Marañón Canyon

The Marañón is the longer of the two rivers that join to form the Amazon and is generally treated as its main stem, and between Cajamarca and Amazonas it runs in a canyon that drops from highland at over 3,000 metres to around 850 at the river - a descent of thousands of metres through changing vegetation into hot dry country of columnar cactus and thorn scrub, with the river a green line at the bottom. The road from Celendín to Chachapoyas crosses it at Balsas in an unbroken sequence of switchbacks down one side and up the other, unpaved in stretches, narrow, with unguarded drops, and it is one of the more demanding drives in Peru. The canyon is a centre of endemism - several bird species occur only in this dry inter-Andean valley - and it has been the subject of long dispute over proposed hydroelectric dams that would flood large sections.

What you actually see

• The descent - thousands of metres from highland to dry canyon floor.
• The vegetation change - páramo to columnar cactus and thorn scrub.
• The Balsas crossing - the road switchbacking down and up the canyon walls.
• The endemic birds - species found only in this dry inter-Andean valley.

When to go

May to September, the dry season - the road is worse and landslip-prone in the rains. A day to cross with stops. Buses run the route but the drive is far better in daylight.

Honest expectations

Continuous switchbacks, unpaved in stretches, narrow with unguarded drops - the drive causes motion sickness and is genuinely demanding. The canyon floor is hot. Few facilities on the route. Proposed dams would change the canyon substantially.

Nearby

Celendín is west; Leymebamba, Kuélap and Chachapoyas are east.