Sustainable tourism is a natural for Peru. Visitors here enjoy authentic cultural and natural experiences, while getting a true sense of the country and its people. Download this brochure for a look at just some of the exciting sustainable tourism initiatives that are going on in Peru today.
The town of Chachapoya serves as an ideal base for exploring the region, which offers wildly contrasting landscapes in a relatively short distance. It’s a quiet, pleasant town with an attractive historical centre, a number of interesting churches, and balconied 19th-century buildings.
The first must-see attraction in the region is the ancient Chachapoya city of Kuelap. Built around 500 AD, Kuelap is a fortified city on top of a mountain, with formidable defensive stone walls over 60 feet tall. Beyond the walls is a massive city with some 420 circular buildings.
Kuelap is thought to have been an important Chachapoya ceremonial center with some 3,000 inhabitants dedicated to rituals, and solar observations which enabled them to establish an agricultural calendar. Reaching Keulap is not nearly as difficult as it used to be. A four-hour mountainous hike has now been replaced by a 20-minute cable car ride.
A TOMB WITH A VIEW
You also should not miss another Chachapoya specialty: tombs for their mummified ancestors miraculously built onto the sides of huge vertical cliffs.
Many hundreds of these precariously perched funerary places have been discovered and are well worth a visit. The sarcophagi at Karajia, adorned with trophy heads, are a 45-minute walk from the village of Cruz Pata; to visit the miniature houses of Revash also necessitates following an uphill path for 1.5 km (0.9 mile).
More strenuous still is the trek to Lake of the Condors, which takes a minimum of three days, taking in fabulous cloud forest scenery and fascinating archeology.
To see the 220 mummies and accompanying artefacts that were found in the tombs here, you need to visit the excellent Leymebamba Museum, which reconstructs the intricate world of this lost civilization.
GOTTA GOCTA
The trip to the 2,531-foot tall Gocta Falls, is a full day affair, leading through lush forests. The trek is challenging, with plenty of muscle-burning ups and downs, but the reward of being alone with the powerful roar of the falls is well worth it.
While trekking about the Chachapoya area, you’re likely to encounter a wide variety of Andean wildlife, including spectacled bears, hummingbirds, and rare mountain toucans, quetzals and condors.
A warm welcome can be expected in the many traditional villages in the area, where tourism is still a novelty. Here you can find beautiful, rural churches, such as the one in La Jalca, and artisans creating traditional crafts.
The home of the ancient Chachapoya in northern Peru offers adventure travelers a plethora of unique experiences and powerful memories.
Contributed by Lluís Dalmau of Perú Tres Nortes https://perutresnortes.com/
The Chachapoya people were known as “The Cloud Forest Warriors.” They pre-dated the Incas by almost a century, and today you can still find fascinating aspects of their civilization in northern Peru.
The town of Chachapoya serves as an ideal base for exploring the region, which offers wildly contrasting landscapes in a relatively short distance. It’s a quiet, pleasant town with an attractive historical centre, a number of interesting churches, and balconied 19th-century buildings.
The first must-see attraction in the region is the ancient Chachapoya city of Kuelap. Built around 500 AD, Kuelap is a fortified city on top of a mountain, with formidable defensive stone walls over 60 feet tall. Beyond the walls is a massive city with some 420 circular buildings.
Kuelap is thought to have been an important Chachapoya ceremonial center with some 3,000 inhabitants dedicated to rituals, and solar observations which enabled them to establish an agricultural calendar. Reaching Keulap is not nearly as difficult as it used to be. A four-hour mountainous hike has now been replaced by a 20-minute cable car ride.
A TOMB WITH A VIEW
You also should not miss another Chachapoya specialty: tombs for their mummified ancestors miraculously built onto the sides of huge vertical cliffs.
Many hundreds of these precariously perched funerary places have been discovered and are well worth a visit. The sarcophagi at Karajia, adorned with trophy heads, are a 45-minute walk from the village of Cruz Pata; to visit the miniature houses of Revash also necessitates following an uphill path for 1.5 km (0.9 mile).
