The Manu road is long, steep and narrow; it was blocked for an hour or more by a fallen tree that the locals had to chainsaw off. It won’t be a relaxing drive!
Peru (Lima and San Lorenzo island, Santa Eulalia, flight to Cusco, trek Machu Picchu, Manu Road, flight Cusco to Lima then back to UK)
When we went to Manu, the worst bit was where the road that had been undercut - all the local drivers knew to drive on the one side of the road, otherwise you were driving on a unsupported concrete deck, with a big drop beneath - when I looked back up at the road, from the other side of the valley I was shocked at how precarious and dangerous the road looked. This was 2017, so perhaps the road has been fixed. I didn't drive the Manu road, but did drive around Cuzco (including the the wrong way round the one way system in the central plaza). Abra Malaga was relatively easy, despite Top Gear making it look like one of the most difficult drives on earth - just keep an eye out for large vehicles coming downhill, as they can cut the bends, so you don't want to meet them on the wrong side of the road unexpectedly.
If doing Peru (and hiking Machu Picchu - as we did), I would have though that 2 weeks will be enough for Huacarpay Lake, Abra Malaga, the Inca Trail (4 days), Aguas Caliantes and perhaps the upper Manu Road, but no more - the upper road to just past the Cock-of-the-Rock lodge was good when we went there.
In particular, I would recommend Abra Malaga before the Inca Trail - Warmi Wañusqa on the Inca Trail is 4200m and we met several people who felt very rough with the altitude (including one guy who turned round and gave up!). By birding Abra Malaga you can spend some time getting acclimatized first - the pass at Abra Malaga is c 4300m, so you can drive up and down, spend as along as you want there and hopefully start to get adjusted to the altitude (... and hopefully get Royal Cincloides!). We are not that fit, but by acclimatizing first, we felt fine on the trail (and had enough energy to get Vilcambamba Tapaculo at the high pass).
I don't think many birders do the trek. We enjoyed it but the best birding was probably near to Macchu Pichu, which is easier to get to by taking the bus up from Aguas Caliantes - although the queues for the bus were crazy, with people queuing from well before light! If you do the trail it is relatively expensive and you need to book well in advance as the total number of trekkers are limited - I say it is expensive, but the two of us had a guide, a cook and four porters, so actually it was quite good value in a way! You can't easily play with these numbers as I think you need to book through a guide and the stuff they carry is not light - propane bottles for cooking, large tents, four days of food, etc. etc. - and all waste needs to be taken away with you!
I personally would think that if you do the full Manu Road, then it would be a pity not to take a boat down river to one of the lodges. We went as far as Cocha Salvador, but our trip was three weeks in total, which I think is the minimum required. We booked Manu with Manu Expeditions, but unfortunately they have now stopped trading. A pretty good book to plan a trip around Cuzco is 'Birds of Machu Picchu and the Cuzco Region by Barry Walker (who used to run Manu Expeditions) ISBN 978-84-96553-97-2. This is part field guide and part a bird finding guide, so gives so good ideas of where to go, what to look for (and a reasonable impression of what it looks like).
Last year we did south Ecuador and the Quito area, which was also very nice - Tapachalaca with the Jocotoco Antpitta is a lovely place to stay - a bit expensive, but the foundation is meant to plough the money back into conservation. It is also a surprising good base for exploring lower and higher elevations - the lodge arranged our transportation to from the local airport and then we took taxis, which were cheap. These were arranged by one of the rangers (Freddy), who generally used a bird-watching taxi driver friend (when available) and also tagged along - so practically two guides for the price of a taxi ride!
If you go elsewhere in Ecuador, then it is best keeping around Quito, or to the eastern and southern states, due to the State of Emergency (see
FCDO Map) - all the coastal states are now practically out of bounds for UK citizens, as the FCDO is advising against all but essential travel - whereas you can ignore the advice, it generally means your travel insurance will be null and void! The State of Emergency does not cover Quito and the eastern states (including the Amazon), but we had to abandon Blue-throated Hillstar, as to get to the site you are best starting from El Oro, which is within the SOE.
If you do Bella Vista, we actually got them to arrange a 1 week mini tour, which was great and not too expensive. It also would take a lot of the headache and time pressure out of driving. Bella Vista is probably a minimum of 45 mins up a rough dirt road, so if you want to hit any of the other places nearby shortly after first light, you need a very early start - we were often on the road by 4:30 on the mini tour, so you potentially have a long time driving in a place you don't know, on the opposite side of the road and and in the dark. I would also add that I was surprised how awful some of the roads were around Quito - on the way back from Bella Vista to Quito, we went the back-way via Zuroloma (and lovely little reserve), but is was a rutted dirt road practically all the way to the outskirts of the city - trips that look like 30 mins on the map, probably take 4 times that!
