Peru: From the Andes to the Amazon
October 9 – 20, 2026 • Leader: Paul Pisano
This trip is full.
Email [email protected] to be added to the waitlist.
The Magic of Peru –
Manu Road to Machu Picchu
Peru is a country so rich in nature and history that it’s impossible to see it all in one trip. Deciding where to go and what to see can be a challenge. We are excited to invite you to join Nature Forward and Conservación Amazónica on this expedition to two of the most famous sites in the country – the Manu Road and Machu Picchu.
Peru is home to more than 1,800 species of birds, including some of the most beautiful and spectacular in the world.
It’s also the home of the oldest known civilization in the Americas, dating back to 3500 BCE. These pre-Inca communities flourished for millennia, and many centuries later, Peru became the center of the Inca empire – the largest empire in pre-Columbian America.
We’ve developed an itinerary that explores this nature and history, while also incorporating conservation highlights. These areas continue to be vital travel destinations because they have been protected and conserved, and we’ll have the incredible opportunity to learn about some of these innovative conservation efforts that are protecting them, learning from them, and enabling the people who live there to prosper.
We hope you’ll join us! See below for our full itinerary, costs, and other details (available January 28). This trip fills quickly, so please reserve your space soon.
An amazing nature tour with conservation highlights
If you’ve been wanting to visit Peru but have been putting it off, I hope this invitation is the nudge you need to explore Peru’s magical riches.
On this tour, you’ll go from the highest reaches of the Andes Mountains to the Amazonion lowlands of southern Peru – exploring several distinct ecosystems along the way while also learning about ongoing conservation efforts.
Machu Picchu
Even if you’ve been before, you’ll surely see something new on this trip. We’ll begin and end our tour in Cusco, and the first half will consist of driving the Manu Road, which, according to Victor Emanual, “is the best road I’ve ever gone birding on, in terms of the variety of habitats and birds.” From there, we will travel down the Sacred Valley of the Urubamba River and visit the infamous Machu Picchu.
Throughout the tour, we’ll weave in opportunities to see conservation in action. This experience includes a stay at Conservación Amazónica’s research stations/ecolodges – Wayqecha and Manu Lodge. Wayqecha is in the Andean cloud forest, at about 10,000 ft, while the Manu Lodge is at about 2,000 ft. This change in elevation passes through different ecosystems, and with that comes a wide range of plants, birds, insects, and other animals. In fact, the adjacent Manu National Park is one of the world’s most biodiverse protected areas.
I hope this invitation spurs your desire to see these magical wonders of Peru, and I look forward to sharing this sensational experience with Nature Forward members.
Sincerely,
Paul Pisano
Trip Leader
