Located in the rainforest of the Cuzco and Madre de Dios departments, Manu National Park is Peru´s greatest natural treasure. It is a trove for the number of species it shelters and the diversity of ecosystems it features. Established in 1973 over a land surface of 1,532,806 hectares, it was included in UNESCO´s list of Mankind´s Natural Heritages in 1987. It compromises the whole of the Manu River Basin as well as an extraordinary cross-section of altitudes ranging from 4,300m in the Andean High Plateau to 200m in the Amazon Floodplain.
Because of Manu's very low population of humans, who still employ traditional hunting techniques, animals have little fear of man. It is only in Manu that healthy populations of jaguars, tapirs, anteaters, giant otters and the endangered black caiman can still be found in undisturbed surroundings. |
