The Altiplano: The High Plain of the Andes
The altiplano — the high plateau surrounding Lake Titicaca at 3,800–4,500m — is one of the world's most extreme inhabited environments; the vast treeless grassland (puna), the intense light, the alpaca and llama herds, and the distance of the horizons create a landscape of singular grandeur
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Puna Grassland
Puna - the Andes at a high altitude above 3,500 m - covers the altiplano around Lake Titicaca; the dominant plant is ichu grass; the cold, dry, UV-intensive conditions are extreme for agriculture but ideal for camel herding; The Puna landscape has a vast, gentle beauty unique to the high Andes
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Alpaca and llama economy
The economy of the Altiplano is based on camel herding – alpacas (raised for fiber, considered the world's finest natural fibers) and llamas (raised for meat, transport and as pack animals); The Puno region produces about 80% of Peru's alpaca fiber; the herding societies maintain the pre-Inca tradition of camel domestication
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Extreme climate
The Altiplano has a brutal climate - daily temperature swings of 30°C (cold nights near freezing, intense daytime sun), thin air, intense UV radiation and periodic frosts; the societies adapted to this climate developed specific agricultural techniques (field farming, freeze-drying of potatoes) that no other culture had developed
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Raised Field Agriculture
The ancient raised field system (suka kollus) in the Lake Titicaca basin - artificial mounds separated by water channels - created a microclimate that protected crops from frost; abandoned for centuries, the system has been revived by non-governmental organizations and indigenous peoples as a resilient climate-adapted agriculture
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Vicuña Conservation
The vicuña – the alpaca's wild camel cousin – was close to extinction in the 1960s (fewer than 5,000 animals); conservation programs on the altiplano have brought the population back to about 350,000; vicuñas fiber (the world's most expensive natural fiber) is harvested by communities in the traditional chaku (communal round-up)
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Andean Condor
The Andean condor - the world's largest flying land bird - soars on the altiplano thermals above Lake Titicaca; The condor's wingspan (up to 3.3 m) and its light soaring over the vast open sky of the altiplano is one of South America's great wildlife actresses
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