Mandor Machu Picchu Nature Sanctuary

Hola! I’m Erwin, and together with my family, we run a Nature Sanctuary and eco lodge right behind Machu Picchu, nestled in the beautiful cloud forest. It is home to waterfalls, rivers, trails, mountains, and botanical gardens, offering visitors a chance to connect with nature sustainably.

My grandparents bought this land in the 60s for farming, but in the 80s, new government regulations ended their main livelihood, and in 1998, my mother turned it into this conservation project focused on protecting biodiversity. Over the years, my siblings and I joined her, and after finishing university, I decided to stay and help full-time. That’s when I started welcoming volunteers.

Sadly, in February 2024, an unexpected flash flood caused severe damage, destroying our trails, natural attractions, and much of the reforested areas. We lost not only part of the ecosystem, but also our main source of income. Thankfully, none of us were hurt and we were able to start over again.

We’re now focused on rebuilding, and that’s where you come in. I’d love to welcome you as a volunteer! Whether you enjoy working with people, have creative or technical skills, or simply want to lend a hand, there’s always a way to contribute. Every bit of help counts. We’re open to ideas, eager to learn, and grateful for any support on this journey.

We share our place to volunteers as they would be part of our family, and after few weeks they will become. We are so happy to become good friends and that they share our passion for nature conservation and for this project.

Since we are peruvian and we grew up here you will find an authentic experience and authentic peruvian food you will love.

Living far away from the city facilities taught us a different way of living, how we manage our energy, how we get our food, how we live and work and even what we do with the trash.

For example we supply some of our food from the garden, and most of our remedies can be found in the field. We also generate our own electricity, we manage our energy in a different way since it is reduced. Trash is a big topic here since there isn't a solution provided by our government, we reduce, recycle, compost and select the different types of trash finally we walk 2 Km with it to the garbage place.

We have gained some knowledge about plants cultivation, reforestation, ecology and biodiversity. Same for the house maintenance and construction, since we need to solve everything by ourselves we have plenty of tools and some knowledge on carpentry, masonry, electronics, electricity, etc.

On top of that, I enjoy training martial arts and would be happy to share some basic techniques or train together with volunteers and friends. I practice things like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, flexibility and strength exercises, and other movement-based training.

We enjoy sharing our knowledge, working, playing, building, camping and helping volunteers with spanish!