Colca Canyon in Peru

The deepest canyon in the world – in some spots twice as deep as Arizona’s Grand Canyon – the Colca Canyon of Peru is an awesome site. Carved out by the Colca River, which begins high in the Andes Mountains in a location known as Condorama Crucero Alto, the canyon stretches out between the towns of Chivay and Cabanaconde, with several portions of the canyon fit for habitation by humans.

The walls of Colca Canyon are far less vertical than those of the Grand Canyon, hence the ability to build towns along the river, and Inca and pre-Inca terraces are still cultivated along some of the canyon walls. As a matter of fact, there are some 35 villages located between Chivay and Cabanaconde and Chivay is quite a tourist attraction in and of itself, home to the relaxing La Calera Natural Hot Springs.

During the Spanish colonization of Peru, the Spaniards laid out a number of small towns in the picturesque Colca Valley, hoping to establish a route to Cuzco, and also helped establish Christian churches there. However, most of those towns did not flourish and there is barely a trace of them visible today. It wasn’t until the 1930s that the Colca Valley was explored again in earnest, this time by the American Geographic Society.

For many years, the area around the canyon was not accessible by road. However, in the 1980s, a large hydroelectric plant – the Majes Hydroelectric Project – was built along the river and, hence, opened the canyon area to pedestrian traffic and tourism.

These days, many visitors head to Colca Canyon not only to admire its beauty but also to view one of its most marvelous natural attractions – the Andean Condor, an endangered avian species that has attracted worldwide attention with attempts to save it from extinction. Because of the way the canyon is formed, there are several spots where bird watchers can see the awesome creatures up close as they soar on the thermals through this picturesque canyon. The ideal time to see the condors is either in early morning or late afternoon at a point in the canyon known as Cruz del Condor, a spot where the floor of the canyon is nearly 4,000 feet below the rim.

Those who wish to explore Colca Canyon can generally arrange a tour that departs from Arequipa, the second-largest city in Peru and the one closest to the canyon. The bus ride to one of the ends of the canyon, either Chivay or Cabanaconde, takes between 3 and 3.5 hours. Some multi-day tours include an overnight stay in Chivay, where visitors can get used to the high altitude before exploring the canyon.

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