Here the official caption of this shot, taken in August 2019 in Palcoyo mountains, Peru.

In the Peruvian Andes, a unique mineral composition and million of years of wind and rains created the Rainbow Mountains, a true wonder of nature. At this altitude of over 5,000 meters, a herd of Alpacas crosses the colorful ridge, enjoying the isolation from human population.

You can see the rest of the reportage in Peru here.

bbc wildlife july 2020 enrico pescantini

Rainbow Alpaca – Palcoyo Rainbow Mountain Cusco Peru Aerial Drone

The post Pubblished on July 2020 BBC Wildlife Magazine appeared first on Enrico Pescantini Travel Photographer.

In my opinion. the most beautiful city to visit in Peru, with an authentic colonial charm and among the best sightseeings of the country.

Cusco Sacred Valley

The Sacred Valley extend from the outskirt of Cusco city to Machu Picchu town (Agua Calientes), and it is recommended as first stop after landing in Cusco: that’s because it is at a lower altitude than Cusco and it will help you with acclimatization.

Among the top sights, I recommend the Salinas de Maras: they are ancient salt ponds on the side of the mountain, dated to inca civilization, and used to extract salts. The view is nice, you can into account 1 hour or less to visit them.

Another stop, straight from a documentary, is the archeological site of Moray: it was used for cultivating crops at a controlled humidity and temperature, using circular depressions. An architectural wonder of Incas, you can read more here

Machu Picchu, one of the Seven Wonders of the World

One of the most famous sites in the world and one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, there is not much to add about this Inca hidden city.

I visited this site on August (the busiest month of the year), where you can expect HUGE crowds, so just a few tips to share:

• buy your tickets 6 months before to be sure
• you can also choose (and buy the specific ticket in advance) to hike Mountain Picchu or Hyena Picchu, which is the high mountain that you see in all the photos behind the city. Mountain hike is medium-hard, Hyena is very hard and steep. Do it only if you are a fan of hiking, from a photography point of view I didn’t find it worthy (I did mountain Picchu)
• if you wanna see sunrise, get in line for the bus at 4.40 am, to be among the first to enter the site: the sun will light the city at around 7am anyway

Rainbow Mountains of Palcoyo

Not many knows that Cusco has two rainbow mountains, part of the same group: the most famous Vinicunca (where 99% of instagram shots come from) and the much lesser known Palcoyo.

I have chosen Palcoyo over Vinicunca for many reasons:

• the trekking in Palcoyo is a super easy less-than-one-hour walk, that you enjoy at no hurry, versus the over three hours of Vinicunca
• Vinicunca is OVER-CROWDED, while in Palcoyo it was just us two and maybe 5 more people
• at the same price, Palcoyo is a private tour in a car, leaving Cusco at 6.30. Vinicunca a packed bust leaving at 5.00 am

While flying with the drone, the view is spectacular: I have also spotted a group of lamas crossing the colorful peaks

What you see in this shots is what you actually get in this landscape.

You can add visiting the Amazon or the Lake Titicaca to complete your trip in Peru!

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The Amazon basin extends in more than one country of South America, including Peru.

There are two main points for visiting the Amazon Forest in Peru, one is Iquitos, in the north of the country, and the second one is Puerto Maldonado, off the province of Cusco.

Both of them offer a lot of amazing lodge in the forest, and a true amazon experience. I found one main difference between the two locations.

Iquitos is actually on the Amazon river, while Puerto Maldonado is not: this means that in Iquitos you may see the Amazon Pink Dolphins, the only sweet water (and pink) dolphins on Earth, and that is why we chose Iquitos over Puerto Maldonado.

Also, I would add that Iquitos is a little easier to reach, since there are several direct flights from Lima itself, making it an ideal first stop of a trip in Peru.

Where to choose the Lodge in Iquitos

Once you reach to the town of Iquitos, not so beautiful itself, the best way to experience the Amazon Forest is getting to a lodge as far as possible from the urban area, so you can increase your chance to spot local wildlife, instead of being annoyed by motorboats all day long.

We chose the Muyuna Lodge, which is located two hours and half of speedboat south of the city. This place is very isolated, and it maximize the possibilities to spot wildlife.

The package of 4 nights include all the activities, which are one in morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening, more than enough to fill your days.

What wildlife will you see

You have to remember that a trip to the Amazon is not like a safari in Africa, so you won’t see for sure all the animals, and for sure not so easily. It is more about being surrounded by endless forest that creates the magic, and you will explore your surroundings mostly by navigating the channels around the main amazon river.

Expect the best sunsets of your lifes, and a night covered in stars.

This is an overview of the animals you can expect to see during your staying.

Iguana

Hawk

Pygmy marmoset

Squirrel monkey

Squirrel monkey

This is the bullet ant, The Insect With the World’s Most Painful Sting

Bullet Ant

And the cayman, which is very, very difficult to spot, since it is nocturnal and it camouflages extremely well:

Cayman

About the pink dolphins

Pink dolphins are amazing creatures that lives in the main Amazon river. Boat drivers and guides know where to bring you to see them, and I believe that there are good possibilities to spot them.

Seeing them is a completely different thing that photographing them: consider that to do the spotting you will stay in the amazon river (which is HUGE) waiting for them to pop up to the surface to breath air. So the could pop up everywhere around you, and whatever distance, making it very, very hard to take a shot of them.

On top of this, consider that at the opposite of sea dolphins, I have noticed that pink dolphins stay on the surface for max 1 second of time. So, as you can image, it is very difficult, I have spend hours waiting in the boat, in two different occasions, but I was able only to take a shot of their back, not a frontal one… maybe you will be luckier (or better) than me in this!

amazon forest river iquitos pink dolphin

The “regular” dolphins are actually less shy, and easier to take a photo of.

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