Prior to attending a biogeography conference in Quito we arranged for some time to visit Peru and cactophile friends there.  We also arranged for a short trip to the Marañon River relatively remote region in northern Peru known for its cacti and other succulents.  This trip is described on this page.  We also describe a visit to a Zoo and Botanical Garden in Lima that we had never visited – despite being in Lima many times. The visit was a real eye-opener for us, especially since it was guided by a Garden founder and succulent plant specialist.  That visit is described here.

Why visit the Marañon Canyon?

The lower elevations of the Rio Marañon are well-known to cactus aficionados as a region hosting many species.  We were familiar with parts of the region from previous trips in 1997 and 2006, but had never descended from Cajamarca to the bottom of the canyon at Balsas and wanted to see the transition of vegetation.  The canyon is well-marked as a minimum in daytime cloudiness from satellite imagery averages and it would be interesting to see how this corresponded in the vegetation.

How to get there?

Day 1

We flew to Cajamarca rather than drive, saving a very long day’s drive (~870km, ~540 mi) from Lima.  Our planned route would involve a 315 mile (503 km) drive from Cajamarca to Jaen.

 

Arriving after mid-day, we met a local couple, teachers in Cajamarca and also very interested in cactus of the region and with extensive experience exploring locally.  They guided to locations southeast of Cajamarca us to see habitats of Matucana species that they knew.

In general, much of the highlands of Peru have been inhabited for many centuries and agriculture and pastoralism have greatly affected the landscape.  However, in areas too rocky or steep for agriculture, “natural-ish” landscapes remain.  The areas we explored were surrounded by disturbed landscapes, yet native species were still present.

Though there were only a few hours available to us, we the two interesting localities that we explored had very different Matucana species that were flowering.  A host of lithophytic bromeliads were also present, as well as some other cactus species.

Day 2

Early the next morning we met our driver for the Marañon portion of the trip, together with his two sons and a cousin.  He drove us in his Toyota Hilux pickup for four days, arriving in Jaen – from where we flew back to Lima.  The route is shown in Fig. 1.

Our route the first day was long – from Cajamarca, past the smaller town of Celendin where we had breakfast, descending to the smaller town of Balsas – where we had lunch.  We arrived at the small town of Leimebamba after dark.  While the total distance does not seem onerous (246 km 153 mi), we descended from Cajamarca (8950 ft) to Balsas (2800 ft) then climbed to nearly 12000 ft before descending to 7200 ft at Leimebamba!

Day 3

The route from Leimebamba to Chachapoyas was not particularly long, but we spent considerable time at the Museum and the small restaurant across the street that had hummingbird feeders and was a site well-known to birders.  This was our first real introduction to Andean hummingbirds at feeders and we were amazed at the variety and different characteristics of some of the birds.

 

Before arriving at Chachapoyas we detoured to visit the fortress of .  Unfortunately, two factors conspired against us.  First we arrived late in the day and the fortress was to close shortly after we arrived.  Then it was a national holiday and the crowds were much, much larger than on weekdays or non-holidays!

 

Though some in our group did manage to walk the fortress circuit we only arrived to the walls, and decided to spend more time looking at the plants en-route.  The advertised closing time was, it turns out, not strictly enforced and we ended up waiting a half hour in line for the gondola down.

In summary, if at all possible, plan your visit for a weekday and early in the day.  However, from a botanical perspective, the entire trip was not really worthwhile.

 

Day 4

We detoured to see landscapes at the lower reaches of the Rio Marañon, heading upstream from …  Although cacti were evident on the hills along our route, the immediate vicinity of the road was disturbed by agriculture or habitations, and there were no convenient stops along this 50 km stretch.  Most of the road was not paved and the sides were very dusty.  After meeting with some of Manolo’s friends he had stayed with years earlier during work, we eventually turned around near sunset and returned in darkness to Jaen.  Maria did obtain some good video from the drone flights over this area – fortunately the large numbers of Black Vultures soaring overhead did not interfer!

 

Day 5

Manolo and Maria left early by bus for a workshop in Piura so we had the morning alone with the driver and his sons and cousin.  Because our return flight was later in the day we decided to explore some of the cactus country around Jaen that we were aware of but could not see the previous day.  This turned out to be the most productive from the perspective of photography, in large part because the cacti were close to Jaen and accessible to the paved road we were on for the most part.  This was in contrast to much of the previous day’s travel where the terrain was steep and road-cuts high, making access difficult in many places.

 

 

Our return flight had cloud-free conditions and we were able to obtain excellent views of the Cordillera Blanca east of Huaraz, before descending into the darkness and cloud cover of Lima.