Overland it takes 3-days of bus and boat travel to reach this most pristine part of Manu. You can also fly in 45 minutes from Cusco to the Boca Manu landings strip followed by a 6 hour boat trip up the Manu River. The Campsite is in between a lodge and tents: 8 little palm thatched platforms with mosquito screening all around are just big enough to house two comfortable beds. The shared showers and toilets and the lounge also are very simple, and completely built according the park’s regulations. We use candles for lighting. This place has no generator to not disturb its completely natural environment. Temperatures are between 30C (86F) during the day and 24C (75F) at night. Between May and July, the temperature may drop to 18C (64F) during the day and 10C (50F) at night for a couple of days each month.

This is Manu’s most pristine rainforest, and in order to keep it this way, only a restricted number of agencies are allowed to take visitors in. Lake Salvador is the biggest oxbow lake of the Manu basin and has a permanent group of the, by now very rare, 2m long Giant Otter. The lake also houses about 200 caiman, most common are the White and the Black Caiman, but you can also find the rare Smooth-fronted Caiman. Visiting the lake on a floating platform shows you many water birds, the pre-historic looking Hoatzin or “Punk Bird”, Red-capped Cardinals, Neotropic Cormorant, Muscovy Duck, Horned Screamer, Agami Heron, oropendulas, flycatchers and so on. Lake Otorongo, another oxbow lake nearby, has a 20 m high tower, that takes you to halfway through the trees and a wide view over the lake. This lake has much more floating vegetation than the first one, immediately changing the composition of the bird community. Here a common bird is the Wattled Jacana, also called “Jesus Bird” for its habit to walk over the vegetation floating on the water. Special is when you meet a monkey group at eye level!

There are several trails you can hike to find wildlife, though in reality you could also just stay at the Campsite and wait for the animals to pass through! You can visit two lakes, Cocha Salvador, the biggest one on a floating platform, and Cocha Otorongo, the smaller one from the20 m high observation tower on its shores. Night hikes show you a  stunning insect biodiversity! Or you return to Cocha Salvador’s floating platform to look for caiman with your flashlight.

Campsite Sachavaca offers you safe and basic accommodation, from where you can explore the magical world of a pristine rainforest.