Peru is the country of superlatives. Lake Titicaca (3812 meters masl, 12507 ft masl.) is the highest navigable lake in the world,  Huascarán the second highest snow-capped peak of South America and the Amazon rainforest, that covers the biggest part of Peru, is the origin of the Amazon, the longest river of the world.

No country in the world has a higher railway leading up into the mountains than Peru. Nowhere will one find a Canyon deeper than the Colca Canyon, or a city comparable to Cusco, former capital of the Inca kingdom and known as the “navel” of the world.

In Peru one can encounter 84 of the worlds 104  zones of life. In Peru birdwatchers can find 20 % of the worlds birds and there are also 10 % of all mammal and reptile species. In one single tree in the Tambopata rainforest area scientists found more than 5000 species of insects. They discovered  more ant species in this tree than there are existing in all Great Britain.

Peru’s 3000 kilometer of desert coast are washed by the waves of the richest marine waters of the world, the cold Humboldt current. Peru is the worlds second biggest fishery nation.

But for most people Peru is synonymous with mountains. Seen from above Peru resembles a giant sheet of wrinkled paper. Like a huge backbone of rock and snow the Andes are cutting from north to south through the country, forming the largest concentration of snow peaks of the Americas.

This extreme country gave home to a huge variety of different cultures leaving their footprints on the land, like for example the gigantic lines of the Nazca culture, resembling animals and other geometric figures. The Lord of Sipan, king of the Moche culture, was buried in a colossal pyramid constructed by an uncountable number of mud-bricks and scientist say, its grave is the richest one ever found in the Americas.

But most famous of all cultures are the Incas, who constructed a kingdom covering the coast, the Andes and part of the rainforest from Ecuador to Chile. The center of power was Cusco, the capital of the Incas, well guarded by the fortress Sacsayhuaman overseeing the city. From here visitors head to Machu Picchu, rediscovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911, Machu Picchu fast became the national icon of Peru and one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world.

:::: The Conservation Binational Corridor