Machu Picchu: UNESCO World Heritage site close to some of the world’s last uncontacted tribes – Peru

In 2007, Machu Picchu was declared one of the seven new wonders of the world. Today, the lives of uncontacted tribes in the same valley are threatened by gas and oil extraction. […]
Every year, nearly 1 million tourists visit the Inca citadel. Perched high on a ridge in the eastern Andes overlooking the Urubamba valley, also known as the Sacred Valley of the Incas, Machu Picchu is Peru’s most famous archaeological site; the very heartland of the Inca empire.
Yet few visitors are aware that a mere 100 kms away from its tumbling terraces of stairwells and granite temples live some of the world’s last uncontacted tribes.
Few tourists know that today, these tribes are in danger of extinction.
The tribes’ ancestral homes are in an area known as the Manú National Park, a region so rich in biodiversity that it was established as a national park by a Supreme Decree in 1973, and made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.
The size of Hawaii, it is thought to contain more plants species than any other place on earth and 10% of the world’s bird species.

The park is bordered by the Nahua-Nanti Reserve, where the Nahua, Nanti and members of the Matsigenka tribes live.
Picture © Icelight/Wikicommons

Source: ‘We didn’t know what a cold was then’ – Survival International
Address : https://www.survivalinternational.org/galleries/machup#1
Date Visited: Sun Feb 17 2013 20:12:10 GMT+0100 (CET)

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