Maniti Expeditions Amazon Eco-Lodge & Tours Iquitos — Hotel in Iquitos

I previously had a great experience with Maniti in December 2018. After meeting one of the company’s awesome guides, Rene, I chose to return again in April for a longer trip with the same guide. The difference between my December and April trips was night and day. When I arrived to the Iquitos airport on my most recent trip, I was picked up at the airport, but had to pay for the hotel transfer (even though it is stated to be included in the stay and was previously included in December.) Then, on the day I was to begin my tour, I waited an hour for hotel pickup. No one came, so I paid for my own transit to the Maniti shop in Iquitos. When I arrived, I was told I did not have a reservation. Luckily, I had printed out my booking confirmations showing I had paid in full. The staff were confused, but crammed me onto the boat to the campground. When I arrived to the Maniti site, the staff informed me that there was no room for me as the resort was overbooked by the Iquitos staff. I was then taken camping for the evening (not complaining, the Peruvian staff provide an amazing experience the best they can to make up for the management in Iquitos), and had an awesome night camping in the Amazon. Upon my return from camping, I was told that I would have my own room that night, but would have to share my room the next two nights (I paid for a single room in full, including single supplement fee to not to share my room with a total stranger, as I was a solo traveler.) I requested to return the following evening so as to not share a room with a stranger (I am a young female solo traveler that is uncomfortable with these circumstances), and was promised a refund for those two nights. Upon returning to Iquitos, I spoke with the manager who originally checked me in who said my paid trip was “not on file,” and was promised a refund if I just email the Maniti owner, Rick. Follow-up emails between the Maniti owner/management have remained unanswered following being given the runaround from being passed from management email to management email. I have been refused refund for nights which were paid in full for a single supplement room, but instead requested for me to share a room with strangers despite my extra money paid. This operation seems to exploit the locals and purely operates for-profit, not to provide an authentic Amazon experience. This is the most time I have ever dedicated to writing a review, not just because I have been shorted promised refunds, but because Peruvian guides who have become my good friends over my two trips are being exploited and taken advantage of for the sake of unsustainable tourism. Take your business elsewhere. Walking along the boulevard to find a local-owned tour operator will be well worth your time for not supporting unsustainable tourism that is destructive to the local economy in addition to getting an authentic...

we stayed here for 4 days 3 nights including the last night at the jungle lodge (camping) which for me it’s a really life time experience. Since we arrived , Mr. Segundo our tour guide always made sure that we have a good time and good experience. It’s real jungle so don’t expect the animal gonna come to say hi to you when you want to, especially the mammals and snakes that their real behavior is to stay away from people. But we did seen enough, especially all colorful birds which Segundo is really knowledgeable about, he will explain to us tirelessly and play us a record of the birds we just heard or sometimes he even call them with those records and a moment later those birds will sing back. It’s really fascinating for me and you can tell that he really loves what he is doing. We did several jungle walks during day and night which we see tarantulas and bunch of different insects and spiders, learned a lot about plants and flowers and biodiversity of rain forest. For me my favorite is the night canoe ride in a pitch dark forest where you can see all fireflies light up after the torches turn off.||We also spotted dolphins, iguana, smallest monkeys in the amazon forest and loads of different birds.||You get a chance to experience monkeys real close at monkey island, some of them are so tame that they will climb up your head and hang there for a good moment.||My piranha fishing first time was a failure so Mr Segundo took me again before we leave and be patient with me until i caught my own piranha. He knows a good spot for it i just had a bad skill.||Indigenous village visit is more like a demonstration for you to see how people dress, their traditional dance and blow gun that they use in the past. ||It’s a real amazon experience here.|Food is good nutrition and taste.|Accommodation is basic and can feel a bit inconvenient if you don’t get used to hot and humid weather because there is no fan. For me i just see it as a jungle life experience. Internet is available only meal times,give you a good disconnect.||Water at the room can run brown sometimes of the day because it’s a river water but you can use drinking water provided to brush your teeth and wash your face. But over all we don’t have a problem to have clean water for a shower we just have to wait for the water to be filtered.||A big plus for book lovers that they have a good collections of related amazon and South America books.||Bring a torchlight, loads of mosquitos repellent and you will...

The itinerary was changed because of some rain on the morning of departure so my 4 day camping trip was moved to a 4 day lodge experience. This was fine, can’t control the weather, but the large group sizes exceeded the expectation of max 6 with activities having double this. The website clearly states a max of 6 people which was confirmed by the staff via email before departure. The guide and the daily activities were enjoyable but it wasn’t an authentic experience and you felt like a tourist in many of the activities. The only times it felt real was just walking through the jungle. The treatment of animals was questionable and seemed unethical at various points. Taking a boat out and hunting dolphins in circles on the river until they emerged at the surface. Catching piranhas and then cutting their stomaches opened slightly to showing them bleeding before throwing them back into the water. Or going to an animal “sanctuary” which was clearly a tourist zoo and holding animals, some (not all) appeared to be stressed. Many did appeared to be well taken care of. However, when an anaconda starts to poo everywhere and the handler said “it’s just stressed, who’s next to hold?” It shows the level of animal care and treatment they are receiving. The biggest issue I encountered personally was my dietary requirements. With the office asking before departing and with my guide on the first day, but then not being met. This left me numerous times eating rice and potato for lunch and dinner. Not appropriate when I’ve paid a substantial amount of money to not get the experience I had booked and then the rest of the group eating great food. Even when explaining this to the guide on the first day, I was told “but every meal will be different with different options.” This is great if you eat the options which I couldn’t, leaving me to try and fill up on just rice. Then serving sizes were small and was extremely disappointing. Limiting portion sizes to what would be served to children and not adults. Seemed very cheap overall. Was honestly an overpriced “tourist experience”. The guide, Rodrigo, was great fun and tried his best overall to make an enjoyable experience, I would say there are probably better more authentic...