Flora and fauna

Machu Picchu is located in the Peruvian cloud forest, a region with a great environmental richness that has a varied climate, and the existence of numerous zones.

The ecology is extremely diverse as it includes ten wildlife zones, from the low, dry mountain forest (by the side of the valley) to the level of the mountain range summits. In terms of altitude, this means that it climbs from 1,725 m. at the level of the Urubamba River, up to 6,271 m. at snowy Salkantay's summit. As a consequence, these geographical variations provide a really wide range of flora and fauna. The species of fauna and flora that have been registered in this habitat represent a high proportion of those species present in Peru; between 10 and 20% of these are endangered.

The Inca Trail boasts more than 400 species of orchids, begonias, trees and bushes like the Qeuña (Polylepis racemosa), the Pisonay (Eritrina falcata), or the Muña (Minthostachys glabrecens), amongst others. (If you hike te the Inca trail, you are likely to receive Muña tea– it is very tasty, and it is recommended to combat the symptoms of altitude sickness!).

Sanctuary Machu Picchu also provides home to a very wide variety of fauna, and we can find in these forests 400 registered species of birds, like the Cock-of-the-Rock (Rupícola peruviana) and a la pava de monte (Penelope montagnii). In the rivers you can encounter more birds.

»Here you can read more about birds in Machu Picchu.»

Within others, we can also find the bear with the glasses (Tremactos ornatos), the puma (Puma concolor), the dwarfed deer, reptiles and insects.