DIARY 1

PERU INFO & DIARY 1

GENERAL INFO (Jump to Diary)
The Republic of Peru is an unitary presidential constitutional republic, covering 1.285.216 square kilometres in the north-western South America. It borders Ecuador and Colombia to the north, Brazil to the east and Bolivia and Chile to the south. The western part is dry and semi-dry desert while the east is cloud forests and deep jungles in the Amazons. My tour is mainly in the dryer areas.
It is the home of more than 32 millions citizens, of which 97% are Christians. The ethnic groups are 45% Amerindian, 37% Mestizo, 15% White, and 3% others. The Official languages are Spanish, Quechua and Aymara - neither I understand.

The currency is Peruvian Sol, worth 2,20 Danish Krone and €0,27. The GDP is US$180.291 billion.

The climate is diverse due to the high mountains. See the maps on the button this page. The rainy season is December to Marts, but that does not mean much to the coast, as it hardly rain here at all.
The diverse climate offers the diverse habitats for a huge range of flora and fauna. I will not be looking for anything in particular, as I'm here to study the desert biomers in general.
Among the more interesting mammals are the Vicuña (Vicugna vicugna), Guanaco (Lama guanicoe), Vizcacha (Lagidium Peruanum), Puma (Puma concolor), Spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), Jaguar (Panthera onca), Anaconda (Eunectes murinus) and the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus).
Peru has over 1,800 species of birds, of which some are absolutely spectacular. I only hope to see some of the Aras. Her are more than 300 species of reptiles, and 380 species of amphibians. And then there are the animals in along the coastline.

The flora is even richer with more than 25.000 species. Due to my interest and the rainy season, I will mainly be looking at the many cacti and other desert dwellers. Here are several Armatocereus', some Austrocylindropuntia, Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis, a lot of Browningias, Calymmanthium substerile, two Cereus', a lot of Cleistocactus', quite some Corryocactus', Cumulopuntia boliviana, some Cumulopuntias, a lot of Echinopsis', Epiphyllum floribundum, at least two Eriosyces, a lot of Espostoas, Eulychnia ritteri, a lot of Haageocereus', two Hylocereus', two Lasiocereus', two Lepismiums, a lot of Matucanas, three Melocactus', Mila caespitosa, Neoraimondia arequipensis, Neowerdermannia chilensis, some Opuntias, some Oreocereus', three Oroyas, Pereskia horrida, Pilosocereus lanuginosus, Praecereus euchlorus, Pseudorhipsalis amazonica, three Pygmaeocereus', Rauhocereus riosaniensis, Rebutia neocumingii, three Rhipsalis', Selenicereus megalanthus, Tunilla chilensis and Tunilla soehrensii, and quite some Weberbauerocereus'. And this is only to name some!
Another interesting quest will be looking for the 2.500 wild species of orchids, distributed in 224 genera.

DIARY

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