This region is home to one of the world's highest biodiversity concentrations and has a spectacular array of flora and fauna species

This area is located in the southeastern corner of Peru, near the border with Bolivia and Brazil. It is the most accessible rainforest from Cusco.

This area, known as Antisuyo during the Inca Empire, has had a history of resource extraction beginning with the rubber boom, logging, and gold prospecting, and more recently, oil exploration. Despite all this activity, however, 98% of the territory is comprised of virgin forests. It is the territory with the lowestpopulation density, 60,000 inhabitants in 80,000 km2 (19,768,400 acres) of jungle. There are three protected areas located in this territory including Manu National Park and Reserved Zone, Tambopata-Candamo Reserved Zone and Bahuaja-Sonene National Park. Together they comprise 3.5 million hectares (8,648,500 acres) of protected rainforest ecosystems, and represent the greatest and richest area for biodiversity in the world.

Puerto Maldonado

The capital of the region is Puerto Maldonado, a fairly small town founded in 1912, which is the most important town of the southern rainforest. It is located at 210 m.a.s.l., at the junction of the Tambopata and Madre de Dios rivers. River access is available from the towns of Covija in Bolivia (6 hours) and Assis in Brazil (242 km.). Despite its commercial history, Puerto Maldonado has grown slowly. Recently, both government and non-government agencies have proposed the development of tourist services and attractions in Puerto Maldonado, "The Capital of Biodiversity". The government is interested in making this area an important destination for travelers. This year, a new airport building was constructed as well as a new road access to the city. 

The height of the tourist season in Puerto Maldonado is from May to November. Lots of young people walk around the Army Square and nearby streets and restaurants, pizza places, ice-cream shops and discotheques provide the opportunity for enjoyable stopovers before and after visits to the rainforest.

Puerto Maldonado is the starting point for trips to Tambopata, Piedras and the lower part of the Madre de Dios Rivers regions. There are daily flights from Lima or Cusco. For the more adventurous traveler, there is a dirt road from Cusco that takes a minimum of three-days by truck with the predictable discomforts and delays.

Native Communities

We can find here more than five language groups and over thirty racial types spread out throughout the entire province. Some of these groups live away from their original clans and have mixed with the outside population, but there are still large groups who live in their own reserves or communities.  There are also several groups with whom contact has not yet been made. These groups live in the north part of the province and do not wish to establish contact with the white man in fear of their weapons and illnesses.

These are nomad groups. Right now, efforts are being made by a special  movement so that this area can be officially declared as a Reserve in order to ensure the peaceful survival of these groups and avoid the extermination of their resources in the forest. This special movement is known as CAR, which stands for Regional environment commission of Madre de Dios. The ethnical group known as Harankbut was the last one to get integrated into the western world. This happened starting the year of 1954. The rubber industry could never beat them. Nowadays you can visit their territories as part of a one-day tour, which starts in Puerto Maldonado and takes you to the native community known as Amarakaeri.

Main attraction

Sandoval Lake	Valencia Lake	Heath Pampas
Other Lake