Background

The relative proximity to Cuzco of Manu in particular has made it one of the prime nature-watching destinations in South America. Despite its reputation, Manu is heavily protected, with visitor numbers limited and a large percentage of the park inaccessible to tourists. Nevertheless, there is no need to worry that this level of management is going to diminish your pleasure. There is more than enough in the way of birds, animals and plants to satisfy the most ardent wildlife enthusiast. Tambopata does have a town in the vicinity, Puerto Maldonado, and the area is under threat from exploitation and settlement. The suspension of oil exploration in 2000 led to a change of status for a large tract of this area, giving immediate protection to another of Peru's zones of record-breaking diversity.

Since 2003 the new emerging threat to the forests of Madre de Dios is the planned construction of the Interoceánica, a road linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans via Puerto Maldonado and Brazil. The paving of this road system, creating a high-speed link between the two countries, will certainly bring more uncontrolled colonization in the area, placing the forests of the Tambopata region under further pressure. The uncontrolled colonization of the Bahuaja-Sonene's southern border, in the Tambopata headwaters area is another cause for concern. On top of that is illegal logging and the issue of new oil exploration contracts for most of Madre de Dios outside of the conservation concessions. This, in spite of the fact that they overlap heavily with the indigenous territories concession, including the lands of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation.