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Author: Jz

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Photographs and article are copyright of Jz and Sophia aka busdriver

Introduction

Date: 11th-25th Nov 2007 (including flight time)

11th – flight

Depart HK at 1310hrs (Cathay CX884). Arrive Los Angeles at 0935hrs. Fight time: 12hrs 25mins

Depart LA at 1225hrs (LAN LP605). Arrive Lima at 2359hrs. Flight time: 8hrs 34mins

12th – Lima

13th – Lima

14th – Lima to Puerto Maldonado (domestic flight approx. 2hrs 35mins).

15th – Sandoval Lake

16th – Sandoval Lake to Cuzco (domestic flight approx. 50mins).

17th – Inka Trail

18th – Inka Trail

19th – Inka Trail

20th – Inka Trail

21st – Aguas Calientes Town to Cuzco (by train approx. 5hrs)

22nd – Cuzco

23rd – Cuzco to Lima (domestic flight approx. 1hr 20mins).

24th – midnight flight

Depart Lima at 0140hrs (LAN LP604). Arrive LA at 0715hrs. Fight time: 8hrs 35mins

Depart LA at 1120hrs (Cathay CX885).

25th – Arrive HK at 1855hrs. Fight time: 15hrs 35mins

The package includes:

Accidental and medical “Assist Card” insurance inside Peru up to US$2,000.00. “Assist Card” assistance for luggage and personal documentation loss. English speaking shared guide for the excursions 24 hours assistance. Air tickets inside Peru. All camping equipment at Inka Trail – 1 guide and 5 porters (does not carry your sleeping bag and backpack) Train tickets Machu Picchu – Cuzco (Vistadome train category) All Entrance fees. All transfers.

Meals Included:

Daily breakfasts 04 lunches 02 dinners All meals included during Inca Trail

The package doesn’t includes:

Airport taxes

International air fare

Sleeping bag
Total Price: USD 1,600.00/person (based on triple room)

Equipment

camera bodies: 1dmk2N, 5D

lenses: EF17-40/4, EF50/1.8, EF70-200/2.8, EF300/2.8IS, T90macro, kenko2x, Kenko1.4x

accessories: Velbon540 tripod, Arca Swiss Z1 ballhead, Epson P2000, 550EX, TC-80N3

Accomodation

Lima: Mariel Hotel (Miraflores district)

right next to Inka market, 10mins walk to Miraflores city center, 45mins walk to the beach

hot shower, TV, free internet at the lounge, breakfast is lousy

Sandoval Lake: Sandoval Lake Lodge , [1]

the only lodge in Sandoval Lake, but need to take 40mins boat, 1hr hike another 30mins boat to reach the lodge.

hot shower, food is extremely good, electricity is available at certain times only, TV at common lounge

Cuzco: Cuzco Plaza Hotel

5mins walk to city center, hot shower, TV, breakfast ok,

Aguas Calienties: Inti Inn Hotel

5mins walk to spa, 15mins to town center, 20mins to train station, 15mins to bus station

hot shower, nice breakfast

Inka Trail: Tents

2 x 2men tents for 3persons. Big enough to put your backpacks inside. Sleeping mat provided.

Guide has his own tent. Meals were taken in another bigger tentage which is also the porters’ tent at night.

Toilet facilities available at most campsites. Shower facilities only at limited campsites.

A bar and hot shower facility available at last night before reaching Machu Picchu but its packed unless you reached early.

Things to photograph in Lima

Cityscape

45mins car ride from Miraflores district to Lima town center.

Nice architectures, but the day tour will rush through all the attractions leaving you with no time to shoot properly

which was what i had for my trip, so not much photos, mainly sightseeing for me.

Advise to go on your own and take your own time, but becareful as the town is not very safe according to the guides.

The streets can be quite interesting also. Weather is always cloudy and grey, probably better to shoot the night lights.

Plaza Mayor (”Main Square”)

San Francisco Convent

Street

Newspaper stand

Nature

On the cliff, looking over the beach. You can find Kestrels resting on the palm trees in the morning.

The black vultures, gulls, pelicans, cormorants etc will be flying along the coast.

Once a while, you might find the Vermillion Flycatchers in the parks catching insects. Relatively tame bird.

Walk to the beach and you can get nice close shots of the gulls, cormorants and sometimes the Inka Terns.

View of the coast Larcoma – a shopping mall built inside the cliff and La Rosa Nautica – a seaside restaurant

Kestrel

Black Vulture

Neotropic Cormorant

Peruvian Gull

Franklin’s Gull

Transport

Lots of vintage cars running around, esp. the old beetles.

Loves the sardine packed buses picking up passengers along the road.

Vintage

Volkswagon Van

Beetle

Buses

Bus

Taxi ?!!

Sandoval Lake

Located in Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios river, Tambopata Nature Reserve.

Transported to Sandoval Lake Lodge office where you repack all your stuffs.

You are only required to carry a small day pack for the short hike.

A duffel bag will be provided to pack the necessary things for your stay in the lodge

which will be transported to the lodge by the staffs.

The rest of your luggage will be deposited in the office.

30mins boat ride down the Madre de Dios river to the start of the trail to the lodge.

1hr++ hike to reach the jetty of the lake. Another 30mins boat ride to the lodge.

approx. 4km hike to the jetty

Leaf Cutter Ants along the way

Sandoval Lake

Sandoval Lake Lodge

Different types of transport in the lake

The bigger catamaran

the small boat

even smaller ones

Our flight was delayed for 2 hrs due to a strike by the staffs at the Puerto Maldonado Air Traffic Control.

