Alto Purus

Alto Purús National Park protects 2,510,694 hectares of remote pristine Amazon rainforest in southeastern Peru, making it one of the largest protected areas in the Amazon basin and Peru's second-largest national park. Established in 2004, the park encompasses vast expanses of lowland tropical forest, meandering rivers, oxbow lakes, and seasonally flooded forests in the headwaters of the Purús River. The park is home to indigenous groups living in voluntary isolation, including uncontacted peoples who have chosen to avoid contact with outside society. The area contains exceptional biodiversity with large populations of threatened species including jaguars, giant otters, harpy eagles, and tapirs that have been extirpated from more accessible Amazonian areas. The park's extreme remoteness and lack of roads have helped preserve these forests in nearly pristine condition, representing one of the world's most intact tropical wilderness areas.