species and then spreading out their branches -- they have no branches lower down.
Maturation of a fern: Some varieties of ferns unfurl their fronds as demonstrated at left. The gooey wetness protects against insect predation, though my guide told me that indigenous peoples eat the resin from some ferns.
The remainder of the pics I obtained from the web, but they demonstrate cool wildlife that I saw in Manu Cloud Forest.
Below: We spent several hours watching Wooly Monkeys on the opposite hillside, just a short walk down the road from the Lodge. They are the second-largest species of monkey in the Amazon Basin, weighing up to 25 pounds. Most of their apparent size, however, is due to their thick long hair, which helps keep them warm in the cool moist air of the cloud forest. They are endangered in more heavily populated areas because they are hunted for their meat.
We watched the monkeys gradually descend the hillside opposite us, eventually reaching the river at the valley bottom. They were quite acrobatic, with their long hair flowing behind them, sometimes jumping 30 ft diagonally and downward from tree to tree, or 20 ft horizontally by swinging from vine to vine. The most interesting interaction involved a large male approaching a female and her infant -- the female ran all the way around the tree on its higher and smaller branches to get the infant to follow her in order to reach a different tree to escape the male.
Other primates we saw included capuchin monkeys and saddle-back tamarins. Tamarins and marmosets are technically not monkeys, because they have claws instead of fingernails.
Right: An emerald toucanet, a small variety of toucan. Toucans have the largest bills relative to body size of any bird variety. Their bills are partially hollow so they are very light for their size. They mainly eat figs and berries.
Left: Golden-headed quetzal.
Below: Crested quetzal.
The quetzals I saw were incredibly beautiful birds. They are the origin of the name for the god Quetzalcoatl, worshipped by the Aztecs of central Mexico, who were contemporaries of the Incas.
Below: Crested quetzal.
The quetzals I saw were incredibly beautiful birds. They are the origin of the name for the god Quetzalcoatl, worshipped by the Aztecs of central Mexico, who were contemporaries of the Incas.
Below: Cock-of-the-Rock. These birds unite to form a group called a lek. There is a lek just down the road from the Manu Cloud Forest Lodge. The males congregate before the mating season to practice their song and dance. Viewing is best from August to November.
Right: Hoatzin. One of the strangest birds I've seen (or heard) -- so strange, in fact, that for a long time it was believed to be a missing link between dinosaurs and birds.
It is the size of a pheasant, with a tall crest of scraggly feathers and bare blue skin around its eyes. A very awkward flyer due to small pectoral muscles. The bulk of its chest is dedicated to an over-sized crop, in which gut bacteria ferment its food (mostly leaves). The crop is 4 x larger than most other species of their size, hence their nickname, "stinkbird", and causes a bad flavor that has protected them from human predation.
Fledglings have claws on their wings -- like prehistoric Archaeopteryx. When threatened, they drop from the nest into the water below and then use these claws to climb back up the tree. Egg protein analysis suggests recent evolution from the cuckoo. It is so unusual that it is the sole member of the family Opisthocomidae.
Rufescent tiger-heron.
Other interesting birds we encountered included: oropendulas and their smaller counsins caciques; blue-gray tanagers; flycatchers; macaws and parrots (a small type of macaw); and aptly-named horned screamers.
