Ballestas Islands and Nazca: 10th Feb 10

Today we visited the Ballestas Islands which are part of Paracas National Park and nicknamed ‘The Galapagos of Peru’. You can’t walk on the Islands as they are protected, so you just sail around them.

On the way we saw a pod of dolphins - they jumped out of the water all around the boat – it was tricky to capture them on photos as they were so fast!

We also saw loads of pelicans flying alongside the boat, which were very impressive.

Whilst passing the passing the tip of the Paracas Peninsula we stopped to admire the ‘candelabra’, a huge image carved into the rock, thought to be almost 2,000 years old. Nobody knows why it’s there, but it’s thought it was made by the Nazca people, whom we shall learn more about tomorrow!

When we reached the islands themselves we were just gob-smacked. They were covered in birds - and cormorants were taking off to fly out to the sea for their lunch – literally tens of thousands of them swooping around the island and flying off. A truly awesome sight.


The Islands are formed of bays and coves, and have many caves and natural archways - really pretty. In most of the coves and under the archways there were thousands of sea lions – much bigger and uglier than the ones we encountered on the Galapagos! The noise they made was like the screams of hell – really chilling!


We also saw loads of penguins (yay, so cute!) and boobies. It was amazing that the small penguins and boobies hung out with the Pelicans, which are about ten times the size – they all just live together in harmony.

On the way back we found out where all of the cormorants had gone, as we passed by their feeding ground – in the middle of the sea where they’d obviously found a load of fish – it was spectacular watching them dive into the water, and even better when another pod of dolphins joined in the feast!

We both thought the Islands were spectacular and really enjoyed the morning – nature at its most intense!


After the boat trip we drove for 3 hours to Nazca, where we visited the Chauchilla cemetery which features 1,000 year old mummies, really well preserved.

What a contrast! We’d seen so much life in the morning and now we were faced with death.

The mummies were really creepy, complete with hair and original wrappings, surrounded by pottery and foodstuffs. We both felt a bit creeped out – let’s hope we don’t have nightmares tonight!