We booked a 5 day trip with Inka Natura with 2 nights at the tented cabins and 2 nights at the wildlife center. We flew into Manu from Cuzco which was a treat in itself. The 6 hour trip to the tented cabins was about 2 hours longer then I would have liked but the guides do a great job of pointing out wildlife, birds and monkeys at that time of day. The guides were great and the food was excellent the whole trip. The cabins and shared showers/toilets were extremely clean considering how deep in the jungle they are located. I recommend you spray your clothes with bug spray before you go and then also bring more with you. Also, light colored clothing are preferred to dark or bright colors in the jungle. We saw 6 different types of monkeys, caiman, countless species of birds and insects, and spent a wonderful morning watching the giant otters fish on the side of the shore. The giant otter is the real reason to take the lenghtly boat trip, they were in and out of the water and we were able to get very close. We also saw the otters one afternoon from a platform on the lakes. I think your chances of see the Giant Otter is much better at the tent camp, similar to other reviews I read.
The local boat driver and his assistant were also great at spotting wildlife. The boat driver along with the guildes would pull up the boat to a tree with monkeys and after a few calls the monkeys would come out for a great view.
The Manu wildlife center was also very clean, service was great, and the food was excellent. The cabins have private baths but make sure you shower in the day light unless you want to bath by candle light. The lodge and cabins are more comfortable than the tented cabins but are still very rustic, no electricity even in the lodge. Pack for jungle humidity (light weight long sleeve shirts) because there are no fans in the cabins or the lodge. Make sure you bring what you need with you because the gift shop in the lodge is not extensive. Overall, the grounds are very nice with trails you can walk on your own. They also have a very high platform over the canopy that was enjoyable for bird watching. We saw a couple types of monkeys and lots of birds at the wildlife center. The Macaw clay lick was great. The tapir lick takes some patience unless you like laying quietly in the dark for hours. I would think this would be difficult for kids. We got lucky and the tapir showed up at 7:30pm. I did not hear of anyone at the lodge that saw the Giant Otter while we were there.
Overall, this was a great place for a jungle and wildlife experience.

Prior to the trip, i had been really looking forward to the jungle, my girlfriend, however, was terrified! On arrival at Boca Manu (airport), there was a downpour. The runway was a mudbath and it was a little hairy to say the least.
We then took the supposed 90min canoe trip to the lodge, although it took over 2hrs as the guide (Ronnie) and driver were great at spotting wildlife and stopping so we could get a good view.
The lodge was lovely, fully netted, even with toilet, basin and hot shower. There was no electricity, except a couple of hrs per day to charge batteries. The lack of light or normal comforts added to the atmosphere. Dinner in the evening was exceptional, a very high quality 3 course meal in the dining room with only candles was wonderful. Lunch was of the same quality.
On our 1st evening a cold front came in (apparently this happens about once a month), it meant that the typical humid jungle conditions were replaced by 20deg celsius heat, which probably affected the number of animals/birds we saw.
Our guide was brilliant, it was just us (2) and him, which made it even better, and he was very friendly and very knowledgable.
The whole tapir experience was one which will say with us for a long time, incredible. At 3pm we walked 2hrs to the lick, then ate a packed dinner in fading light. It was dark in the jungle at 530pm. Waiting for the tapir was incredible, hearing animals moving through the jungle in pitch darkness has to be experienced. The tapir finally arrived at 11pm, I can't type in words the emotions of this experience! Then we walked back through the jungle, 90mins in pitch dark, amazing.
The next night there was a tapir in the wildlife centre! It was a semi-wild one (Vanessa!) which visits from time to time (was stranded as a baby), not quite the same experience, but good to see in a zoo type of way!
We saw 3 types of monkey, black & white caiman, 89 species (all identified by Ronnie!) of bird & tapir.
Even my terrified girlfriend loved it, very few creepy crawlies, just one big spider (wolf spider) in our room (i'm scared of them!), which was soon removed by a guide.
Overall, this was something i recommend to everyone with a love of nature, even if you have fears of snakes (didn't see one!), spiders (didn't see many) and insects (not too bad!)

Our family of 5 had a fabulous stay at Manu over New Year. The cabins are great, with good bathrooms, great to get hot water after a few days without in the more remote camps!
Nice communal lounge area with comfortable chairs, hammocks, bar with a good range of drinks.
Excellent 3 course meals, and snacks and water available anytime in the dining room.
Beautiful grounds - exotic plants, lush vegetation, maccaws flying overhead, monkeys in the trees!
A beautiful setting, and of course the day trips into the surrounding areas such as the claylick and tapir hides, were excellent. The facilities are of a very high standard - and I was impressed with the cleanliness of the linen, mattresses etc in the hides - given the tropical temperatures and humidity they are dealing with. Full credit!

The Manu Wildlife Centre is an excellent lodge located in one of the most ecologically diverse rain forest regions in the whole of the Amazon basin. Although it is located on the edge of the Manu "biosphere reserve", rather than in it, this is largely an irrelevant detail because the range of wildlife that can be viewed from the lodge’s immediate locale is phenomenal. It’s probably true to say that jaguar sightings are more likely inside the eco-tourism zone of the Manu National Park, but we didn’t want to base our choice of accommodation purely on the marginally higher, but nonetheless tiny, probability of seeing a rare big cat (we’ll do that next time!). Instead, in just three days we saw all of the main wildlife attractions that the lodge boasts, including the stunning macaw clay-lick, night-time visits by tapirs, several caimans, and the endangered giant otter families of the nearby ox-bow lakes, not to mention numerous species of monkey, bird and insect life. Neither of us are ‘twitchers’ but if you are then it’s hard to beat as a birdwatching location. From the gardens of the lodge we marvelled at toucans high up in the trees.

The lodge itself has some very good facilities, especially considering its remoteness and the need to ship out non-biodegradable waste back to Cusco. We arrived by motorised canoe and the manager, Julian, welcomed us at the jetty, before explaining the dos and don’ts and furnishing us with a refreshing cold drink. The dining room and lounge/bar areas were very appealing, and, in the evening, delightfully atmospheric in the subdued light from the candles and oil lamps. The food was excellent, especially the delicious soups. The unobtrusive electricity generator ran for a limited time each day to allow the camera-toting guests to recharge their batteries. The lodge’s gardens were very attractive and abundant in wildlife in their own right. Some emperor tamarins paid a visit one morning, causing great excitement amongst the guides. We explored some of the extensive trails and viewed the canopy from a purpose-built tower.

Our wooden cabin was very nicely designed, with plenty of natural light during the day and several candles provided for night-time. Each bed had an effective mosquito net and despite the near-100% humidity the bed linens and the curtains were clean and dry. The manager had alerted us to preventing visits from cockroaches by stowing away our sweet foodstuffs (including toothpaste) in a plastic storage jar provided for this purpose in the cabin. This we did, but a few cockroaches were inquisitive enough to make an appearance in the room each night. I’m not sure that there’s much the lodge can do about this, as it’s located in the deep jungle after all! In fact judging by the near-constant, deafening, buzzing/chirping/humming noise from the infinity of insects outside it was a minor miracle that so few bugs made it into the room.

This was, by far, the most expensive of all the places we stayed at in Peru, but the three nights spent at the Manu Wildlife Centre were definitely worth it. In fact it would be a sad day if staying at or near Manu was ever made cheap because it would signal the impending ruination of such a beautiful and relatively untouched wilderness.