Nazca Coast

When people think of Peru they do not think of scenes like this. However whilst Peru does boast fabulous jungles and mountains it also has a large amount of desert. The Nazca desert borders the coast and sits in the rain shadow of the Andes Mountains.

As with all deserts at first glance it looks lifeless but this desert supports all sorts of life, just up the coast near Ica there are large flocks of flamingos and believe it or not this is the only place in the world that you can see penguins in the desert. The Nazca desert is home to Humboldt penguins, and the reason that they are there is the extremely cold sea fed by the Humboldt current.

The sea that you can see in the picture is incredibly rich in life and feeds thousands of sea birds nesting on islands off shore, also sea lions and of course the penguins.

I can also definitely confirm that whilst it looks hot like most deserts it is in fact pretty cold here!