CNN network included the Peruvian Amazon in third place in its list of the world nine top tourist destinations recommended for 2011. "When many people think of the Amazon, they think of Brazil, but Peru offers a great base for exploring the region: Iquitos, a metropolis of almost half a million people in the heart of the Peruvian jungle,” says the website. Beaten only by New York and New Zealand, Iquitos is a %u201Cfitting destination%u201D for 2011, which has been declared as the International Year of Forests by the United Nations. Robert Reid, U.S. travel editor for Lonely Planet; Pauline Frommer, creator of Pauline Frommer's guidebooks; and Martin Rapp, senior vice president of leisure sales at Altou, were the three experts summoned by CNN to make the list. Other places mentioned also include Barcelona (Spain), Norway, Albania, Japan, Guatemala, and Bulgaria. A couple of months ago Iquitos was also chosen by Lonely Planet as one of the 2011 top ten cities. The Peruvian Amazon jungle is one of the most biologically diverse areas on Earth. Most species have probably still not been discovered, or adequately studied. As a nation, Peru has the largest number of bird species in the world and the third largest number of mammals; 44 percent of birds and 63 percent of the mammals inhabit the Peruvian Amazon. Peru also has a very high number of species of butterflies, orchids, and other organisms.
