NATIONAL PARKS TOURS PERU

ALL CULTURAL HIGHLIGHTS COMBINED WITH FABULOUS NATURE

 
 

UROS PERU, [FLOATING ISLANDS, LAKE TITICACA]

UROS PERU, [FLOATING ISLANDS, LAKE TITICACA]:  Don't just see the islands, but also visit the TITICACA NATIONAL RESERVE to enjoy birds & scenery

 

Uros, Peru, Floating Islands in Lake Titicaca

The Uros people live on about 40 floating islands in lake Titicaca; the islands are made of totora reeds, a subspecies of the Giant Bulrush Sedge. The latter is harvested from the extensive marshes and continuously piled up on top of the existing layers, thus compensating for the continuous decomposition. In fact, Uros, Peru, Floating Islands in Lake Titicaca may house anywhere from a few to 10 families.

 

UROS PERU, [FLOATING ISLANDS, LAKE TITICACA]: & TOURS: Urus, floating islands

The Uros built their floating islands around the shores of an internal lake within a reed marshland area with many creeks and little lakes, full of water birds. Regular tours take you in a 40 passenger boat through the main channel to one of the islands. Our National Parks Tour zig zags in a small boat through the marsh area at the top right to get you to the Urus islands, watching marsh birds and nature on the way to the islands.

 

Why consider booking our  Peru National Parks Tour? Because for the same price, our tour gets you to ALL places Peru is so famous for. On top of that, you get to see 9 National Parks/Reserves accompanied by a naturalist guide. There is nothing similar on the market. As Peru can be combined with other countries, we organize tours in modules: Lima Cusco, Machu Picchu module, Manu National Park module, National Parks Module, All modules.

Destinations Overview:  World Heritage Site Lima,  World Heritage Site Cusco, Amazon park Manu National Park World Heritage Site Valle Sagrado/Sacred Valley, World Heritage Site Machu Picchu, Cloud Forest Machu Picchu Sanctuary, Highland wetland Titicaca National Reserve, Uros floating islands, Altiplano wildlife park Salinas & Aguadas Blancas National Reserve, World's second deepest canyon Colca Canyon, Word heritage site Arequipa, World heritage site Nazca Lines, Pampas Galeras National Reserve, San Fernando National Reserve, Paracas National Reserve, Ballestas Islands National Reserve.

 

The Uros bind dried totora into bundles, which are then bound together into canoe shaped rafts, that float on the buoyancy of the reed, rather than on being a watertight vessel. Over the last few decades, they began building artistic rafts to take around tourists.

 

Living on islands, fishing is one of the primary economic activities. While the lake has a variety of native and even endemic fish species, like ispi, carachi and catfish, the introduced trout and kingfish are among the important catches. Families also have one or a few cows or pigs, for which they must bring fodder. Ducks, Gulls and Flamingos are also hunted.

 

Decreed in 1978, the islands are part of the Titicaca National Reserve, 37,000 ha of protected marshes at the Eastern and Northern shores of the lake, respectively Ramis, in the provinces of Huancané and Ramis; and in the province of Puno. The reserve protects over 60 species of aquatic birds, four families of fish and 18 species of amphibians.

 

UROS PERU, [FLOATING ISLANDS, LAKE TITICACA]: Tourist boat.

10 FLOTING ISLANDS TOUR TITICACA: tourist raft at Lake Titicaca.

A typical floating islands tour Titicaca tourist boat takes visitors in 40 minutes to the floating islands.

 

These rafts are specially built to take groups of visitors around.

 

UROS PERU, [FLOATING ISLANDS, LAKE TITICACA]: village at floating island on Lake Titicaca.

10 FLOTING ISLANDS TOUR TITICACA: Community on floating island.

Typical villages on a Uros, Peru, floating islands, where women in traditional clothes welcome visitors.

 

UROS PERU, [FLOATING ISLANDS, LAKE TITICACA]: Traditional family scene.

10 FLOTING ISLANDS TOUR TITICACA: traditional cooking.

 

While houses have grown in size a bit, not much has changes over the years. These two pictures of Uros, Peru, Floating Islands in Lake Titicaca, are scans from slides I took in 1975! The Uros now use metal pots for cooking.

   

UROS PERU, [FLOATING ISLANDS, LAKE TITICACA]: Only small boats can enter the marshes of the reserve.

10 FLOTING ISLANDS TOUR TITICACA: a traditional uros boat.

While the original Uru reed boats (called balsas) can still be found, the Uros now use small motorized row-boat-type boats for their day to day use.

 

On this Uru reed raft or balsa on land, one can see how the much thicker bottom bundles actually serve as floaters so that the user can stay dry.

 

 

Climatological Information for Juliaca, Peru

Location of weather station : 15.5 S, 70.0 W, altitude : 3825 m

 

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Data
Period

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Dec

Mean Maximum
Temperature (deg. C)

1961-1990

16.7

16.7

16.5

16.8

16.6

16.0

16.0

17.0

17.6

18.6

18.8

17.7

Mean Minimum
Temperature (deg. C)

1961-1990

3.6

3.5

3.2

0.6

-3.8

-7.0

-7.5

-5.4

-1.4

0.3

1.5

3.0

Rainfall Amount (mm)

1961-1990

133.3

108.7

98.5

43.3

9.9

3.1

2.4

5.8

22.1

41.1

55.3

85.9

 

UROS PERU, [FLOATING ISLANDS, LAKE TITICACA]: Temperature graph Puno.

10 FLOTING ISLANDS TOUR TITICACA: Rainfall graph Puno.

 

UROS PERU, FLOATING ISLANDS

What makes us different from so many other tour operators?

Just look at the quality of our high resolution pictures. We took them all ourselves. We have thousands of high resolution pictures on this website, that you can see enlarged by clicking on them. These pictures show that we have been everywhere in the country of your interest and really know the details. We are professional explorers and biologists with MSc and PhD.

 

National Parks Tours Worldwide, a social responsibility and conservation company, is a brand name of the World Institute for Conservation & Environment, registered in the Netherlands with headquarters in the USA.

 

Phone USA:

(++)(1) 304 - 581 - 7740

 

Email:

info@nationalparks_worldwide.com

 

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