Are you tired of the home office and city traffic? Or maybe you just want a bit of nature? During the winter-spring season, you can appreciate various species of wild plants and animals, and also perform activities that will connect you with nature in a fresh and healthy way.
While you are traveling to Peru you may need to keep communication or a translation app. That’s why you may need to use one of our mobile phone plans for tourists to have a tourist sim card. In order to make a nice trip here in PeruSIM. Here we show more about Lachay Hills and how to visit it.
What to do? Visit in green season
Las Lomas de Lachay is a National Reserve that protects the system of coastal hills, desert hills that fill with vegetation due to the humidity during the winter. It is a place to walk, surrounded by a green landscape (June to August), full of flowers (September to October), and desert (November to April), and hopefully see the animals that live in the hills. The indispensable requirement to enjoy the hills is that you like walking, they are not long or difficult distances, but they are entertaining walks.
What animals can be seen in the Lomas de Lachay Reserve?
The reserve has recorded 65 species of birds, 13 mammals, 10 reptiles, more than 300 insects, 11 snails and more than 30 arachnids. But, like most wildlife, it takes a lot of patience, attention and luck to see the animals. Some are not too bothered by human presence and let themselves be seen, like many birds, others like the fox are elusive.
Unfortunately there is only one puquial left (there used to be more than 10), which are wells where water condensed by the plants accumulates (they trap fog). They are important because they are a source of water for the animals. In the hills there are no rivers or lagoons, all the water is obtained from the fog.
What plants can be seen in the lomas?
There are 146 species of flora that appear in the wet season. The emblematic amancaes flower (Ismene amancaes), is the first species to appear in June, adorning the slopes near the Fox Circuit. It blooms only a few days of the year. And the flower, which announces the end of the green season, is the black nettle (Nasa urens) that appears in October and November. Its stinging hairs cause itching and pain on contact with the skin, and in traditional medicine it is used to treat rheumatism and cramps.
Three trees dominate the landscape of Lachay: the tara (Caesalpinia espinosa), the mito or wild papaya (Carica candicans) and the palillo (Capparis prisca).
Hiking trails
- El Zorro Circuit: This is the shortest (approximately 40 minutes). Its main attraction is the rock formations, a product of wind erosion over thousands of years.
- Taras Circuit: 1 hour and 30 minutes hike. It takes you to a dense forest of taras, a typical tree of the hills, to the cave paintings and to the puquial, a spring that is fed with the water of the fog. It is the only one in the area.
- Circuit of the Partridge: it is the longest, walk 2 hours, it covers the whole perimeter. This trail leads to the highest point of the reserve, the Alto Capilla hill, where fog-catching nets have been installed to capture water from the environment.
How to get to Lomas de Lachay?
By bus:
Buses that go to Huacho: Turismo Barranca or Zbus. Tickets cost 15 soles from Monday to Thursday, and 20 soles from Friday to Sunday. You can take them at the Terminal Terrestre Lima Norte, where you pay a 1.5 soles boarding fee.
Get off at the entrance to Lomas de Lachay (km 105), the drivers know the entrance. Walk to the entrance control, it is 7 km, approx. 1 hour and a half walk. If you are lucky, like us, you can find someone to pull you off the road. If you don’t want to walk, on Fridays and Saturdays there is a cab that charges 5 soles per person, that takes you from the entrance to the entrance control.
By car:
Take the Panamerican Highway North until km 105, take the detour (paved road) that takes you to the entrance control.
What is the best season to visit?
- Wet season: from June to October, months of abundant fog. It is the best time to visit, because it is green. It is preferable to visit it on particular days. The temperature varies between 10 to 15 degrees.
- Dry season: November to March. There is no fog, it is hot and there is no vegetation.
Finally, we know that you have to keep communication with your relatives and friends, that you need to be able to orient yourself in new cities, that you might need help with translation and that you might need to search for restaurants or hotels. That’s why with PeruSIM you can buy a SIM card including the data plan of your need without having to worry about high roaming costs.