Laguna Lauricocha

Lauricocha lies at about 3,850 metres in the Raura range, a long lake fed by glaciers and long treated as a source of the Marañón and thus of the Amazon system - one of several claimants to that title. Its importance is archaeological. Caves above the lake, excavated by Augusto Cardich in the 1950s, produced human burials and stone tools dated to roughly ten thousand years ago, among the earliest well-documented human remains in Peru, along with rock paintings of camelids and hunters. The finds gave their name to the Lauricocha culture, early hunters of the high puna. The setting is bleak and beautiful - ice peaks above, puna grassland, alpaca herding communities - and it is genuinely remote, several hours of rough road from Huánuco with almost no infrastructure. The caves are archaeological sites and access is restricted; local guides arrange visits.

The landscape

• The lake - glacier-fed at about 3,850 metres below the Raura peaks.
• The caves - excavations that produced remains around ten thousand years old.
• The paintings - camelid and hunting scenes on the cave walls.
• The claim - one of the sources long attributed to the Marañón and the Amazon.

When to go

May to September; roads are bad and often impassable in the rains. Two days including travel from Huánuco. Arrange guides in Queropalca or Jesús.

Practical notes

Very remote, with hours of rough road and essentially no tourist facilities. Cold and exposed at nearly 4,000 metres. The caves are protected sites with restricted access - do not enter or touch paintings without a guide and permission.

Nearby

Queropalca is the nearest village; the Raura range continues south.

Key facts