Peru Natural Reserves Revealed!

The Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve, created by the Peruvian government, encompasses 57,600 hectares of land approximately 23km south of Iquitos.

With an area of 142,272 acres, Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve (AMNR) contains 500 varieties of trees per 2.5 acres, more than any site on earth and nearly 100 plant species which do not exist anywhere else in the world. The flora of the reserve is diverse with over 1,900 species. This rainforests is composed of several soil types ranging from rare white quartz sands to red clays. Each of these soil types support a unique community of plants and animals, thus making the AMNR one of the most bio-diversed areas in the world.

Three species of endangered primates are found within the reserve and for two of them, the Yellow-handed Titi Monkey and the Equatorial Saki Monkey, Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve is the only place where these monkeys' habitat has been officially protected in Peru.

However, biologists have only studied a small part of the flora and fauna of Allpahuayo - Mishana. This reserve harbors the only white-sand forests that enjoy legal protection in Peru and protects the largest concentration known of this type of forest in the country.

Peru supports the highest number of birds of any country with more than 1,800 species. This extraordinary diversity is largely due to the great diversity of habitats associated with the variability of soils of distinct origins, texture, age, drainage, state of oxidation, and nutrient content, derived from the erosion of the Andes.

The area around Iquitos, in the lowland tropics of north-east Peru is especially rich in plants and animals, including birds. There are more than 800 species, more than 1 in every 12 species found on earth, can be seen in the area.

The existence of such different bird communities is a due to the diversity of habitats found in the area. There are groups of birds associated with distinct types of forest and other vegetative formations, which grow on different soils and under different drainage conditions. These include terre firme forest on poor soils, amongst which those of white sand are particularly noticeable, forest on non-flooding nutrient rich soils, flooded forests on white waters or varzea, flooded forests on black water or igapó, various successional habitats associated with river islands, palm swamps, marshes, shrub-dominated swamps, bambooo-dominated forest and various others.

Most Amazons are predominantly green, with accenting colors that depend on the species and can be quite vivid. Amazons, like all parrots, are zygodactyl, having four toes on each foot—two front and two back. They feed primarily on nuts and fruits, supplemented by leafy matter.

There are undoubtedly few countries in the world where bird lovers can be as delighted as in Peru. Here they have the opportunity to watch 115 endemic species and many very rare species, besides 60 migratory species.

Peru offers the opportunity to discover new species in remote zones hardly explored or unexplored at all. In 1973 only 1,542 bird species were known in the country; today this figure rises up to 1,816 species. This is a considerable increase for 30 years and several of them have been described as new ones.

On the other hand, Peru offers renown places for birdwatching, from the Pacific shores and the mangrove swamps to the dry forests, the high Andes and the Amazon.

The most spectacular places are Paracas National Reserve, Tumbes, the Junín Lake, the Titicaca Lake, Pacaya - Samiria National Reserve and Madre de Dios.

Paracas National Reserve and its surroundings are the ideal place to watch marine birds, especially at the guano islands as well as on the desert. As a Ramsar site it is also an interesting spot to watch migratory birds. In the area it is possible to observe around 200 species and also the bird populations of the guano islands.

Tumbes is ideal to watch the birds of the mangrove swamps and the tropical Pacific coasts as well as birds from the equatorial dry forest in the Manglares de Tumbes National Sanctuary. Here it is possible to watch more than 60 bird species that are endemic to the dry forests and the Pacific tropical forests.

The Junín Lake is located in the central highlands and can be reached by car from Lima. It is one of the places to observe Andean aquatic birds, among them the endemic Junin Grebe as well as numerous species of the high Andean plateau around the lake.

The Titicaca Lake is one of the most interesting places to watch Andean aquatic and land birds, with more than 80 species. The Short-winged Titicaca Grebe, an endemic species, and the widest variety of ducks are outstanding.

The Pacaya - Samiria National Reserve in Loreto is a paradise for Amazon aquatic and forest birds. Here it is possible to watch more than 450 species, besides other fauna as dolphins, otters, primates and many others. It can be reached from the city of Iquitos.

Manú National Park is a biosphere reserve located in Madre de Dios and Paucartambo, Cusco. Before becoming an area protected by the Peruvian government, the Manú National Park was conserved thanks to its inaccessibility. The park remains fairly inaccessible by road to this day. In 1977, UNESCO recognised it as a Reserve of Biosphere and in 1987, it was pronounced a World Heritage Site. It is the largest National Park in Peru, covering an area of 15,328 km².

Manu protects a greater number of plant and animal species than any other such South American park (with the exception of remote Madidi in Bolivia). The list includes 1,000 species of birds, more than 200 species of mammals (100 of which are bats), and 15,000 species of flowering plants. These high numbers come from Manu's location on the eastern slopes and foothill forests of the tropical Andes, in the extreme western Amazon basin. The advantage of this location is simple; nutrient-rich soils wash down from the highlands, giving rise to a much higher biodiversity than one finds in more easterly portions of the Amazon watershed. No other protected area offers a visitor so much wild nature in such a relatively small region -- a region covering such a wide altitudinal range.

Macaws provide a great incentive for tourism in Manu. While pursuing the ingestion of clay on the riverside clay licks, they congregate in large numbers, providing visitors with a spectacular display of color and sound. The clay licks alone, discovered within the last few decades, are a great boon to Manu's fame.

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