However, there's a dilemma here. This is uniquely reflected in Peru's rainforest. Unlike the traditional image of llama-covered mountains, over half of Peru's landmass is actually covered in a vast living swathe of forest which includes three incredible rainforest reserves, each about the same size as Wales. One of these protected areas, the Manu Biosphere Reserve, encompasses almost two million hectares of virgin cloud and rainforest. Since its creation in 1973, this reserve has taken away many of the rights of access to the region's natural resources that had hitherto been enjoyed by the indigenous Machiguenga communities.
Conservation takes precedence over people.
Some of the larger conservation organisations, in their evangelical commitment to bio-diversity, sometimes forget about indigenous land rights, and indeed human rights, such as the right to make a living from the land your people have owned for millennia. Manu is one of the planet's greatest places to do this. You can often see monkeys and big mammals such as capybara, anteaters and wild pigs. These questions are difficult to answer. A community of Machiguenga Indians who live in Manu Reserve are currently waiting to hear from the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture as to whether their permission to build the first ever native tourist lodge in the region had been granted.