#colca canyon

[mahamayax]

Photos made by: Andzia There

[manessha545]

Condors, Colca Canyo, Peru: Native to the mountains of South America that give the bird its name, the Andean condor can be spotted across the continent but arguably the best place to see these strikingly large animals is in the Colca Canyon of Peru. Located in the south of the country about a 4-hour drive from Arequipa, the Colca region is known for its dramatic landscapes, history, vibrant rural culture, and native condors. Aracari arranges private, tailormade trips to Arequipa and Colca where you can spot the majestic Colca Canyon condors... The Colca Canyon is a canyon of the Colca River in southern Peru, located about 160 kilometres northwest of Arequipa. Wikipedia

[wouldyourathervisit]

Would you rather visit

Tara River Canyon, Montenegro 🇲🇪

Copper Canyon, Mexico 🇲🇽

Grand Canyon, Arizona 🇺🇸

Hells Canyon, Idaho/Oregon 🇺🇸

Colca Canyon, Peru 🇵🇪

Cotahuasi Canyon, Peru 🇵🇪

Voting ended onJun 27

[eopederson]

Tesoros turísticos, mercadillo, Cañón del Colca, Arequipa, 2017.

[chaletnz]

Colca Canyon Tour: Part 1

It was another early morning today with my alarm going off at 2:15am this time, although I didn’t feel too bad compared to that early start for Rainbow Mountain! I was the third to be picked up and chose myself a single seat knowing the bus would eventually be crammed full, which it was once we started our drive towards Colca Canyon. There was a Japanese lady that was being very dramatic about someone wearing perfume and was asking them to “take it off” as if it’s so easy to remove a scent once sprayed… she was tying a sweatshirt around her face and coughing and eventually just moved into the front set between the driver and a guide that we collected at a gas station on the outskirts of Arequipa. It was twisty turns and bumpy roads for about 3 hours until we finally arrived in Chivay for our breakfast. At 3,600m it was absolutely freezing and our breakfast was less than satisfactory – dry bread with hard butter, instant coffee sachets, and scrambled eggs that were definitely undercooked. Our next stop was ten minutes in Maca town where there was a church to look at, people selling photos with their alpacas and eagles, and a super sour cactus fruit that we got to taste. We stopped at a couple viewpoints on the drive because there was some old French guy that complained that we didn’t get to stop at any viewpoints and he likes photos. Another passenger told him he was being rude and to shut up but he got his viewpoint. Our guide bought us the entrance tickets for Colca Canyon and we continued our drive up to the Cruz del Condor, or Condor’s Cross. The group split up here as some were doing a trek, and I stayed back for about an hour at this viewpoint watching the condors flying around. Our guide gave us a brief explanation of the canyon, which is the second largest in the world at 4,000m deep. He also told us some interesting facts about condors, like how they mate for life and commit suicide if their mate dies. They can live to about 80 years old and eat about 2kg per day which can last them up to a week without eating. They like flying around the condor’s cross because the valley has a natural air current that allows them to glide without flapping their wings to conserve energy. The guide left to take the rest of the group to the trek drop off point and we had free time to walk around the area and take our own photos and videos.

[earthstory]

Colca Canyon, Peru This is one of two gigantic canyons found on the western side of the Andes Mountains of Peru. Colca Canyon reaches depths of over 3 kilometers beneath its rim, more than twice the depth of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

The Colca begins on the edges of the Altiplano, a high desert plateau in the Andes that cuts across Bolivia, Peru, and Chile. It is being pushed up by subduction of the Nazca plate beneath South America, including in parts subduction of a ridge on the ocean floor that is helping push the continent up further (see my recent post here: https://tmblr.co/Zyv2JsYv1SocSy00). This plateau is thought to have been uplifted starting in the Miocene, just under 25 million years ago. The surrounding rocks were capped by hard volcanic rocks, including a major ignimbrite (an ash deposit from a large, explosive volcanic eruption). Sometime between 12 and 8 million years ago, erosion was able to punch through this ignimbrite at 2 spots, one of which localized water flow right here and began cutting its way down. Erosion has removed the edges of the Altiplano at this spot, taking the river down from the high country and cutting through the surrounding sedimentary and eventually metamorphic rocks. Erosion was aided by a wetter climate in the Andes around 7 million years ago, prior to the onset of the modern glaciations that helped this part of the world dry out. As the plateau continued being uplifted, these rivers cut down, each of them removing nearly 2000 cubic kilometers of sediment. Today this canyon is one of Peru’s most visited natural features. It hosts a variety of cultures and a number of native species, including the Andean Condor. -JBB Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Colca_Canyon,_Chivay,_Peru_(Unsplash).jpg References: https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC1HKWF_colca-canyon http://geomorphology.sese.asu.edu/Papers/Thouret_etal_EPSL2007.pdf

[darwin1601]

Dieser Kondor segelte, keine zehn Meter entfernt an mir vorbei - beeindruckend.

[sarah-leguevel]