Peru is part of these group of twelve countries called "megadiverse", because all of them contain between 60-70% of all the biological diversity of our planet. And that is a good reason to travel and discover the secrets of nature hidden in the vast and plentiful rainforest, the freezy but beautiful Andean highlands, the dry but fertile coast belt; and the richest sea of the world, the Peruvian Sea region. The country has the greatest bio-diversity in the world, thanks to the presence of the Andes, Amazon and Pacific. There are 54 protected natural areas throughout the country. There are over 1,800 species of birds (120 endemic to Peru), hundreds of mammals including rare cats like jaguar and pumas, bears, and river dolphins; the coast is rich in marine life and a great place to see sea-lions and myriad seabirds.
Peru has 84 of 117 zones of life available in our planet (Holdridge) and 28 kinds of climate from a total of 32 (Thornwaite) in the Earth. This explosion of life is protected in Peru by a system of more than 40 national parks and reserves that covers almost the 10% of the country's area. This country also owns the record of having the third greatest mammal diversity and the fifth greatest plant diversity in the world. As it is known, a great part of the raw material for medicine is taken from the Peruvian tropical forests. There are thousands of plant species that remain unknown until today, but in the future they will be the cure for today illnesses.

The Andes are the dominating feature of Peru. There are few places like it in the world: the Himilayas, the Alps and the Caucasus. This land mass shapes history and the future. Man is challenged to survive in this environment.
The Andes rise 6,000 meter or 19,700 feet above sea level, separating the Pacific Ocean and the Amazon jungle basin. From the depths of the Peru-Chile trench just off the Peruvian coast to the Andean peaks is a difference in altitude of more than 40,000 feet within a distance of 50 miles.
The chilly currents of the Pacific Ocean that flow out of the Peru-Chile Trench supercharges the coastal air with humidity, inhibiting rainfall. At most, a low, soupy overcasting covers the coast for six months a year. It makes Lima a depressing place. The Andes comprise about a third of Peru's territory. The extreme variables of altitude, temperature, moisture, sun light and other factors make the Andes a highly risky environment. The highest peak is Nevado Huascaran at 6,768 meters above sea level.
The most useful land is the slopes and plateaus higher than 2,000 meters above sea level. It is the ecological zone that holds most of the genetic diversity and staples of the Andean economy.

The Amazon burst into Peruvian consciousness in the late 19th century during the Rubber Boom. Harvesting the sap from the wild expanses of the rain forest is one of the lesser know tales of adventure and exploitation in the Amazon. Entire native tribes were put in force labor. Iquitos was the center of Peru's rubber trade, while in neighboring Brazil much larger fortunes flowed through Manaus. By 1910, the rubber trade had seen its better days because the British had snatched the seeds of Hevea brasiliensis tree and transferred them to their Asian colonies, mainly Ceylon and Malaysia. Since the 1950s, the Amazon has been an area of expansion as settlers moved down from the mountains, opening up the foothills and then the broad Amazon plain. For these reasons, we encourage you to visit this wonderful land, feel the enchantment of nature, keep in touch with ancestral cultures and preserve one of the last enclosures of wildlife in our world.