Colca Canyon: Experience Southern Peru

The Canyon of the Colca River is located in Southern Peru about 100 miles Northwest of Arequipa. The canyon is said to be more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the United States. Unlike the Grand Canyon it is more habitable. The local people still maintain ancestral traditions using the pre-Inca stepped terraces to cultivate their harvests. This makes the walls of the canyon not as vertical as those of the Grand Canyon. The picturesque Colca is a colorful Andean valley that exudes Spanish Colonial traditions formerly inhabited by the Collaguas and the Cabanas. The Spanish laid out towns all along the canyon. But the towns did not thrive and were soon abandoned and forgotten. In the 1980’s roads were built that opened the area to outsiders. Access today is usually through Arequipa.

The canyon is the home of the Andean Condors. The condors are part of the vulture family and are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. The birds have a lifespan of at least 50 years. It is a large black vulture with a tuff of white feathers at the base of its neck. These birds are scavengers and prefer meat from large carcasses such as deer or cattle. Unlike most birds of prey the males are much larger than the females with often white feathers scattered in their wings. The Andean Condor is being threatened by loss of habitat and secondary poisoning of carcasses killed by hunters. These birds are the national symbol of Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador as well as Peru.