Peru Photo Safaris

We’ll combine birding with exploring the ancient Inca sites in the Valley of Yucay, as the Sacred Valley was called in colonial times, including Machu Picchu. We’ll learn some of the secrets of the Inca Empire, who created absolute marvels of engineering during the period from 1000 to 1400.  From stones carved in a locking pattern to withstand strong earthquakes, to how they used Bernoulli’s principle almost 400 years before he existed, to playful slides and mountainside carvings…but we won’t figure out how they moved multi-ton 10-foot-tall stone blocks from one mountaintop to the other without wheels or large draft animals, then carved them to the smoothest finish with relief decoration and adornment, without tools. The people of Peru have a longstanding tradition of working WITH the environment in a sustainable manner.

And the birds? WHOA–wait until you see your first cock-of-the-rocks, the national bird of Peru. From endemic hummingbirds to tanagers, from flickers to sheartails, from owlets to eagles to the massive Andean Condor…we are going to be looking for all of them. We have two full days of dedicated birding lined up.

We’ll spend time in the fields and forests, and at feeders specifically designed for birding. Now, wait–is it ethical??? Bird feeders are sanitized regularly; the health and safety of the birds comes first. Their natural foods–plants, seeds and nectar–are provided in their normal habitat, surrounded by trees and bushes with a lot of cover. The American Birding Association, US Fish and Wildlife, and expert ornitholists agree that, when high standards such as natural foods, a natural environment and clean stations are met, bird feeders are ethical. Blackwood Safaris and Peru Nature Photography are committed to wildlife ethics, so our locations are chosen for high standards in ethical viewing.