Paracas National Park and the Ballestas Islands, Peru

From Lima we had a quite a short drive to Paracas National Park. The park doesn't look like a national park as it's just lots of rocky dunes but apparently it's full of flora and fauna that need protecting, but we didn't exactly see much in the barren landscape. We had a bit of a drive around the park checking out the views from the cliffs before setting up a bush camp on the beach. With the wind coming in straight from the see it was rather chilly but a lovely spot.

The following morning we went out on a boat to visit the Ballestas Islands which are protected due to the huge amount of birds living there. There were what looked like millions sitting on the cliffs. We saw cormarants, 2 types of booby, pelicans, terns and penguins plus some sealions on the rocks. The islands were used from the mid 19th century for collecting guano (bird poo) which was used as a fertiliser. In 1890 after war with Chile, money made from this industry was used to cancel foreign debt. Since the islands have been recognised as an area to be protected the guano collection has been limited to certain times of year for conservation purposes only. Another thing that we saw from the boat was a geoglyph of a candelabra on the cliff side of the Paracas pennisula. The image has been carved 50cm down, much thicker than the 3cm of the Nazca lines to come.