Chivay, Peru travel guide: Colca Canyon, in the Arequipa region of southern Peru, is 3,270 metres deep from rim to river — roughly twice the depth of the…
Colca Canyon, in the Arequipa region of southern Peru, is 3,270 metres deep from rim to river — roughly twice the depth of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. It is the second deepest canyon in the world (after Cotahuasi Canyon, 60km west, which is also in Arequipa region and reaches 3,535m). The canyon was formed by the Colca River cutting through the western slope of the Andes, a process that has been ongoing for roughly 14 million years. The canyon walls are terraced from rim to river in some sections — agricultural terracing built by the Collagua and Cabana cultures before the Inca arrived and continued by their descendants today. At Cruz del Cóndor, a viewpoint on the northern canyon rim at 3,287m, the morning thermal updrafts over the canyon create the most reliable Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) viewing conditions in South America. The condors — with wingspans up to 3.2 metres, the world's largest flying birds by wingspan — use the thermals to gain altitude without flapping, circling past the viewpoint at eye level or below from approximately 7am. The canyon is accessible from Chivay (the main town, 3 hours from Arequipa), and most visitors do the classic 2-day Arequipa–Chivay–Cruz del Cóndor–Arequipa circuit.
Crowd: moderate · Noise: quiet · Best time: 7–10am — the condors use the morning thermals for altitude gain as the sun warms the canyon floor. Most condor sightings occur between 7 and 9am. Cruz del Cóndor fills with tour buses from Chivay and Arequipa by 8am; arrive by 7am for the first condors before the crowd peak.
condor, canyon, trekking, viewpoint, andean
Crowd: low · Noise: quiet · Best time: April–November dry season — the canyon trekking routes (most famously the 2-day descent to the Oasis/Sangalle and return) are most accessible and the thermal springs at La Calera (near Chivay) are at their best. The villages hold Masses and traditional festivals with colonial-era brass bands on Sundays.
trekking, villages, terraces, thermal-springs, traditional-dress
The Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) can soar for hours without flapping its wings. With a wingspan up to 3.2 metres and a weight of 11–15kg, it is physically incapable of sustained flapping flight — it needs rising thermal air to gain altitude, then glides from altitude to its next thermal column. The Colca Canyon's geometry is ideal: as the sun rises and heats the dark volcanic rock of the canyon floor, warm air rises in columns up the canyon walls. The condors, roosting on ledges in the upper canyon, launch onto these rising columns, riding the spiral up past the rim at Cruz del Cóndor and then gliding out across the plateau to their feeding territories in the ranges above. The viewing is reliable because the physics is reliable. In Inca cosmology, the condor (kuntur) is the messenger between the earthly world and the upper world of the apus; it carries the souls of the dead upward. The canyon below Cruz del Cóndor was sacred territory.
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