En route to Arequipa

It was a long way from Lima to our next major stop and so it was several long drive days and some bush camping. Our first stop was on a beach with marvellous views and plenty of beautiful sea views. 

Sunset was spectacular as we set up cap.

The next day we were booked onto the first tour to take a sea trip to the Ballesteros Islands, just a short trip off shore from the main land and a haven for wildlife, both bird and seal. En route we passed the Union, a steel hulled four masted ship belonging to the navy.

Before we reached the islands we paused at the Candelabra, a seventeenth century inscription in the sand mimicking the Nasca lines. Rainfall here is under 2cms a year so these will not be washed away for millenniua

Then we approached the islands and the wildlife and some unusual geological formations such as these natural caves.

On the shore were thousands of sea lion huddled on the beach and dozens more swimming in the seas around us.

You can see the size of the dominant male sea lion when compared to the smaller females in his harem. He can have a harem of up to thirty females but he has to stay awake night and day to protect hisharem so his life expectancy is lower than for females.

There were also penguins, these are Humboldt penguins but very similar to those that I had just seen in the Falklands a few weeks earlier. But another specie of penguin to add to my list and as there are only sixteen species, I am well on my way to see them all!

These islands were covered with seabirds and consequently they were also covered with guano. Thousands of tons of guano have been shipped from these islands to farms around the world. It was a big export industry and consequently there were loading platforms built. some still in use today and when not used ny man used by the birds.

The islands are also used by biologists who are resupplied by the frequent tourist boats that make the journey out to the islands≥