A few places still remain in the photographers’ expedition to Peru with Photo Review Australia’s technical editor, Margaret Brown, which leaves Australia in July.

 

March 21, 2007: A few places still remain in the photographers’ expedition to Peru with Photo Review Australia’s technical editor, Margaret Brown, which leaves Australia in July.
This special trip has been designed for keen photographers who own – or are about to purchase – a digital still camera and will suit both novice photographers and more experienced shooters who want to learn more about their digital cameras. Participants will fly out from Australia on 18 July and spend one night in Santiago, the capital of Chile. The next morning is taken up with a flight to La Paz in Bolivia, the world’s highest commercial airport. Two days are spent in La Paz to acclimatise us to the altitude and there will be opportunities to visit colourful markets and photograph the spectacular peaks of the Andes. From La Paz, we travel north by chartered coach to Lake Titicaca and then to Puno in Peru, where we take a boat trip to the famous floating island of Uros and also visit picturesque Taquille Island.
From Puno we travel by bus around Lake Titicaca then over the 4,500 metre pass and down to Cuzco. There will be great opportunities for scenic photography during this part of the trip. A day in Cuzco allows us to explore Inca remains, visit colourful Indian markets and savour a unique blend of the ancient and contemporary worlds. The next morning we leave by train for Machu Picchu, the famous lost city of the Incas for a full day’s exploration of the site.
Returning the Cuzco, we embark on a week-long expedition into the Manu Jungle in the uppermost reaches of the Amazon River. Seldom visited by tourists, this area is isolated by rapids and the Andes Mountains and covered by two million hectares of virgin cloud forest and lowland rainforest. A large part of the trip will be made in locally-made motorised dug-out canoes, which take us down to the clear, swift waters of the Alto Madre de Dios River, thence on to the Manu River, a virgin area that escaped the last ice age and is home to an amazing selection of wildlife.
During this part of the trip we will enjoy comfortable camping on beautiful sandy beaches and have opportunities to photograph many different bird species as well as some of the world’s rarest animals. Night walks will be organized for spotting monkeys and we may visit a local village and interact with the native people. The trip ends with a short boat ride to the airstrip at Boca Manu to catch a Twin Otter plane for the spectacular 50-minute flight to Cuzco. An evening will be spent in Huaras, where we can enjoy shopping, eating, dancing and picture-taking. We then return to Lima for a final farewell meal at the celebrated Rosa Nautica restaurant before catching the flight back home.
The trip will be fully escorted from Australia and accommodation will be in 3- and 4-star hotels with private facilities. Only 18 places are available and participants will receive extensive trip notes (including equipment advice) pre-departure. Phone Australian Andean Adventures on (02) 9299 9973 or email info@andeanadventures.com.au for full details, including air fares.
(Photo Review Australia technical editor, Margaret Brown has been contracted by Andean Adventures to provide advice and assistance to participants on this trip.)