The Santa Cruz Trail, Peru:

Peru's popularity has soared over the past decade and rightly so.

The country has such a wealth and diversity of landscapes, habitats, cultures and wildlife that there is literally something to satisfy every taste and interest.

The vast majority of visitors to Peru confine themselves to the southern part of the country seeing such spectacular sites as Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, the Nazca Lines and the Colca Canyon. However, for serious trekkers the central and northern regions offer the greatest prize: the highest equatorial mountain range in the world, not to mention the largest concentration of snow capped peaks to be found anywhere in South America.

The main Cordillera Blanca range and its smaller neighbour the Cordillera Huayhuash are amongst the most spectacular. The Huayhuash was home to Joe Simpson's extraordinary escape in "Touching the Void", however, it is the Cordillera Blanca that is home to Huascaran (the highest mountain in Peru at 6798m), Alpamayo (voted the most beautiful mountain in the world) and The Santa Cruz Trail: one of the world's greatest short treks.

The Santa Cruz Trail may "only" consist of 2 valleys separated by one high pass (Punta Union, 4,700m) but the view from the top is among the most spectacular in all of South America.

The Santa Cruz valley lies at your feet, nestled within a handful of majestic snow-capped peaks rising to over 6,000m. Condors patrol the skies while local shepherds tend their flocks in the high altitude pastures below. The trail can usually be completed by well acclimatised groups in just four days, however with the proliferation of stunning scenery, you may well feel that four days is simply not long enough to fully appreciate this area. If that is the case, then there are a multitude of longer treks that offer equally superb scenery.

Our summer months of June, July and August are the best time to visit Peru, with clear blue skies and warm sunshine the order of the day. However, due to the altitude, night time temperatures can drop significantly. Itineraries can be tailor-made to group requirements and include trekking, sight-seeing, jungle exploration, wildlife watching and project work.