Wild Vicuna In Peru

In the harsh climate high in the mountain meadows of the National Reserve of Pampas Galeras in Peru lives the rarely seen vicuña. In 1974, the vicuña was declared an endangered species; at that time, only 6,000 of these animals were left alive in Peru. Today, there are about 350,000, and although it is actually considered very hard to catch a glimpse of vicuña in the wild, we managed to sight them in Peru.

Bob and I decided to throw the dice, and we undertook a 7-hour return car drive from Nazca into the eastern highlands to see if we could sight any of the wild vicuña living in those rugged mountains.

As we began our climb away from Nazca, the hills quickly took on a different appearance. No longer were they littered with ragged pieces of sharp scree, but instead, they seemed smooth and were indented with long-worn channels and gullies from eons of water erosion.

The “tramo sinuoso” (sinuous roadway) dictated a very slow ascent, and special care had to be taken when buses or large trucks approached us at the corners, many of which were tight 180-degree hairpin turns.

To our right, as we climbed higher into the mountains, we could see Cerro Blanco, the highest sand dune in the world at 2,070 meters, or 6,791 feet.

About 1½ hours into our climb, there seemed to be a fairly sudden change in the visible vegetation. The slopes took on a mixture of brown grass, and fringes of green scrub grasses and weeds could be detected.

On one stretch of the roadway, untended donkeys lingered on the shoulder, nibbling grasses before sauntering casually into the middle of the tarmac. The donkeys were a bit of a surprise but posed no problem because we were taking it slowly anyways.

Not much further on, we encountered a young girl tending her herd of goats at the roadside.

We slowed to a stop while her goat herd crossed the roadway in front of our car and then proceeded to quickly climb up the opposite hillside.

Finally, after a 3-hour drive and no sign of any wild vicuña, Bob and I crossed the boundary into the National Reserve of Pampas Galeras. Having driven by the entrance sign, we decided to stop the car and walk back in order to snap a quick picture. As things turned out, however, we got much more than just a photograph of this sign.

Hidden behind a stone wall alongside the road near the park sign was a complete herd of wild vicuña. You can imagine our surprise and delight! If we had not stopped for a snapshot of the marker, the well-camouflaged vicuña would have remained unseen to our eyes. Our luck really paid off.

Vicuñas are very shy and wary animals. They have very good hearing, and as a result, they are quickly startled by intruders. In this video, you hear them put up the warning signal to the herd with a very endearing, high-pitched call.

As we walked along the shoulder of the road, parallel to their movements, the herd sometimes became inquisitive, and a few of them turned and tentatively approached us.

The vicuña are well adapted to this environment, which can be very cold at times, because of their thick fur that has various layers to trap their body heat close to the skin. That trapped heat helps them tolerate the freezing temperatures of this high mountain meadow at nighttime, when often the mercury drops to below freezing.

The vicuña are very hard to pick out in this world of similar-colored plants and stones.

As we traveled across Peru, we would see for sale expensive sweaters made from the fur of the vicuña. When knitted together, the resulting sweater is very soft and warm. Back in the time of the Inca, it was against the law for any person other than royalty to wear any clothing made from the fur of a vicuña.

We had just enough time to capture a few pictures and one short video of the vicuña before, suddenly, in a flurry, they darted away in unison.

Before turning around and beginning our 3-hour drive out of the mountains back to Nazca, we took a quick look at some ruins across the road from where we had just seen the vicuña.

What massive structures of stones. Who once lived there, and where are they now? There was no information on-site, no one to ask, and no literature that we could locate to explain the ruins.

With time moving against us and having had such success seeing and photographing wild vicuña, we began to retrace our route back to Nazca.

As we came around one tight corner, the little village of Nuevo Santiago begged to be visited. It was neatly set into the ridgeline of the mountains.

It was always amazing to witness the care and pride that common people have across Peru when it comes to their very modest adobe dwellings and properties. Especially here, in the midst of an isolated community surrounded by a brown, monotone landscape, a valiant effort had been made to maintain a beautiful community flower garden and parkette for the people.

Having successfully harvested some form of greenery from her local garden, a lady from Nuevo Santiago stopped to give us a smile and permit a photograph.

Later, she proceeded to give some of the greens to her donkey.

Below the main road into the village, in garden plots protected within stone walls, healthy plants and flowers were flourishing.

A constant flow of much-needed water entered the community’s reservoir in this otherwise very dry world.

It was at this same reservoir that a mother was washing her laundry while her shy little son balanced on the concrete lip of the wall. Other than the occasional vehicle going by on the nearby road, the only sounds were the wind, a lone bird squawking as it soared overhead, and the water streaming into the reservoir.

With the bird in full flight above us, we finally had to pull ourselves away from the friendly people of Nuevo Santiago in order to complete our trip back to the village of Nazca before dusk. This journey into the unknown had been well worth the long, long drive.

Frame To Frame – Bob and Jean