Colca valley
The Colca Valley (also Colca Canyon ; Spanish Cañón or Valle del Colca ) is a gorge near Chivay in Peru , 97 km north of Arequipa . Depending on whether you measure from the highest mountain peak near the gorge to the Río Colca or from the edge of the gorge, it is 3,269 m or 1,200 m deep. The Grand Canyon , on the other hand, is (only) about 1,800 m deep. This makes the Cañón del Colca the third deepest canyon in the world after the Tara Gorge in Montenegro at 1,300 m. From a geological point of view, the Cañón del Colca is less than 100 million years old to be considered young.
Rock paintings and caves, in which the so-called “colcas”, containers for storing grain, were once kept, bear witness to the past of the Collagua culture; of the original inhabitants of the region.
The upper slopes of the canyon are often structured into terraces by human hands , many of them several hundred years old, which today's residents use for their efficient land cultivation. These terraced structures gave the Andes mountain range its name.
Cruz del Condor
The Cross of the Condor (Cruz del Condor) is located between Cabanaconde and Chivay . The 2–3 m wingspan of the condor is predestined to use the first weak morning thermals and to quietly circle around the edge of the canyon between eight and ten o'clock. At the cross of the condor it is usually cool and extremely drafty.
fauna
In 2010 the Arequipa vesper mouse ( Calomys achaku ) was discovered in the Colca Valley .
Picture gallery
The tassels in the ears of the llamas show who the animals belong to
View of the Colca valley with the terraces
Homestead in the Colca Valley
Terraces at the Colca Canyon
Inca tombs in the Colca Gorge
Chivay seen from the Patapampa Pass
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peruline, online travel guide: Information service about tourism and travel in Peru - News 2005. (No longer available online.) In: peruline.de. February 28, 2006, archived from the original on January 3, 2010 ; accessed on January 2, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Sara Benson: Peru. MairDumont, 2007, ISBN 9783829715850 , p. 142. Restricted preview in Google Book Search
- ↑ La Cruz del Condor ( Memento of March 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) In: vivatravelguides.com
- ↑ Colca Canyon. In: gerdbreitenbach.de. Retrieved January 2, 2015 .
- ↑ Frank Hermann: King of the Andes: Where the condor flies. In: taz.de . Retrieved January 2, 2015 .
Coordinates: 15 ° 37 ′ 11 ″ S , 71 ° 48 ′ 9.1 ″ W.