While most head on direct to Cusco by flight and from there to the lost city of Machu Picchu, you should add a side trip to your Peru journey in the footsteps of the Incas and venture down into the Amazon first. It’s an easy hop from Lima to Puerto Maldonado in southeastern Peru in the Amazon forest not far from the Bolivian border at the confluence of the Tambopata and Madre rivers, and a jumping off point for the Tambopata National Reserve. It is indeed very much worth your time as in Tambopata you can get a wonderful glimpse of the incredible biodiversity of this natural habitat, teeming is hundreds of bird species and butterflies, profusion of mammals as well fish and reptiles.

This side trip into the Amazon will indeed supercharge you for your next stop, the Sacred Valley of the Incas.