Peru offers an extraordinary variety of ecosystems as a result of its complex geography, thus photography opportunities are vast within the country. If you want a mixture of incredible scenery and wildlife relatively closed to Lima, this itinerary and route is a very good option to document all this fascinating diversity. The mixture of the impressive coastal landscape, archaeological sites camouflage in the dry deserts and puna grasslands near to foothills of the Andes is a must.

Day 1: Lima – Nazca
Day 2: Nazca – Punta San Juan – Nazca Lines- Nazca
Day 3: Nazca – Pampas Galeras – Lima.

Early departure to Nazca town located south of Lima. We will take the Panamerican Highway and will drive for approximately 6 hours until we reach Nazca town (Km. 450). You will be driven through a scenic landscape to the coastal desert alongside the Pacific Ocean, which is considered one of the driest deserts in the world interrupted by several fertile valleys. During the trip we will pass through Cañete city (Km. 143) and Ica city (Km. 301), where Nazca town is located. We will have lunch on the way.
Dinner and overnight at Nazca Ecolodge.

You will be picked up, for an early morning departure, from your hotel to Punta San Juan Natural Reserve, located in Marcona city. We will take again the south Pan-American Highway until Km 489, where the branch off take us straight to Marcona for about one hour ride. Inside the reserve we will be escorted by a park ranger who will take us to see the several colonies of South American Sea lions, Fur seals, and Humboldt penguins, besides one of the biggest colonies of Guanay cormorants among other guano birds.

Departure: 5:00am
End of the excursion: 12:00am

Straight from Punta San Juan, we will go to the Nazca airstrip to take the flight over the lines. The timing is about 35 minutes. After the overflight we will go back to the hotel for lunch and for a mandatory siesta.

In the afternoon there’s an option to visit Cahuachi, a major ceremonial center of the Nazca culture located at 28 kilometers from Nazca town in the middle of the desert. It is a huge architectural complex covering 0.6sq miles. The site contains over 40 mounds topped with adobe structures. Prior to Cahuachi, we recommend stopping at the Antonini Museum to see all the artifacts and mommies that were found during the excavation work in Cahuachi this past years.

Pachamanca Dinner at Wasipunko lodge

Photo Interest: In the Reserve: Penguins, Sea Lions, Fur seals, and thousands of Guano Birds. The visit to the beaches and points are by walking, so with good lens you can get quite close and take great pictures.

Early departure to Pampas Galeras National Reserve located 90 kilometers away from the city of Nazca. We will drive uphill towards the incredible Andean landscape. On the way we will enjoy the different ecological levels ranging from dry coastal hills to high Andean Plateau cover with the native “Ichu” grasses. Pampas Galeras National Reserve was created with the main objective to protect the biggest Peruvian population of Vicuña camelids. This reserve is located in Lucanas province, In Ayacucho Region. The road Nazca – Pampas Galeras will take us from sea level up to 4,200m., where we can start looking for these camelids. Afterwards, we will visit a small museum to learn about the local fauna and about the evolution of these southamerican camelids. At this location, we will have the opportunity to learn also about the Vicuña project and how the Andean villages organized themselves in order to protect this camel specie that was on danger of extinction in the 1960s. Following this, we will walk around the Reserve visiting various spots where Vicuñas and other species like to congregate. Here we will spend an hour so before we head back to Lima.

Departure: 7:15am
Box Lunch
Snacks

Photo interest: Vicuñas and Alpacas camelids, incredible landscapes (The route from Nazca to Pampas Galeras change dramatically since the altitude changes from 300 meters to 4,200 meters in only 3 hours ride)

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