ABC Announces Educational Ecotour to the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest and Machu Picchu
(Austin, TX) June 1, 2010. The nonprofit American
Botanical Council (ABC) has announced its annual “Pharmacy from the Rainforest” Botanical Medicine Workshop
and Ecotour, which will take place in Amazonian Peru and the majestic Andes Mountains,
October 7–17, 2010.
Since 1994, ABC has partnered with the Amazon Center
for Education and Environmental
Research (ACCER) to co-sponsor this
exciting educational ecotour for
health professionals, researchers, industry members, and laypersons. This
year’s tour is also co-sponsored by West Chester University
in Pennsylvania.
The 2010 ABC-ACEER Botanical Medicine Workshop
will take place in various locations in Amazonian Peru and the Andes including
the famous mountaintop “lost city” of Machu Picchu,
declared a World Heritage Site by
the United Nations and often referred to as one of the new “Seven
Wonders of the World.”
This year’s adventure also features a special optional extension from October
16–19 to the Wayqecha Research Station and the Manu Cloud Forest Canopy Walkway, the only canopy walkway system
in the cloud forests of the Andes. (More
information on the walkway is
available in an article in HerbalGram 85).
The trip’s first destination is Puerto Maldonado, capital of the Madre de Dios region, which is a tributary of the upper
Amazon. Participants will visit the local market, where they will have a chance
to view medicinal herb stands and discuss traditional remedies.
Other highlights include visits to Reserva Amazonica and the Inkaterra
Canopy Walkway, a series of suspended walkways 100 feet above the floor of the rainforest
that provide a spectacular view of forest
life in the upper canopy. Participants will also explore
the diverse flora and fauna of an
oxbow lake reserve, Sandoval
Lake, home of the
endangered giant river otter and other rare animals.
One of the highlights of the tour is a visit to the Sacred
Urubamba Valley
near Cuzco, the longest-inhabited city in the
Western Hemisphere, plus a day at the spectacular mountaintop site of Machu Picchu. Educational
workshops will feature information on medicinal plants, plant diversity, and
ecosystems within the rainforest.
This year’s tour leaders are Steven Foster, renowned photographer, lecturer,
author, and president of the ABC
Board of Trustees, and Amanda McQuade Crawford,
herbalist and television show host, who
specializes in women’s health issues and is a member of ABC’s Advisory Board. Programs will also be presented by local
native healers.
“ABC’s Peruvian Botanical Medicine Workshop
is one of our most popular and unique educational programs,” said ABC Founder
and Executive Director Mark
Blumenthal. “For over 15 years,
people who have attended this amazing Amazon and Andean adventure have told us
it has literally changed their lives. I’ve been to the Amazon at least a dozen
times and to Machu Picchu
four times, and the images of those fascinating locales are indelibly etched in
my memory.”
The cost of the main trip is $3,890, which includes domestic airfare within Peru, lodging, meals, ground transportation, baggage handling, and workshops, and excludes the cost of roundtrip airfare
to Lima, Peru. The cost of the extension
trip is $400. The full itinerary and registration forms are available on the ABC website at www.herbalgram.org. More information
is also available by calling 800-373-7105.
About the American Botanical
Council
Founded in 1988, the American Botanical Council is a leading international
nonprofit organization addressing
research and educational issues regarding herbs and medicinal plants. ABC’s
members include academic researchers and educators;
libraries; health professionals and medical institutions; government agencies;
members of the herb, dietary supplement, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical
industries; journalists; consumers; and others in nearly 70 countries. The organization occupies a historic
2.5-acre site in Austin, Texas where it publishes the quarterly
journal HerbalGram, the
monthly e-publication HerbalEGram, HerbClips (summaries of scientific and
clinical publications), reference books, and other educational materials. ABC
also hosts HerbMedPro, a powerful herbal database, covering scientific and
clinical publications on more than
220 herbs. ABC also co-produces the “Herbal Insights” segment for Healing
Quest, a television series on PBS.
ABC is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code. Information: Contact ABC at P.O. Box 144345, Austin,
TX 78714-4345,
Phone: 512-926-4900. Website: http://www.herbalgram.org/.