dneafse@... wrote:
> Hello,
>
> in Peru. We've found that most tour packages to the park are outside
> of our budget. Currently we're leaning towards taking an 8 day/7 night
> tour package with Vilca Expeditions, which is one of the least
> expensive options we've come across.
>
> Has anyone in this group had experience with Vilca? Our Peru travel
>
Hi,
I took exactly that tour (bus both ways) in oct/nov 2003 and liked it
a lot. After checking out a few tour operators in Cuzco I settled on
Vilca Expeditions which was only USD 500, meaning almost half of all
other tours. Whatever you do, you should at least take the bus once (to
the rainforest or back) to see the fantastic cloud forest. You might
consider flying one-way since two days are spend on the same way.
Regarding the organisation of Vilca I was highly satisfied. Our tour
guide was a biologist and everything worked as expected. There were
bird books and the "A Neotropical Companion" by John Kricher (get one
before you go there!). In our group
there were only 8 people which made it easier to see wildlife than in
some of the larger groups I saw on the trip
Some minor things (which I didn't mind) that could be different with the more
expensive companies are:
1) no binoculars provided (can be easily bought or rented in Cuzco, or
bring from home)
2) simpler seats on the boats: just mattresses on benches. Others
tended to have seperate (car-like) seats. Not sure what is more
comfortable since we could lie down while others had to sit straight
all day long.
3) simpler accomodation?; no idea if true. We camped three nights on
some platform-like things. toilets did exist. the non-camping
accomodations were good to excellent
4) food?; again no idea what others provide. We had a simple lunch
(bread, an avocado, some meat, or such) and more advanced dinner (rice
and fish, or curassow (spelling?) and sweet potato,...)
5) Due to low water, we had to push the boat two times, i.e. the guys
had to go to the water and get it out. That was rather fun (unless you
are concerned about caimans or bilharziose). Probably that's the same
with other companies.
6) The whole group helped loading/unloading the boat. Again I
experienced this to be more like fun and it provided an
expedition-feeling.
So if you don't worry about 1-6, you should definitely go for it. It
was a highlight of my trip to Peru and I would chose Vilca expeditions
any time again.
If you'd like to see a few pictures from the trip, have a look at my
website: . If you
have more questions you can contact me also via email.
Have a nice trip
Jens |