27 LAKE TITICACA Birthplace of the Incas

Birthplace of the Incas by Dimitri Laspas

Lake Chucuito, Bolivia

Stretching through the Andes Mountains of both Bolivia and Peru, the protected site that is Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world and the largest lake in South America by volume of water. Titicaca is one of only a few ancient lakes on earth, thought to be over a million years old. This makes it an iconic destination.

This is a big lake; at high altitude, with floating islands and ancient cultures. It is one of Peru’s leading tourist attractions and is totally unique.

Lake Titicaca, lies at 3,810m above sea level in the Andes Mountains of South America, astride the border between Peru to the west and Bolivia to the east. Titicaca is the second largest lake of South America (after Maracaibo). It covers some 3,200 sq.m (8,300sq.km) and extends in a northwest-to-southeast direction for a distance of 120 miles (190km). It is 50 miles (80km) across at its widest point.

A narrow strait, Tiquina, separates the lake into two bodies of water. The smaller, in the southeast, is called Lake Huiñaymarca in Bolivia and Lake Pequeño in Peru; the larger, in the northwest, is called Lake Chucuito in Bolivia and Lake Grande in Peru.

The Tiquina, strait

The lake averages between 140-180m in depth. More than 25 rivers empty their waters into Titicaca. It offers 41 islands, some of them densely populated; the largest, Titicaca Island lies just off the tip of the Copacabana Peninsula in Bolivia.

Local communities believe that the lakes shape in the form of a puma hunting a rabbit gave the lake its name ’Titicaca’, which comes from the word “Titi Khar’ka” meaning Rock of the Puma in the local indigenous Aymara.

Archeological finds at Pukara, Sillustani, Cutimbo (Peruvian side) and Tiwanaku and the Isla del Sol (Bolivian side) are evidence of the existence of 3 civilisations prior to the Incas; Pukara, Tiwanaku, Colla Lupaka.

Archeological siteSillustani, Peru

Ruins found at the bottom of the late in 2000 are testament to the previous existence of one of the oldest civilisations known in the Americas. On Titicaca Island ruins of a temple mark the place where the founders of the Incas dynasty; a Quechuan people of Peru, established an empire.

The Aymara people living on the shores of the lake still practice ancient methods of agriculture. The highest cultivated plot in the world was found near Titicaca, a field of barley growing at a height of 4,700m above sea level. Although the grain never ripens at such high altitude, the stalks are food for llamas and alpacas.

The descendants of an ancient people, the Uru, still live on manmade floating mats of dried reeds (like papyrus that grows at the edge of the lake). From the totora, the Uru among others make their famous ‘balsas’; boats made from bundles of dried reeds tied together that look like papyrus boats from ancient Egyptian monuments.

In 1862 the first steamer sailed on the lake. It was made in England and carried in pieces by mules up to the lake. Today many boats of various sizes and purposes sail the great lake with regular crossings from Puno, on the Peruvian shore, to the small Bolivian port of Guaqui. Needless to say fishing and tourism are key industries for the local economy.

41 islands are scattered across the lake, some densely populated, others with ancient ruins. The majority of them are inhabited, the largest of which is the Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun) on the Bolivian side. On this one island alone you will find over 180 ancient Incan ruins. The Isla de la Luna and Suriki are also Bolivian. While Amantani and Taquile belong to Peru.

Lake Titicaca offers a unique ecology with over 530 aquatic species found in the lake, as well as many species of water birds. Endangered species can also be found here including the enormous Titicaca water frog and the Titicaca grebe. Approximately 90% of the fish found in the basin are endemic species not found anywhere else in the world. Lake Titicaca is a stunning and inspiring place; windswept at high altitude, yet serene, sacred, and steeped in a rich cultural past that lives on today.