Specialty trips that tie into the lifestyle pursuits in discrete, sometimes small market niches are a growing trend in travel. Peru is targeting these markets with fam tours for tour operators in these market niches and they have a lot to offer. Most recently Peru’s tourism agency, Promperu, conducted the country’s first Nature and Bird Fair. Companies specializing in birding tours from all over the world traveled along three distinct birding routes.
From archaeological splendors high in the clouds of the Andes to the rainforests of the Amazon, Peru offers incomparable natural and historical wonders. It is emerging under the leadership of Promperu as a destination for specialty travel. Promperu has a unique strategy to attract high-end, specialty travelers, such as birdwatchers, who rabidly keep their life lists, archaeological buffs, mystified by the perfectly cut stone of Incan stone masons, and environmentalists concerned about the future of the Amazon rainforest. In September, I attended Peru’s first Nature and Bird Fair, hosted by Promperu, and chose a cruise on Amazon up the Rio Ucayali, one of the Amazon’s tributaries to the Pacaya Samiria Reserve.
Arriving in Lima late at night, Promperu had arranged for us to stay in a new Hotel Costa del Sol, a Peruvian Ramada Inn, conveniently located right out the door of the airport. Rising at 4:00 AM, we boarded a LAN Air flight to Iquitos 627 miles over the Andes northeast of Lima. Be sure you get a window seat if you ever take this flight. The jagged peaks of the Andes could be seen rising far above the carpet of clouds. By the way, the service of LAN Air is exceptional and their fleet of new Airbus aircraft offer more room and comfort than many of aging aircraft flown by American carriers.
If the airport in Lima is modern, the Iquitos airport smacks of the frontier and since this is adventure travel, I would have been disappointed with anything more. We were whisked away in a van toward the town of Nauta on the Río Marañón. Enroute we stopped at a nature preserve to call-in and site an obscure new species of antbird, its chirp broadcast from an MP3 player in the hands of Noam Shany, an Israeli who immigrated to Peru to help with conservation projects. Noam has almost all the 1,800 bird species in northern South America on his life list. Like music, bird songs can be downloaded from the web and played back to call in obscure species.
In Nauta we boarded the El Delfin, an Amazon River cruise boat with 7 air-conditioned cabins for two, each with its own private bath. An open air lounge on the top deck gave us great views of the surrounding river as we headed downriver to the confluence of the Ucayali and Río Marañón. Peru and the Amazon rainforest are experiencing extreme drought conditions. According to the Peruvian Navy’s Hydrographic and Navigation Service, while we were there the river fell to its second lowest level in recorded history. In September 2005, river levels were 106.08 meters above sea level. Since the river is the only way to reach many remote villages, there is concern that they will be stranded.
To reach the Pacaya Samiria Reserve, we turned up the Ucayali with the broad Amazon flowing to East toward Brazil. Pink and gray freshwater dolphins surfaced frequently as we cruised along in idyllic conditions.
In the evening, the El Delfin’s launches took us near shore or up river at twilight to see a tremendous number of birds, owls, bats, caimans and other species. One unique species of bats clung to a tree branch in the river, flattened against the surface to look like lichen, virtually undetectable as mammals unless you really knew what you were looking for.
Our destination was a village Manco Cápac on Ucayali River where the villagers have taken over management of the Pacaya Samiria Reserve to restore its turtle and fish populations. The Peruvian government has virtually no presence in much of the back country. There are no local police, no Park Service employees. Therefore, the Amazon rainforest is at risk from wildlife traffickers, illegal logging, and unregulated subsistence hunters and fishermen. The Amazon watershed is a vast commons with no one responsible for its long term ecological integrity. In the rainy season, when much of the Amazon basin floods, loggers move in to harvest mahogany and wildlife traffickers capture exotic species for sale to collectors. One of the conservationists on our trip estimated that 90% of the world’s illegal mahogany came from Peru.
The people of the Amazon in Peru grow corn, rice and other crops along the first quarter mile of the river’s flood plain, but their farming techniques are not sophisticated and crop yields are often low. Therefore, many villagers still hunt, fish and gather fruit from the rainforest to survive. With burgeoning population growth, the pressures on the rainforest are unsustainable unless managed.
