Manu Wildlife Center and Sandoval Lake Lodge, both located in Peru, have been identified by Condé Nast Traveler magazine as some of the finest lodges in the Amazon basin.

The December 2002 issue of the magazine featured an article called "Unlocking the Amazon" by Joe Kane, author of Savages, an account of his time spent living with an indigenous tribe in the Amazonian Rainforest. This time, Mr. Kane left tent-living behind and chose lodges that represent the "best of what ecotourism can offer." His top pick in Peru, Manu Wildlife Center, is typical of the kind of experience that lodges in the Tropical Nature conservation system provide. "Tucked up against the foothills of the Andes," he writes, "in a species-rich combination of primary forest and mature floodplain, the center offered, what is, hands down, the most intense wildlife experience I've had in Amazonia." He describes watching macaws from a viewing blind and waiting for tapirs from a hidden platform raised off the ground on stilts. He followed a family of giant otters around a lake and still finds space to describe the homey comforts of the lodge itself, which include private baths and hot showers, and to describe the "recently expanded bar and the dining hall…built of driftwood mahogany" that have "a soothing reddish glow, especially when lit by candles."

Sandoval Lake Lodge is a second pick: "The budget alternative to Manu Wildlife Center, Sandoval Lake Lodge is the only accommodation within the Tambopata-Candamo Reserve, south of Manu National Park. Owned and managed by a conservation group, Sandoval has a reputation for great food and relatively easy access (it's a short boat ride from Puerto Maldonado, which is a quick flight from Cuzco), but more especially for its setting on high bluffs overlooking a spectacular oxbow lake, and for its wildlife, which includes giant river otters, red-bellied macaws, five species of monkey, and dense concentrations of birds and butterflies.."

Click to return to the Manu Wildlife Center and Sandoval Lake Lodge pages for more information about these world-class lodges.