Peruvian Adventure - Paracas Marine Reserve
About five hours south of Lima is the fishing village of Paracas and the Ballestas Islands Marine Reserve. A beautiful area of the coast surrounded by desert, the reserve is home to seals, penguins, dolphin, pelicans and many other sea birds over 70 species from what I am told... The village of Paracas is very small, with only two hotels. A boat tour of the Ballestas Islands cost $15.00 US (Dec. 2002). Due to the amount of wildlife photos on this page, I will thumbnail some near the bottom, just click on the photo to enlarge it.....
A huge seal basking in the sun......
The "Candelabra " A beacon for ancient sailors. Coastal desert starts
south of the city of Ica
and extends south all the way to the Chilean border. Rainfall is almost nil in
this area. The city of Lima went 3 years with a rainfall, from 1999 until 2002
when it finally rained! Humidity usually stands at about 70%. but 90% humidity
is not out of the question from November to March.
Chincha and Guanape islands, are infamously rich in guano. The
nitrogen rich fertilizer has been deposited in pockets over four hundred feet
deep by ten of thousands of back cormorants over the years.
Both islands have also provided archeologists with significant discoveries,
headless female mummies, whose breast and thighs were covered with symbolized
platelets of hammered gold. Be we were there for the fish as you can see from
the photo below, Here is Alfredo Pinto trying his hand at saltwater fishing off
the island
But little did we realize that the fish were all gone. Eaten
by the dozens of seals that lived in a nearby cave
as shown below. I was tempted to jump in the water with them, Until I was warned
they bite like dogs.
Pelicans
Pelican Colony on Chincha island