Sierra del Divisor National Park

Sierra del Divisor is the range that forms the watershed on the Peru-Brazil border, and its oddity is topographic: a set of steep conical hills, the remains of ancient volcanic activity, standing abruptly out of otherwise flat Amazon forest, the best known being El Cono, a near-perfect cone visible for a great distance. The park was declared in 2015 after a long campaign, covering about 1.35 million hectares, and it protects an area with uncontacted indigenous groups in and around it - which is the central fact about visiting. Access is by days of river travel and there is essentially no tourism infrastructure; the few trips that run are expeditions arranged with specialist operators and park permission. Illegal logging, mining and coca cultivation are active pressures along the rivers, and park staff work under real risk. It matters far more as a conservation and indigenous-rights issue than as a place travellers go.

What you actually see

• The cones - volcanic remnants standing out of flat forest, El Cono the most striking.
• The scale - about 1.35 million hectares declared in 2015.
• The rivers - days of boat travel as the only approach.
• The isolation - among the least visited protected areas in South America.

When to go

June to October for river conditions. Any visit is a week or more and must be arranged through specialist operators with park permission well in advance.

Honest expectations

Genuinely hard to reach, expensive and rarely available. Areas used by uncontacted groups are strictly off limits and must be respected absolutely. Illegal activity along the rivers makes parts of the region unsafe. Most people will only ever see this park in photographs.

Nearby

Contamana is on the Ucayali; Pucallpa is the regional hub upriver.