Manu National Park or Tambopata for an Amazon Rainforest Tour?

Manu and Tambopata are famous areas of protected Amazon Rainforest in Peru. To reach the area, your will will first need to fly to Puerto Maldonado in southern Peru. Tambopata is an area of outstanding diversity and part of one of the world's largest areas of protected tropical forest.

As our recommended suggestion, click the short video below for an introduction to the Tambopata Research Center.

The most important consideration is the tour or lodge you choose, as it's the guides, service and lodge that really make or break the experience. Both of these protected areas are incredible and offer fantastic wildlife sightings. They are both home to lakes with giant amazon otters, macaw clay licks to see large colorful parrots, and a high number of other species. However, there are some differences. We will mention these a little later and will show some summary species lists to give you an idea of differences in diversity between Tambopata and Manu.

To start with, let’s look at Manu. Manu National Park is the largest and most pristine protected area in Peru. As this is a national park, it means you can only visit the reserved zone at the periphery of the park boundary. This is not really a problem as this section of the park contains some of the most attractive wildlife-filled lakes and more easily seen wildlife in the Manu region. As wildlife is constantly moving around and doesn’t stick to park boundary rules, the same wildlife wanders through these areas and also outside the park boundary. This means even the rainforest surrounding Manu National Park and the reserved zone is often as good (if not better) than visiting inside Manu National Park itself.

We say ‘if not better’ as because of the strict rules governing national parks, responsible lodges have more freedom to place the lodges near to areas for the best wildlife viewing when outside the park boundary.

At Manu Wildlife Center, you can see the macaw clay lick to see fantastic spectacles of colorful parrots, the tapir clay lick to see South America’s largest land mammal, enjoy rainforest walks to find monkeys and other Amazon wildlife, and tour a lake to see the resident population of giant Amazon otters.

Tambopata is the best choice in Peru for a short Amazon tour of 3 or 4 days (ideal to add-on to a visit to Machu Picchu) as the Tambopata National Reserve, a section of a 3-million hectare protected area of rainforest, is located just 20 minutes from the base town of Puerto Maldonado. Tambopata also contains phenomenal levels of animals and plants, which make it the best place in the Amazon Rainforest for a short tour of 2 or 3 nights.

Our selection of excellent lodges for a short tour include the Posada Amazonas Lodge and Refugio Amazonas Lodge. These two lodges are located close to a clay lick to see parakeets, parrots, and some mammals feeding from medicinal clay. Both the Posada Amazonas Lodge and Refugio Amazonas Lodge feature a canopy tower to get a bird’s eye view of the forest and offer additional activities like aerobotany, citizen science and night walks. The Posada Amazonas Lodge is also community owned making it a great example of a responsible lodge and is co-managed by the same people who own Refugio Amazonas Lodge.

For another deep Amazon Rainforest lodge, you also have the Tambopata Research Center. Unlike all the above lodges, this is the only lodge located in the middle of an actual reserve as the lodge sits in the middle of Tambopata National Reserve to give a deep experience of the protected area.

Home to amazing levels of animals and plants, Tambopata Research Center is located close to one of the largest macaw clay licks in the Amazon Rainforest. This makes it a great place to see a high number of Amazonian animals and almost guaranteed sightings of macaw parrots, although, please enquire for when the clay licks are most active. The licks are usually least active between April – July and most active between December and January, but there is some variability as there are numerous influences, such as abundance of food due to seasonal fluctuation and food availability in the surrounding areas.

Wildlife differences between Manu and Tambopata Rainforest

Birds: 599 species seen from Manu Tented Camp (located in reserved zone of Manu National Park), 599 species seen from Manu Wildlife Center (located in a private reserve just outside Manu National Park), 486 species seen from Heath River Wildlife Center (deep lodge in Tambopata Amazon), and 395 species seen around Sandoval Lake Lodge (lodge closer to Puerto Maldonado).

Mammals: 142 species seen around Manu Tented Camp, 119 species seen around Manu Wildlife Center, 78 species seen around Heath River Wildlife Center, and 74 species seen around Sandoval Lake Lodge.

Amphibians: Diversity is strongest at the Manu Tented Camp with 86 species, which is followed by 28 species seen around Sandoval Lake Lodge, 25 species seen near Heath River Wildlife Center and 22 species seen around Manu Wildlife Center.

Reptiles: 82 species at Manu Tented Camp, 26 species at Sandoval Lake Lodge, 19 species at Manu Wildlife Center, and 14 species at Heath River Wildlife Center.