Getting Into The Jungle
Given the breadth and quality of options, it's never easy to decide which bit of the jungle to head for. Your three main criteria will probably be budget, ease of access, plus the depth and nature of jungle experience you're after. Flying to any of the main jungle towns is surprisingly cheap and can save an arduous few days' journey overland, and once you've arrived a number of excursions can be made easily and cheaply, though the best experience comprises a few nights at one of the better jungle lodges . For more intimate (but often tougher) contact, it's easy enough to arrange a camping expedition and a guide, travelling in canoes or speedboats into the deeper parts of the wilderness. A further, costlier option, mainly restricted to a few operators based in Iquitos, is to take a river cruise on a larger boat. This offers two significant advantages: firstly, the boats are comfortable, with good service and food; and secondly, the programmes take you to remote areas in style, and can then penetrate the deeper forest (such as the rarely visited Pacaya Samiria National Reserve) in well-equipped speedboats. Unlike lodge-based operations, both canoe expeditions and cruises aren't fixed to specific locations, so they can customize programmes and routes. Hotels and tours tend to work out cheaper while there is less demand due to the annual cycle of USA and European holiday seasons, though growing trends in ecological tourism and, more recently, psychedelic or jungle mystic experiences , are bringing groups throughout the year. Cusco is the best base for trips into the southern jungle, with road access to the frontier town of Puerto Maldonado , itself a good base for budget travellers. The nearby forests of Madre de Dios boast the Tambopata-Candamo Reserved Zone and the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park , an enormous tract of virgin rainforest close to the Bolivian border. Many naturalists argue that this region is the most bio-diverse on Earth, and that it's the best place to head for wildlife. An expedition into the Manu Reserved Zone (part of the larger Manu National Biosphere Reserve ), will also bring you into one of the more exciting wildlife regions in South America, but for a quicker and cheaper taste of the jungle, you can go by bus from Cusco via Ollantaytambo to Quillabamba , on the Rio Urubamba. Flowing north along the foot of the Andes, through the dangerous and unforgettable whitewater rapids of the Pongo de Mainique , the Urubamba merges with the Ucayali to flow past Pucallpa , a large (and rapidly growing) industrialized jungle town, best reached by scheduled airflights or the largely paved road from Lima. Nearby is Lago Yarinacocha , an attractively developed lake resort that has declined in popularity as a major destination since the mid-1980s, mainly due to a combination of terrorist infiltration, over-industrialization and the improvement of facilities in other competing jungle regions. However, it remains a good introduction to the rainforest and is reached by a relatively easily overland trip from Lima. From Pucallpa it's possible, if somewhat uncomfortable, to take a boat upriver to Iquitos, the jungle's only real city, although it's easier to come by speedboat from Brazil or to fly from Lima. It's also accessible from the northern coast via an increasingly popular and adventurous route that takes the Rio Huallaga from Yurimaguas, a four- to five-day boat journey that can be broken by a visit to the immense Pacaya Samiria National Reserve at the heart of the upper Amazon. Capital of the remote and massive frontier region of Loreto, Iquitos is one of Peru's most welcoming cities, despite the presence of oil wells, cocaine traffickers and the US Drug Enforcement Agency. It's also the most organized and established of the Peruvian Amazon's tourist destinations, and has many reputable companies offering a range of jungle visits, from luxury lodges and cruises to rugged survival expeditions. From Iquitos you can catch a ferry downstream to the growing town of Requena , similar to how Iquitos was around fifty years ago.
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