THE MANU NATIONAL PARK IS A 1.8-MILLION-HECTARE RAINFOREST RESERVE. THE BIGGEST NATIONAL PARK IN PERU, IT IS ONE OF THE BEST PLACES IN SOUTH AMERICA TO SEE A WIDE VARIETY OF RAINFOREST WILDLIFE AND WILL DELIGHT NATURE LOVERS AND BIRDWATCHERS.
Manu encompasses an area that stretches from the eastern slopes of the Andes and plunges down into the lowlands, converging a wide range of cloud forest and rainforest habitats. As a result of its relatively inaccessible location between the Andes and the Brazilian rainforest, loggers have hardly touched Manú, and the area thus retains the most spectacular primary forest on earth. The endless expanse of endemic trees and the sheer variety of species, both of animals and plants, make Manú a truly extraordinary destination.
Flora
Vegetation types inside the park include puna grassland (in areas over 4000 m), high Andean forests, cloud forests and lowland Amazon rainforest. This variety of vegetation types is represented in 162 families, 1191 genera and 4385 identified species of plants, with as much as 250 tree species in one hectare. A study found a total of 1108 species of trees inside the park, from several plots between the mountain tree line and the lowland forest.
Fauna
About 160 species of mammals have been reported in the park. Mammals found in the lowland rainforest zone of the park include: the jaguar, the tayra, the giant armadillo, the puma (also present in mountainous areas), the ocelot, the collared peccary, the giant otter, the Peruvian spider monkey, the Mexican free-tailed bat, the jaguarundi, the capybara, the tufted capuchin, the white-lipped peccary, the greater bulldog bat, the Southern Amazon red squirrel, the marsh deer, the water opossum, the red brocket, the brown-throated sloth, the black-capped squirrel monkey, the South American tapir, the southern tamandua, the moustached tamarin, the pacarana, etc. Mammals reported from mountain zones in the park include: the white-tailed deer, the Andean fox, the mountain paca, the long-tailed weasel, the montane guinea pig, the spectacled bear, etc.