More strenuous still is the trek to Lake of the Condors, which takes a minimum of three days, taking in fabulous cloud forest scenery and fascinating archeology.
To see the 220 mummies and accompanying artefacts that were found in the tombs here, you need to visit the excellent Leymebamba Museum, which reconstructs the intricate world of this lost civilization.
GOTTA GOCTA
The trip to the 2,531-foot tall Gocta Falls, is a full day affair, leading through lush forests. The trek is challenging, with plenty of muscle-burning ups and downs, but the reward of being alone with the powerful roar of the falls is well worth it.
While trekking about the Chachapoya area, you’re likely to encounter a wide variety of Andean wildlife, including spectacled bears, hummingbirds, and rare mountain toucans, quetzals and condors.
A warm welcome can be expected in the many traditional villages in the area, where tourism is still a novelty. Here you can find beautiful, rural churches, such as the one in La Jalca, and artisans creating traditional crafts.
The home of the ancient Chachapoya in northern Peru offers adventure travelers a plethora of unique experiences and powerful memories.
Contributed by Lluís Dalmau of Perú Tres Nortes https://perutresnortes.com/
A rafting adventure down the Grand Canyon of the Cotahuasi River (Arequipa region) delivers a potent cocktail of cultural traditions and adrenaline.
GOING DEEP
It’s the deepest canyon on Earth. The Grand Canyon of the Cotahuasi River, located in the Arequipa region of southern Peru, descends to a depth of 3,535 meters (11,524 feet). In other words, a great spot for a whitewater rafting trip.
Terra Explorer Peru offers an 11-day adventure that includes six exciting days of paddling down 89 kilometers (55 miles) of Class III, IV, and V rapids, as well as camping along the riverbanks. You’ll also from explore archaeological ruins, Inca roads, and pre-Hispanic tunnels, all of which are perfectly preserved, because the river itself is the only access into the area.
CITIES AND TOWNS
The trip begins in the city of Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru and principal urban center of the southwestern region of the country. The almost 500-year-old city was recently named a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO. Among the outstanding sites are the famous Convent of Santa Catalina and the Museum where you will observe the mummified corpse of a young Inca woman (known in present times as "Juanita") who was found some years ago atop the snow-capped peak of Ampato.
On the second day, you’ll head out from Arequipa, bound for the town of Cotahuasi. This will involve a lengthy ride through the Andes in 4-wheel-drive, all-terrain vehicles. Along the way, you will cross a mountain pass at an altitude of 4,000 meters (13,120 feet). You’ll be close to the impressive snow-capped peak of Coropuna (the third-highest mountain in Peru and among the 10 highest in the Western Hemisphere), and pass through several ancient towns and villages where time seems to have some to a standstill centuries ago. The surrounding area of the town of Cotahuasi provides a habitat for endangered and protected species of Andean fauna such as condors and vicuñas. Because of its cultural and archaeological features, this area was proclaimed a Reserva Paisajistica in 2005. This evening, you’ll bed down in a Cotahuasi hostel.
To get to the first campsite, a pack of donkeys and their wranglers will transport all the gear and food to the river put-in. Following a long trek, during which you’ll pass by Sipia Falls, a waterfall with a vertical drop of 150 meters (492 feet), you’ll pass through a grove of giant cacti and will eventually reach the village of Berlinga and your first riverside campsite.
IT’S RIVER TIME
The next morning it’s time to assemble all the gear, pump up the boats, enjoy lunch, and put into the river. In the afternoon, you and your expert guides will paddle downriver through 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) of Class III and IV rapids before reaching the next campsite.
Throughout the next four days, your guides and you will navigate 65 kilometers (40 miles) of thrilling and fun-filled Class III, IV and V white water rapids, as the Cotahuasi River flows toward the Pacific Ocean (at which point it bears the name of Rio Ocoña). Look for condors and other bird species native to the region. From the campsites, you can enjoy interesting and diverse treks to the neighboring archaeological sites of pre-Inca and Inca origin.