Also weather wasn’t too kind to us for our 3D2N stay so we had very limited chance to see and photograph the wildlife.

No chance to visit the macaw lick and also did not see the famous Giant Otters.

Wildlife we seen are Dusky Titi Monkeys, Red Howler Monkeys, Squirrel Monkeys ,Saddle Backed Tamarin,

Capuchin Monkeys, Black Caimans, Sharp Nosed Bats, etc…

Birds species seen includes, Amazon Kingfisher, Ringed Kingfisher, Green and Rufous Kingfisher, American Pygmy Kingfisher,

Greater Ani , Great Blue Heron, Agami Heron, Capped Heron, Striated Heron, ?? Tinamou, Neotropic Cormorant, Anhinga,

Greater Yellow Headed Vulture, ?? Speckled Chachalaca, ?? Woodpecker, Hoatzin, Grey Necked Wood Rail, Sungrebe,

Red Bellied Macaw, Blue and Yellow Macaw, ?? Parrot, White Ibis, Ladder Tailed Nightjar, ?? Toucanet, ?? Woodcreeper,

White Winged Swallow, Silver Beaked Tanager, Red Capped Cardinal, Black Capped Mockingthrush, Black Fronted Nunbird, etc…

Birds heard includes Tawny Bellied Screech Owl, ?? Oropendola, etc…

Smaller stuffs includes, Tarantulas, spiders, mantis, grasshopers, frogs, dung beetles, lizards, etc…

Black Caiman

Squirrel Monkey

Sharp Nosed Bats

Hoatzin

Neotropic Cormorant

Red Bellied Macaws

Tarantulas

Mantis

? frog

Cuzco

Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire (1200s-1532). Many believe that the city was planned to be shaped like a puma. Cusco is approximately over 3,399m high, is considered one of the highest cities in all the world. For travellers, this is the best place to acclimatised before ascending Machu Picchu using the inka trails. Most people will only stay overnight and proceed to the start point of the trails early next morning.

There are many photo opportunities here but you need to do some walking. Most of the guided tours are targeted to explain the long history in the shortest possible time so it can be quite rush. I have seen several good angles to get the aerial views but the tours will not get you there. The town can be quite busy with activites as it is packed with tourist most of the time. I will suggest going to Sacsayhuaman in the morning and spend some time walking at the higher grounds to get nice views of the town. In the afternoon roam the streets and mark out possible nice nightscape spots. Most likely you would cover most of the things in a day but if you are not finished, you could have another go at it when you return from machu Picchu.

Too bad i suffered mild altitude sickness so did not do much shooting.

Ollantaytambo

This is the last town we stop by before reaching the start of our hike. You can buy walking sticks, hats, snacks, water, poncho etc here. Price is a bit high though, will suggest buying most of the things back in Cuzco. You could actually stay here before ascending as some of the lodges have beautiful gardens that attract some birds including hummers. Imagine a private garden which you can shoot till you are bored. Too bad we only found out after our return trip.

Inka Trail – Machu Picchu

There are many trails to get to Machu Picchu, ranging from 2 days to wks. We chose a 4D3N trail which was one of the more popular ones. Total hike was about 42km with quite a number of ups and downs. Starting at 2600m, highest peak at 4200m(highest), another at 3950m and 3670m and then down to 2400m at Machu Picchu. 6 hrs walk for the first 2 days, 8 hrs on the third and 2 hrs on the last day. I can’t believe it when he said someone finish this trail in just over 3hrs.
Landscape along the way

One advantage of walking the trail instead of taking the train is that you get to see more of the inka ruins and also you can enjoy the view of Machu Picchu in the early morning from Sun’s gate(Inti Punku) provided weather is good, too bad it wasn’t during my visit.

Patallacta

Runkuracay

Winaywayna

Intipata

Final destination – Machu Picchu

View from Wayna Picchu (2750m). A bit disappointed as this view is a bit flat, wasted precious energy climbing this almost vertical hill (500m). I will suggest climbing Inti Punku (2700m, the peak which you see in the middle of this image) instead of Wayna Picchu to get a more 3D view of Machu Picchu. Too bad we were almost dead after this climb and rain poured down mercilessly soon after we got down.
other landscapes

the steepest ascend, 3300m to 4200m in 5km.

hi-altitude pond

hi-altitude cloud forest

Star trail at camp Hatunchaca

Birds along the way

We will not recommend birding while hiking (at least for me). Most of the time my head was down and panting heavily. Even if a bird appeared right in front of me, i would have walked past without noticing it or simply ignored it because i was just too tired to stop and unpack my birding lens from my bag. In fact, we did not see many birds along the way during the 3 days of hiking. I could only remember bumping into one bird wave during the trip which consist a few species of tanagers and manakins. Most of the time you see hummingbirds and sparrows. You could actually bird with more ease in Machu Picchu town (Aguas Calientes) itself.
Mountain Caracara

Flowers along the way

There are many interesting plants and flowers along the way. Many species of orchids are only found here. These are something you will not see if you are taking a train. Best consolation for walking this ‘challenging’ trail.

Agua Calientes

Machu Picchu town, the only place to stay when you are here unless you want to camp in the wild. Small town which is pretty self contained, many good restaurants and hotels. Saw few species of birds, including a Blue Tanager nesting by the side of a busy road.

More photos can be view here

Lima [2]

Sandoval Lake [3]

Cuzco [4]

Ollantaytambo [5]

Inka Trail [6]
Photographs and article are copyright of Jz and Sophia aka busdriver