Caiman Tours (Garcilaso 210, of. 207, Cusco, tel. 084/25-4041, www.manucaiman.com, five days/four nights US$850 pp) is run by Manu pioneer Hugo Pepper and is best known for custom-designed, creative adventure trips in and around the Manu. Hugo took the first tourists to the Manu in the early 1980s; they camped on beaches and boiled water from the river.

Caiman is famous for its five-day Cusco–Manu mountain-biking trips, which pass through Pisac and include a 3,100-meter descent from Tres Cruces, which overlooks the Amazon, to the edge of the Río Madre de Dios at Atalaya. These trips include a cook and a support vehicle that follows the bikers.

Upon request, Hugo can dream up an extraordinary range of Manu adventures. A recent brainstorm included a two-day hike from Salvación, on the banks of Río Madre de Dios, over the jungle into the headwaters of the remote Río Chilive.

From here, a crew of expert native guides helped the adventurers assemble a flotilla of balsa wood rafts, held together with hardwood nails and tethered with bark fiber. The descent of the river ended up taking only eight days, thanks to a series of storms that dramatically quickened the river current!

After reaching the Río Manu, the crew took a peke-peke boat to the gold-mining town of Colorado and a truck onward to Puerto Maldonado. Hugo is planning on offering these trips in the future, which can easily be combined with a night’s stay at the Tambo Blanquillo Lodge and a visit to the large macaw clay lick.

Hugo has not lost sight of the original Manu experience—his most successful ventures are rugged camping trips throughout the Manu. Before venturing into the wild, however, groups stay at the brand-new and highly comfortable Manu Paradise Lodge (www.manuparadiselodge.com). The lodge has screened rooms, spring beds, full bathrooms, a gorgeous dining area, and a rooftop library with views over the jungle. Once in Manu’s Reserved Zone, Caiman’s groups stay at a safari camp on Cocha Salvador.