3-Day All Inclusive Guided Jungle Tour from Iquitos at Maniti Eco-Lodge

Great Guide- Not so Great Facilities.

The first thing I want to say about this tour is that our guide, Rene, was wonderful, and he really saved the experience for us. He was knowledgeable, kind and we enjoyed all the time we spent with him. I wish I could praise the Maniti facility itself in the same way, and I don’t usually like to leave a negative review but there are certainly a few things that were very misleading and I wish I had known before spending over $1200 for this tour!! The name eco lodge implies a clean, quiet, nature forward accommodation and this place was far from that. There was garbage all over the resort. From the minute you arrive- plastic, garbage, debris everywhere! It was particularly bad near the food preparation area. It was very upsetting to see, it made the whole thing feel a little bit exploitative- here this company is charging people money to come and see the “unspoiled rainforest”, yet they cannot even be bothered to take care of the same land it is that they are making money by bringing people to. It was appalling. I understand that staying in the rainforest, there is going to be a certain rustic charm to the accommodations, but these cabins are almost uninhabitable. The pillows and mattresses are filthy, covered in mold, and what appeared to be blood on one. It was disgusting. For the price they are charging people and the amount of people we saw coming to this place, I think it’s safe to say they could afford some new mattresses and pillows. And with all this being said- if we thought the guest accommodations were bad- the staff accommodations were truly deplorable. Little tiny mattresses with mosquito nets, no walls on their shelter- it is obvious to see that staff are not being treated in the way they should be. A few times we questioned where all the money we are paying is going- because it certainly doesn’t seem that it is back into the lodge. The whole thing was just very weird. My third complaint is that in this Viator description it says there are two “hammock rooms” for rest and connection with nature. This is incorrect- there is one hammock space with about 9 hammocks that smell like musty body odour. There are not nearly enough for all the guests. The hammock area is right in front of the kitchen and staff quarters so it is very loud all the time. There was a cellphone ringing in the shed all day, it must have rang 500 times. There are constantly people, mostly children either of other guests or perhaps the staff, watching cell phones on full blast the entire day in the hammocks. It was incredibly annoying. Nobody asks them or tells them to go somewhere else. It is not a quiet area at all, and you can’t hear nature to reconnect with it. You can’t go to your cabin to relax because they are stifling hot and full of mold. There was truly nowhere for quiet or reprieve in this place. The second hammock shelter which was further away from the wifi area and may have been quieter, didn’t have any hanging in. We did not enjoy our time at the lodge at all. It was a dirty, loud place. It was not a relaxing place to reconnect with nature. The only saving grace of this tour and reason why we I gave it three stars was again because we did enjoy our time away from the lodge with Rene. Some of the activities were not quite as described, we were told we would not be going to see caymans because it is the dry season- then maybe put that in the description that is dependant on the season. Also be aware that despite being labeled as all inclusive- drinks are not included! They do provide water- it is warm, and tastes horrible. You can purchase bottles of water. In a place like this, bottles of water should be included. I understand having to pay for beer. But again- just slightly misleading. The coffee was awful, instant coffee with again the poor tasting water. For over $1000 dollars, there should at least be a decent cup of coffee in the morning and free bottled water- another example of why we kept asking where all this money we paid is going? The food was actually okay, all things considered, we didn’t have a bad meal, but some good coffee would have gone a long way. The bartender Jordan was very sweet and attentive- he also made parts of the experience better, and seemed like he really cared about the guests. Some of the locals do not treat animals very well and that was hard to see. There seems just be a general lack of stewardship. However monkey island was magical, as well as our opportunity to see the dolphins in the river. This place has a lot of potential to be a truly wonderful place to connect with nature, and I hope some changes will be made in the future to take better care of the land, and staff as well as the paying customers. I hope my review can help people to make an informed decision whether or not they want to visit, and maybe even spark some change within the company of Maniti itself, because the conditions of the lodge itself are far from what the standard should be. The land and the people and the animals deserve better. I wish I had known all these things before spending as much money as I did to go, we may have chosen another company. I would not spend this amount of money on this again, knowing what I do now.

via Viator

Amazing tour, with many different activities

I had a fantastic time on this tour. As a solo traveller it was a really good tour and I felt safe at all times. Segundo my guide was very knowledgeable and I up being the only person on the tour, very lucky to have my own private tour guide.

via Tripadvisor

Iquitos manitie 3 day Amazon trip

Anguilla was a fantastic authentic local guide, saw lots a wildlife- snakes, spiders, birds, pink/ grey dolphins. He was very energetic, fun, and knowledgeable Pros Anguilla - great guide Amazing wildlife, and great local tribe visit. Accomodation has good food (vegetarian) regularly cleaned pool and wifi. Provided wellingtons for muddy walks Cons End of aprill it was just about bareable with the humidity for 2 nights. Would recommend bringing own mosquito net -though not many mosquitos in the room as it’s mostly sealed (FYI mosquitos can bite through thin long sleeved running tops. Shirts were fine )

via Tripadvisor

Very well organised

Good food and friendly staff at the lodge. Guide Segundo has vast knowledge of plants, trees and birds so got to learn a lot about Amazon forest.

via Viator

Great experience!!!

This was a wonderful place, and the guide Rene was the best!!! Always making sure we got in all the activities we wanted in the day. We appreciate him so much, since due to flights our time was limited. But we still got all the activities in. I also will add a video of our room (if it lets me). I know when I was looking, it was hard to find info on it. And I will also add that Monkey Island is not part of it, even though advertised that you go there. I had wanted to see it on my birthday. Although the guide Rene did take me to see some monkeys, but it was a much smaller place with only 2 monkeys. Not Manitis fault, Im told the website hadnt updated it. But it felt like we were family there!! We loved it all!!! Maybe we'll be back some day!!......it didnt let me add the room video. Ill try another way.

Response from the operator: Hello GlobeTrotting213484, thank you for sharing your experience! We are delighted to hear that you enjoyed your time in the Amazon with us and we hope to see you again in the future. Safe travels!

via Tripadvisor