Our destination was one of the bright spots in the efforts to preserve the Amazon ecosystem, the Pacaya- Samiria Reserve and Lake El Dorado. We reached El Dorado after a four-mile hike through the rainforest where our guide showed us many of the plants and trees used by the villagers for medicines and other life needs. After a four-hour boat trip, with many species of birds, jaguar tracks and caimans sighted along the way, we reached the lake. It seemed like an ecological wonderland, but the other side of the story was soon to be told.
The conservation story at Lake El Dorado is as remarkable as it is rare. In 1994 only four paiche, the Amazon’s largest freshwater fish and a delicacy, were sighted in the lake. Fishermen from Iquitos with efficient nets were wiping out the fish population of El Dorado. A company called YacuTayta (in Quechua, literally, “the father of the water”) was formed by villagers from Manco Cápac. YacuTayta was the first ever communal fishing company whose official goal is the sustainable development of the resources of the Pacaya-Samiria. Decimated turtle populations are also being restored by Manco Cápac. The villagers conservation efforts have been successful. Over 600 paiche are in the lake system now and their successful incubation of turtle eggs is restoring this threatened specie.
The Peruvian government, with the assistance of the US AID and the Nature Conservancy, helped the company start an ecotourism project to conserve the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve. A modest ecotourism lodge on Lake El Dorado with capacity for eight currently sees about four groups per year. The accommodations are comfortable but a little cramped, the food good, but travelers used to the luxury of the El Delfin will have to be prepared for the more spartan conditions at El Dorado. The lights are powered by one solar panel. The lodge needs to be expanded with a deck, more than one bath, and some fans to provide some relief in the humid conditions. Still, the visit was well worth it and these were minor inconveniences for those of us used to adventure travel. Travelers with high expectations may not be as tolerant as our group, who were more than entertained by many species of birds and wildlife around the lake. With some expansion and a few more solar panels to help with power, the lodge would be able to attract more visitors and help the company sustain their conservation efforts. There will never be thousands of visitors to the area because it is too remote and isolated, but a few more would help fulfill the mission Rumbos Travel in Peru currently handles the reservations to the village and lodge.
The wonderful people of Manco Cápac caught and released a paiche for us, which appeared to weigh about 150 pounds. After netting it, they deftly flipped the huge fish into their canoe before releasing it into the lake. While at the lodge, we ate pork fish, a large perch like fish that eats fruit that falls from trees during the rainy season. Beans and rice and a unique omelet with chocolate were also part of our menu.
After a night’s stay at the lodge, we returned to the El Delfin and headed back to Iquitos. The knowledgeable, hard-working crew of the El Delfin gave us a quick tour of Iquitos, which was once the center of the rubber boom of the late 1800’s before the rubber plantations of southeast Asia took over their market. Iquitos is a bustling city of 300,000 with lumber, agriculture and tourism among its primary sources of commerce. We saw the good and the bad. At one point a Brit who ran a business near the river, whispered in the ear of one of our leaders and we found ourselves winding our way through several corridors to a backroom where a harpy eagle was perched on a log. Little did his young American handler know, that the group was comprised of conservationists and birders who were tacitly alarmed by the situation. The handler said he was caring for the eagle, which had been raised from a chick after its mother’s nest had been raided by wildlife traffickers. The bird appeared to have bumblefoot from being perched on the hard wooden surface. While the circumstances as described may have been true, the situation would be investigated after our departure by the appropriate authorities.
Aside from the lessons learned about the challenges facing the Amazon and the wonderful people of Peru, this trip offered a window into the potential of the market for specialty travel. Whether its birding, architecture, astronomy, natural history, music, watercolor painting, environmental issues, or nature tours, these niche markets are expanding and the small but dedicated travelers for these lifestyle pursuits will pay top dollar for first class trips. Many America Outdoors members are already running custom trips for these groups, making more room in their trip schedules for specialty trips. For more information on these trips visit http://www.adventurevacation.com For some companies this is their core business but for others outfitters hire specialists to lead their trips, which augment existing lines of business and provide some uniqueness to their services. Several of the tour companies on the Peru trip were planning tours to Peru as the trip ended.
In Lima America Outdoors’ member, Pepe Lopez met me for dinner before I departed. We discussed the wonders and challenges facing travel and tourism in Peru. With a stable government in place and many wonders to offer, the country’s future for travel and tourism is bright if you hook up with the right operator. Pepe described some of the issues facing the rafting industry, which are not unlike those the industry in the U.S. faced during its genesis.
For more information about this trip, contact dbrown@americaoutdoors.org