In the meanwhile, two research teams have been carrying out studies in the Manu park: Professor John Terborgh and his group (first for Princeton University and later, Duke), and my Wildlife Conservation Society team. Since 1973, Dr. Terborgh and his students (I was one) have conducted a broad range of ground-breaking research on animals and plants, as well as forest dynamics and other topics. My work for WCS has concentrated mostly on the biology of macaws, which are the largest and gaudiest of the world's 340 species of parrots.

Other current initiatives in conservation in the Manu area are:

The creation of titled Indian community lands, communal hunting reserves (for subsistence hunting only) and Indian reserves (for eventual titling to currently uncontacted Indians) in Manu-sized chunks of terrain to the west, east, and north of the park and Reserved Zone. This work is being carried out almost entirely by CEDIA, principally with very generous support of the Nikitine Family Fund, Friends of the Peruvian Rainforest and WCS.

The demarcation and titling by the Cusco-based conservation group Inka Natura/Selva Sur of 250 smaller colonist plots and of the park boundary itself, along the south eastern and eastern border of the Manu park in the foothills and lowlands. Once the park boundary is clear and the long-term forest colonists (mostly from the dry Andean highlands ) receive clear title through this project, and for the first time know the exact borders of their titled plots, the park will be surrounded by a buffer zone of pro-park neighbors, who will not let anyone settle behind them. This titling is supported principally by Friends of the Peruvian Rainforest.

Selva Sur and the InkaNatura Association have teamed up to produce a network of three small, joint venture nature lodges with local forest families and communities from the Manu area, each at a different elevation featuring unique biodiversity and scenery.

Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge is at 5,000 feet of elevation in the middle of the private reserve mentioned in the previous item. This lodge is a mere seven minute stroll from the world's largest known display ground of the blazing red Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, which is like South America's own "bird of paradise".

The second, Pantiacolla Lodge, is situated in the foothill forest, and may be the finest single birdwatching lodge in the world. It offers a long, gradual trail up a 3,000 foot elevation gradient, which yields an enormous bird list.

The last lodge, Manu Wildlife Center, is in the lowlands and is the single best wildlife viewing lodge in the entire Amazon. It is only 25 minutes by boat from the biggest macaw clay lick in the greater Manu area, which also currently is the most easily approached and photographed large macaw lick in the world. The Center also boasts the world's largest known Tapir Clay Lick, to which 1-6 tapirs usually come before 11 o'clock on dry nights. A record 19 tapirs have been counted during one night at this lick. Currently, this is the best place in the world to see these amazing beasts, which are the largest terrestrial animals in South America.

Local rain forest families are full partners in both Pantiacolla Lodge and Manu Wildlife Center, an unusual feature that makes these and other InkaNatura and Selva Sur projects in other parts of Peru the only lodges with partners who are actual rain forest peoples. To our knowledge, no other lodge in the New World Tropics currently has local rain forest families (as opposed to transplanted urban investors) as full, voting partners. See more about these lodges by visiting the Web page of InkaNatura Travel.