Ponder The Nazca Lines
Ticked off
From a tiny plane banking over the Peruvian desert, a monkey, a hummingbird and a spider appear, each etched across the ground.
The adventure
On the ground, the Nazca desert looks like nothing at all, a flat expanse of dark, stony plain stretching to the hills. Take off in a six-seater Cessna, though, and the pilot tips the wing hard to one side, and suddenly the shapes appear: a giant hummingbird, a monkey with a spiral tail, a spider, a whale and an astronaut-like figure waving from a hillside.
The lines were made by the Nazca people around 2,000 years ago, by moving the dark surface stones aside to reveal the paler ground beneath. Because it hardly ever rains here, they have survived almost untouched. Nobody knows for sure why they were made, whether for rituals, water or the gods in the sky, and seeing them from above, you can't help wondering who they were meant for.
Why it’s epic
- Created by the Nazca culture between around 500 BC and AD 500.
- More than 70 animal and plant figures, plus hundreds of lines and geometric shapes.
- The hummingbird is around 90 metres long, and some straight lines run for kilometres.
- A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994, studied for decades by German mathematician Maria Reiche.
What it is
The Nazca Lines are giant geoglyphs etched into the desert more than 1,500 years ago, including a hummingbird, monkey and spider.
How to do it
Small planes fly over the lines from Nazca or Pisco airports. There's also a viewing tower by the Pan-American Highway.
Top tip
Skip breakfast before the flight; the tight turns can upset stomachs.
Need to know
- Flights last around 30 minutes, with tight turns so both sides of the plane get a view; take motion sickness tablets.
- Choose a well-established operator with a good safety record.
- Morning flights are usually the calmest, but fog or wind can cause delays, so allow some slack.
Plan this trip
- Rough cost
- £750 to £2,000 per person, including flights from the UK
- Time needed
- 1 day
- Best time to go
- All year
- Fly into
- LIM airport
The flight over the lines is affordable, so the main cost is getting to Peru and down the coast to Nazca.
Do it yourself
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My experience
Ticked off, but the full story is still to be written up.
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