Back into the Amazon Rainforest: What makes Manu National Park so special?

After our amazing (and what some might consider slightly tiring) trek to Machu Picchu, you would think Dan and Ioanna would let us rest for say a week. But nope, after just two days we were back on the road and down to the Peruvian Amazon for a six day tour in the very special Manu National Park in Peru!

So what makes Manu so special? Let me give you a bit of context first: Manu is a national park and biosphere reserve which protects a very diverse number of ecosystems including lowland rainforests, cloud forests and Andean grasslands. It was established in the early 1970s and was recognised by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve in the late 80s.

Manu is divided into three zones: the restricted use zone, which is the deepest part of the jungle with pristine forests and native communities (who I think are called the Uncontacted Tribes) and can be accessed only by some researchers and scientists; the reserve zone, which also includes primary rainforest and is only accessible for some tours for limited time; and lastly, the cultural zone, which is openly accessible to everyone who wishes to visit and where some small villages are.

Manu has a massive biodiversity. A few facts for you:

• In terms of animals, Manu has around 5% of the world's mammals (there are 139 registered mammal species), and around 75% of the park's mammal diversity is made up of bats, rodents and marsupials.
• Unsurprisingly, in Manu there are 1850 registered bird species making Peru only second place for bird diversity after Colombia. Manu is the home of one of every ten bird species that inhabit the Earth. Isn't that amazing? And listen to this: during bird watching marathons, there was a world record set in Manu with 331 species of birds registered in one single day in Manu! Now, that's a lot of birds...
• Of course one of the things that make Manu so special is its flora. There are 1650 known tree species and 4212 plant species in the park and it is estimated that, in just one hectare, 249 tree species were counted. There are also hundreds of different registered orchid species. It is so wild and so so green.

Because of its wilderness, huge areas of Manu have not yet been studied (it is estimated that 60% of the park still hasn't been studied!) For that reason, it is still home to many uncontacted indigenous tribes. In fact, the uncontacted frontier shared between Peru, Brazil and Bolivia, where more uncontacted tribes live than anywhere in the world is in Manu. And to make life even more interesting, when we stopped at the Interpretation Centre, we were told by the park ranger that one of the stations is closed as the ranger working in that station got hit by an arrow from one of the tribes. No reason to worry about us or freak out or get angry with Dan and Ioanna for dragging us to all these wild, remote places! We're already out of the park now, so all safe. The uncontacted remained uncontacted while we were there :) 

But there are also some indigenous tribes that live in the reserved zone: The Matsiguenka, the Ashaninka, the Amuesha, the Yine and the Mashco. In fact, there is a unique project within Peru that involves two native Matsiguenka communities located in the park - the Tayakome and the Yonibato -  who have set up a community enterprise to manage an ecotourism lodge. That means that they are responsible for setting up and running the accommodation in Casa Matsiguenka (where we stayed for two nights), guide services and handicrafts. This project enables the families to work on rotation so that they all benefit without really having to abandon their territory.

I found the Matsiguenka really fascinating mainly because of their 'cosmovision'. The Matsiguenka believe that there are five levels in the universe: the first one is Inkite, the highest level which can only be seen at night in the stars; the Menkoripasta where we see the sky; the Kiptasi, which is the middle level and basically represents our world; the Kamaviri level which is where the Kamatsirini or the spirits of the dead live'; and finally, the Gamaironi level which is where the monsters and demons live.

One of their myths is that the world where we live was created by two celestial beings: Tarorintsi and Kentivakor. Tarorintsi created all the good things, the humans and some sacred trees and plants. On the other hand, Kentivakor created all that is seen as useless beings in the world. Another of their myths says that the moon, Kashiri, fell in love with a beautiful woman and taught her how to sow and cultivate most of the edible plants. I thought both of these myths were very beautiful. The Matsiguenka also hold the Ceiba tree as sacred and believe it protects the forest.

So, overall, Manu was the perfect place to have our second Amazon jungle experience, very wild and very pristine. In my next post, I'll tell you all about the animals we saw. Spoiler alert: there were more animals and birds than we saw in Cuyabeno, Ecuador - and some special ones too!