Paracas National Reserve: Peru’s Desert Coast…and its Penguins

Paracas National Reserve is known for its natural beauty and surprising wildlife which includes numerous penguin and sea lion colonies. You can reach it by taking a bus from Lima to Pisco, a trip of about 3-4 hours. (Pisco’s a stop on most buses covering the Lima-Arequipa route, with the most frequent Lima-Ica-Pisco buses being Ormeño.)

If you’re in Pisco to visit Paracas National Reserve, it’s best to arrange for a tour, as there’s no public transportation within the reserve, which includes large swathes of coastal desert. It’s possible to do it on your own, but much that is unique about the area, especially the climactic conditions of its varied ecosystems and its abundant migratory wildlife, isn’t immediately obvious.

If you’re only planning on visiting the Ballestas Islands, you can take a S/2 bus from the Pisco market on Fermín Tangus to El Chaco waterfront (the buses are marked El Chaco – Paracas) and arrange a boat tour right on the dock. It costs around S/50.

If you opt for a tour of the reserve, you can expect it to start at Chaco Port as well. Travel through the reserve is by bus and takes several hours. There’ll be lots of enviable photo opportunities afforded by the changing tones and colors of the desert cliffs throughout the day, and stops at points overlooking the desert, forest, and ocean. The reserve boasts beaches with very different characteristics from each other, which are home to thousands of bird species. You’ll learn more about its wildlife in the museum as well. Tours include a stop at Lagunillas beach as well, so that travelers can buy lunch at one of the many small seafood joints offering produce brought in by its many small fishing boats.

The Ballestas Islands off the Paracas coast make up part of the reserve as well, which is actually 2/3 ocean. It’s more accurate to refer to them as rocky outcrops; they’re named after archer’s bows, in a reference to their eroded arches. The thousands of sea birds which call them home include the blue-footed booby and the guano bird (which was responsible for Peru’s “guano boom”). It’s the Humboldt Penguins and the gregarious fur seals and sea lions that attract travelers, however.

Tours of the islands last about 2 hours. These are very noisy thanks to the sea lions, which often approach the boats. The penguins are shyer however, and you won’t be able to disembark on the islands as this would be very disturbing for them. Between the islands and the coast, you’ll space a large geoglyph known as El Candelabro. It may have served as a beacon for sailors, or have some sort of connection with the Nazca Lines.