On the final day of your Cotahuasi River expedition, you will cover the final 20 kilometers (12.5 miles). At this point, you’ll already feel the higher humidity, indicating your proximity to the Pacific Ocean, and, consequently, the take-out point, the small town of Iquipi. There, our transportation will be waiting to take us back to the city of Arequipa.
Terra Explorer Peru and its staff of professional river guides, with extensive experience gained on numerous trips and expeditions through the Cotahuasi Canyon, will lead you to discover the many treasures that lie hidden within this extraordinary canyon.
Contributed by of Terra Explorer Peru
www.terraexplorerperu.com/
Guarded by mile deep canyons on each side, the ruins of Choquequirao cover an area even bigger than Machu Picchu. Yet they often see no more than ten visitors per day. The reason is simple. It is protected by its location.
You have to earn the right to stand in this Inca site. It’s a hard, two-day trek out of Cusco, but if you make the journey, you will not be disappointed. Perched on a mountain at 10,000 feet, are the 600-year-old ruins of an Incan citadel often referred to as “Machu Picchu’s sacred sister.”
Choquequirao is architecturally similar to Machu Picchu. The complex is divided into 12 sectors, with ritual places dedicated to Inti (the Incan sun god) and the ancestors, to the earth, water and other divinities, with mansions for administrators and houses for artisans, warehouses, large dormitories or kallankas and farming terraces belonging to the Inca or the local people.
The farming terraces are quite spectacular, perched on the edge of a mountain, they stand as testament to the Inca’s engineering prowess. There are white stone llamas carefully laid into the rock.
While similar in structure to Machu Picchu, Choquequirao is significantly larger, approximately three times larger. Spanning 45 acres, it is estimated that as much as 75% of Choquequirao is still buried beneath dense vegetation.
Most visitors come in and out the same way, across the Apurimac canyon. The path is steep, but well maintained with small settlements and campsites along the way. You can do this in a three or four-day round trip from Cusco.
Some places need to be preserved for the adventurous few who are willing to hike and camp, who want to challenge themselves to follow in the footsteps of explorers, and to experience the peace and beauty of being in the mountains, far from anywhere. If you are one of those people, Choquequirao is for you.
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HIRAM BINGHAM
However, there is another route, one which few know and even fewer attempt. And it takes you all the way to Machu Picchu, thus following in the footsteps of Hiram Bingham.
You will hike through dry canyonlands, cross roaring rivers, reach remote hilltops, see snow-capped peaks and finally drop down into a more tropical area, known locally as “Ceja de Selva”, literally the eyebrows of the jungle. Here you walk through plantations of papaya, avocado and coffee. You can even camp on a working coffee farm.
The trek is usually done in seven days, you start at the village of Cachora and hike to the small community of Yanama and the trailhead, 65 km from the start. From here you take advantage of the dirt road to drive a few hours to Lucmabamba, where you camp the night at the base of Llactapata. Next day you walk the beautifully preserved Inca trail for that special first view of Machu Picchu.
Contributed by Mark Smith of Amazonas Explorer http://amazonas-explorer.com/
The journey to Huancaya requires 4x4 vehicles. And once you launch on this three-day journey from Lima Tours, you’ll understand why.
From Lima, you will travel from the Peruvian coastal desert to the highlands, to reach Huancaya (11,600 feet above sea level), one of the most beautiful natural refuges in all of Peru.
Located within the Nor Yauyos-Cochas Landscape Reserve, this area holds one of the most fascinating high Andean landscapes in the country, with numerous waterfalls and emerald lagoons formed by the headwaters of the Cañete River. It’s home to typical Andean flora and fauna, including Andean foxes, vicuñas, Andean ducks and herons. A perfect place to rest, relax and get in touch with nature just a few hours away from the city of Lima.
The first stop on this Andean adventure happens at mile 62 of the Pan-American highway, in the valley of the district of Asia. Here you’ll explore Huaca Malena, a ceremonial center developed between 700-1100 AD, where funerary bales of pre-Inca cultures have been found. The trip continues with an up and down high-speed ride through the dunes of Asia. The tour follows through the provinces of Cañete and Lunahuaná and finally arrives at Huancaya.
EXPLORING THE HUANCAYA VALLEY
During the second day, after breakfast, start a full day of exploring the Huancaya reserve. Learn about the attractions of this natural refuge on an off-road route through the districts of Vilca, Tanta and the majestic Pariacaca snow-capped mountain (altitude: 18,800 feet). Enjoy a picnic en route surrounded by nature and the calm currents of water of the reserve before returning to your hotel in Huancaya.
During the final day on site, visit the neighboring district of Laraos, a place that dates back to pre-Inca times, which is currently a farm community. Visit the Inca terraces, which show the presence of the Empire on this location, and that remain in use to this day. The terraces are a great example of the traditional agricultural knowledge that has been passed down for generations. After this visit, you’ll continue to travel the narrow, dusty roads, this time, heading back to Lima where the trip ends, but the memories of this one-of-a-kind Andean adventure will go on forever.
Contributed by Francois Morin of Lima Tours http://limatours.com.pe/en
Whether it’s treks to high Andean villages overlooking picturesque lakes or summiting glacial peaks above 20,000 feet, the city of Huaraz is a beacon for the adventure traveler to South America.
Known as "The Switzerland of The South," Huaraz is located in the central part and mountainous area of the Ancash region, with an altitude of 10,000 feet above sea level. The city is part of the ¨Callejón de Huaylas¨ between the ¨White¨ and ¨Black¨ Mountain Ranges. It is the capital and one of the 20 provinces of the region, and known as the "International Capital of Friendship." It is a destination that has a great tourist appeal due to its beautiful snow-capped mountains where visitors can practice adventure sports, or go on amazing hikes into the surrounding Cordillera Blanca.
A Cultural Treasure, As Well
In recent years though, Huaraz has proven that it’s also the gateway to some of Peru’s most important cultural heritage of its ancient past. The ruins of Chavin de Huantar, the capital of the Chavin culture 2,000 years ago, continually boasts new discoveries in its underground tunnels that were meant for pilgrimage and ceremony. The National Museum of Chavin recently opened, displays the wonder of this site as never before.
Running north to south on the eastern side of the cordillera Blanca is the most spectacular of Inca road anywhere in the Andes. The Great Inca Trail, also known as the Qhapaq Nan, was the greatest of Inca highways and just a few hours from Chavin to its trailhead at Castillo. This monumental Inca trail is a five-day trek with llamas on a paved Inca road that reaches 30 feet in parts and finishes in Huanuco Pampa, a key Inca administration center. This stretch of Inca Trail with barely any outside visitors is also registered as UNESCO world heritage, and in need of preservation.
For those looking for the classic adventures in the Huaraz region, the well-known and visited Santa Cruz circuit never disappoints in high altitude grandeur. The eighty-mile Huayhuash trek is known as one of the most demanding and rewarding treks in the country and has lured countless explorers over the decades. Alternatively, day trek to Laguna (Lake) 69 greets the soft adventurer to a lake whose bright turquoise waters contrasts against a stunning white glacier above. For the most adventurist, Peru’s highest peak, the 22,000-foot Mt. Huascaran sits waiting to be conquered.
The region of Huaraz is a high altitude Eden waiting to be discovered!
Contributed by Nick Stanziano of SA Expeditions http://www.saexpeditions.com/
Known as the Grand Canyon of South America, venture into the Marañón Canyon for one of the world’s most unique wild river journeys through the Cajamarca, Amazonas and other regions.
THE GRAND CANYON OF SOUTH AMERICA
It’s over 10 000 feet deep--almost twice as deep as its US counterpart. A visit to the Grand Canyon of the Marañón is a journey into nature with highly endemic birdlife and dry forests full of wild flowers, cactus and uniquely adapted trees. Often you will find yourself camped on a remote, sandy beach with the nearest neighbors a few miles above the canyon rim. As the principal tributary to the Amazon, it is truly one of the world’s grandest river experiences.
