Nazca & Ica

Running south from Lima the Pan-American Highway is the route to Lake Titicaca and Cuzco. Just beyond Pisco, the road turns inland to Nazca, home of the mysterious Nazca culture.

This part of Peru’s southern coastal region has a constant mild, sunny climate. The reliably clear weather permits fantastic conditions for flying, which is the best - and really the only way - to fully appreciate the dimensions of the lines. From the air, the huge geometric shapes can be seen, etched across the desert.

Discovered in 1927, they are the legacy of the Nazca people (200 BC-900 AD), a civilization about whom little is known. The lines form vast drawings of mammals, insects and deities, covering a 50 square kilometre expanse of desert floor.. The hummingbird, the spider, the condor and the monkey are among the more than thirty figures that were created by the positioning of dark, sun burnt stones.

Two miles outside the town lie some of the largest sand dunes in the world. A good fun and exhausting day can be spent hiking the mountainous orange dunes, (there are no lifts). Sand-boarding is relatively easy to pick up and is best approached as a light-hearted day of messing around. The hard work of climbing up is rewarded with thrilling sand-boarding on the way down. The technique (such as it is) involves a simple ‘point-and-shoot’ approach - expect lots of spills and sand everywhere.