All in all it was a good experience, although we saw much fewer animals than countries like Costa Rica or Malaysia (Borneo) where I have already been and spent less time.
If you come for birds then you will have many sightings.
The guide (Demetrio) and crew were very competent and made the experience enjoyable.
Food was great.
Beds and linen were not ok, they smelled like mold. This should not happen if washed accordingly.
The Planning of the trip (presented on the web site) does not mention very important information (for a reason). It does not specify that you will wake up at 4am for 3 of the 5 days. It does not mention you will travel 14 -16 hours per day on the 1st and last day of the trip.
You spend 20% of the time on wildlife, 80% on the road.
Day 4 with the night in the blind was a complete waste and bad experience. Should have been completely changed. We arrived at the blind at 6pm on a full stormy rainy night, went to sleep and woke up at 3h30 am.We were supposed to sleep there and wake up in cas we heard any noise but with the heavy rain we couldn’t hear anything.
No other activities once at the blind for 10hours.
Blinds could be improved, the toilet was at 1meter from beds that had a moldy smell. Also maybe change the hanging sheet as a toilet door.
The 5 days Manu Reserved area should in my opinion not be proposed to the public due to the enormous amount of travel time and little sightings of animals on the road. It is not worth the money we paid.
We are fully aware that nature is unpredictable and no one can guarantee seeing the animals but I feel that was mainly because everything was rushed and we didn’t have the time to explore the jungle long enough. Demetrio and the boat crew are great spotters and we really appreciated their effort ( during the boat ride they spotted three capybaras and an ocelot which was amazing) but I got the feeling that there was not much to spot.