One thing that sets the Marañón apart are its cultural highlights. You will be warmly welcomed into remote riverside villages and get a glimpse of life in “campo.” It is heartwarming to meet the local people and to learn how they are connected to the landscape and have worked to protect this mighty river. Guests may also be lucky enough to encounter pre-Incan ruins, pictographs and petroglyphs littered throughout the canyon. Along with many incredible slot canyons, thermal pools, waterfalls and natural slides these sites form a network of side-hikes to be explored as you raft downriver.
WELCOME TO THE WHITEWATER
Río Marañón has over 500 km of whitewater which is navigable by raft, offering rapids from class II to V. While some whitewater enthusiasts choose to do a 30-day journey, most adventurers are happiest to complete a 2 to 7-day journey through the most spectacular and accessible parts of the canyon.
The ‘Heart of the Marañon’ is a 7-day raft journey for explorers happy to go off the beaten track, but who also enjoy comforts such as great food, a cold beer or a pisco sour after a day of paddling. Highlights for many people are village visits, views as the canyon transitions from semi-dry tropical forest to lush Amazonas and the waterfalls and pools which cascade down into the valley, perfect for an afternoon of exploring. Guests fly-in to Cajamarca, and fly-out of Jaén meaning short drive times to and from the river, and a trip which can easily be linked with tours in the Chachapoyas region.
‘The Red Canyon’ is a 2 to 3-day raft trip, perfect for travelers who want to add a wilderness rafting experience through one of the most stunning canyons in the world to their tour through Northern Peru; this trip can depart from Chachapoyas, Bagua or Jaén.
To travel a wild river is to truly travel without a trace--as you make your way downriver there is no path, no footsteps and no signs that you have been through. You will experience true wilderness and a rare kind of peace which can only be found when travelling at this gentle pace; as every day finishes by watching the sunset from a stunning riverside beach.
Contributed by Benjamin Webb, Maranon Experience http://maranonexperience.com/
In this small natural reserve in the San Martin region, the beauty and mystery of the Amazon reveal themselves.
Here in the Tingana Ecological Reserve, the trees literally walk to protect their space. As their roots seek sunlight, they join and form a mysterious forest that in the rainy season is flooded with the waters of the Avisado River.
Tingana is community-run tourism cooperative that provides an effective means of protecting a swath of forest approximately ten square-miles in size. The entire area consists of temporarily flooded natural forest, which is characterized by an abundant and predominant population of aguaje (Mauritia Flexuosa) and renaco (Ficus Sp) trees. This is a refuge for wild animals, mostly monkeys and birds, many of which are endangered and/or vulnerable species.
Tingana is the result of the work of seven local families. They gathered together to form ADECARAM (Asociación de Conservación Aguajales y Renacales del Alto Mayo). Their vision was to develop ecotourism as an activity that promotes conservation of natural resources, and a sustainable source of revenue for the local community.
CONTACT WITH NATURE
Visitors enjoy a wonderful experience of contact with nature, where the members of ADECARAM share their knowledge about the different species of birds such as ayaymama, mammals such as monkeys, otters, lazy bears, insects like the isula or bullet ant. There are stories from another world in the forest with the trees of renaco, while you take a boat ride through the aguajales and renacales.
And if you opt to stay one night in the reserve you can have a different experience with the night walk to know the different species of animals that go hunting at night. You can rest in the bungalows without losing the basic comforts, you sleep listening to the sounds of the night and you will wake up with the song of the birds.
TASTE THE LOCAL FLAVORS
You can also fish in the river and taste the products local families harvest for their own consumption such as organic fruits, vegetables and honey. Be sure to try the exquisite tacacho with cecina, the popular rice juane, chicken inchicapi and others, accompanied by a traditional fruit drink.
Whether a day trip from Moyobamba (you arrive via dugout canoe), or a one-night stay in an elevated bungalow, a visit to the Tingana Ecological Reserve is without a doubt, a unique experience of community tourism.
Contributed by Cindy Reátegui García, Patarascha Tours https://www.lapatarashca.com
2018