Couched at the top of one of countless waterfalls that bathe the southeastern foothills of the Peruvian Andes, I enjoy the cool breath of the cascade, which takes the edge off the equatorial sun. From nearby promontories, an observer can look upward to the cloud forests that cling to the mountainous rim of the Amazon basin, or down into the steamy lowland rain forests that extend thousands of miles to the east. As far as the eye can see and beyond, there are no villages, roads or towns. Lying below is the Manu, a 7,000-sq.-mi. area as choked with plant and...
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