Monday, August 12, 2013

Colca Canyon


Colca Cañon (link, enlace, lien)
6:30am, already seated in the car, 6:40am first stop at the village square where some schoolboys and girls were dancing for tourists to raise money for a trip to the sea!
Today destination is Colca Canyon with final spot, Cruz del Condor, a long way to go, i.e. more than 2 hours of 80% off road.
Colca Canyon is a canyon of the Colca River in southern Peru, located about 100 miles northwest of Arequipa. It is Peru's third most-visited tourist destination with about 120,000 visitors annually. It is more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the United States at 13,650 ft (4,160 m) depth. It is still inhabited by people of the Collagua and the Cabana cultures.
The canyon is home to the Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus), a species that has been the focus of worldwide conservation efforts. The condors can be seen at close range as they fly past the canyon walls but still to far away for my 280mm lens! At this point the canyon floor is 3,960 feet (1,200 m) below the rim of the canyon.
Condors fly high at around 9 am when temperatures get warm but that day was cold and they were flying low. We decided to be patient and wait. 45 minutes later it finally got warmer and they started to fly higher.

Other notable bird species present in the Colca include the Giant Colibri, the largest member of the hummingbird family. I was lucky enough to capture two good shots.
Colca Cañon (link, enlace, lien)

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