An exciting tour to Peru for a bonanza of brilliant butterflies to gaze at & photograph!

We’re delighted to be offering this brand new tour to Peru! It is sure to be popular, read on to find out why…

Peru is one of the best butterfly destinations in the world, with well in excess of 4000 recognised species, and dozens more still being discovered each year. It’s perfectly possible that on this trip we may see species that are entirely new to science. On our previous trips to Peru we’ve typically photographed between 400-500 species in a fortnight, so bring plenty of memory cards and batteries!

As well as the hordes of stunning butterflies, we’ll see a great variety of colourful and fascinating shield bugs, damselflies, grasshoppers, beetles and more. In the evenings we’ll often be able to run a moth sheet – and the moths of Peru are staggering in their variety of shapes, patterns and postures.

Our tour begins at Lima on the Peruvian coast, and from there we connect to a flight to Peru’s ancient and fascinating city Cusco, where have a night to relax after our long flights. The next day, after breakfast, we have a 5 hour drive by minibus to Quince Mil, stopping at various sites along the route to see and photograph butterflies.

We have 6 nights based at an ecolodge at Quince Mil. Each day we’ll have excursions to different butterfly habitats, with travel times of between 10-45 minutes from the lodge. We’ll be exploring quiet roadsides, forest trails, and along the edges of small streams (you’ll need rubber boots) where we expect to see a huge variety of butterflies mud-puddling, basking on foliage and nectaring at flowers. These will include several Morpho species, Owl butterflies, Daggerwings, Banners, Numberwings, Sisters, Swallowtails, Sulphurs, Glasswings, Hairstreaks, Metalmarks and Skippers.

Next we return to Cusco in our minibus, following the same route we arrived on, stopping along the way to search for butterflies, admire the Andean scenery and see some local culture. We have one night at Cusco, followed by an early morning flight back to Lima, which is the hub for our connecting flight to Iquitos, deep in Amazonia. We have 6 nights at Iquitos in a comfortable city hotel. Each day we’ll have excursions to various parts of the Allpahuayo Mishana reserve, where we exect to see many exciting Metalmarks, Hairstreaks, Glasswings, huge Firetip skippers, Leafwings, Satyrs, Cattlehearts and a great variety of Nymphalids, Pierids and Swallowtails.

On our last day we’ll visit an arboretum at Iquitos University, where there are plenty of trails to explore and where doubtless we’ll add even more species to our list. Finally we fly back to Lima, for our flights home that evening or the following day.

Travel

This tour starts and ends at Lima airport in Peru. The internal flights (Lima-Cusco return, and Lima-Iquitos return) are NOT included in the tour cost. Guests will be notified which international and domestic flights to book at least 3 months prior to trip. Road travel is by minibus. There is no boat travel involved

Tour leader

Your tour leader is Adrian Hoskins, author of “Butterflies of the World”, “1000 Butterflies” and several scientific papers. Adrian has vast experience of neotropical butterflies, having undertaken numerous tours to Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela, as well as over a dozen previous tours of Peru. We’ll also have a local English-speaking butterfly guide who will put liquid baits along the trails and foliage to attract butterflies. Please note that we don’t shepherd you around in a group pointing out and identifying butterflies on the spot. Instead, we encourage you to explore the habitats at your own pace and take time enjoying your photography. In the evenings we’ll assist with identifications from your cameras and laptops, and Adrian will provide pfd files that illustrate a high percentage of the butterflies we are likely to see.

Identification Guide

Here is a fantastic and free resource to help guests to prepare for the tour and to help with identifications during or after it.