Pongo de Mainique

Pongo de Mainique
jose carlos mazzetti
Pongo de Mainique

La Convención Province, Cuzco Region, Peru

Long-axis length 3 kilometres (2 mi)
Width 45 metres (50 yd)
Geography
Coordinates 12°14′15.72″S 72°49′18.73″W / 12.2377000°S 72.8218694°W / -12.2377000; -72.8218694Coordinates: 12°14′15.72″S 72°49′18.73″W / 12.2377000°S 72.8218694°W / -12.2377000; -72.8218694

The Pongo de Mainique is a pongo (canyon) in Peru, being 45 metres (50 yd) wide and 3 kilometres (2 mi) long, with 900 metres (3,000 ft) to 300 metres (1,000 ft) high cliffs.[1][2] It is the only break in the entire Willkapampa mountain range. It also divides the Urubamba River (a headwater of the Amazon River) between Upper Urubamba and Lower Urubamba. It is considered the most dangerous whitewater pass on the Urubamba; however, many boats traverse it, depending on seasonal river conditions. It is crossed by the Inca Bridge, ancient secret entrance to the Machu Picchu.

It is a global biodiversity hotspot; six square miles of rainforest around the canyon contains more species of life than any other similar-sized area on Earth.[3]

The rapids of the Pongo de Mainique were used as a filming location for key scenes of Werner Herzog's 1982 film Fitzcarraldo starring Klaus Kinski.<REF The Pongo also appears in the Academy Award-nominated IMAX film "Amazon." >Source requiring two languages:

</ref> In a 2006 survey of "15 of the world's top travel writers" by The Observer, Monty Python actor and BBC travel documentarist Michael Palin named it his "favourite place in the world".[4]

References

Sources consulted
Endnotes
  1. Stromquist, Tamara (2000). "Paititi (ARA Winter 2000)". Macaw Landing Foundation's Ecotourism. Retrieved 2007-08-18. Onward we went to Pongo de Mainique, a 50-yard (46 m)-wide, two-mile (3 km)-long canyon through which flows the Urubamba River on its way from Cusco. This canyon is the only break in the entire Vilcabamba Mountain Range. The canyon has 3,000-foot (910 m)-high walls, 30 veil-like waterfalls and is extraordinarily beautiful.
  2. Llama Travel. "Cusco Tourist Information". Peru Tourist Information. Retrieved 2008-07-18. The Pongo de Mainique, a long, but beautiful, bus ride from Cusco, is a narrow gorge, with 300 m-high cliffs on either side of the Urubamba River, with waterfalls pouring down into the river.
  3. Wildlife Conservation Society (2001). "Surveys and protection of endangered wildlife in the Pongo". Macaw Landing Foundation's Field Projects. Retrieved 2007-08-18. WCS wishes to protect the Pongo because the lowland rainforests and mid-montane cloud forests within a radius of five miles (8 km) of the Pongo possibly comprise the single most biologically-diverse site on the face of the Earth.
  4. Wilkinson, Carl, ed. (2006-01-08). "My favourite place in the world". The Observer. Retrieved 2007-08-18.

External links

Pictures and text
Pictures

Vanackeren, Guy (2003). "Kiteni et le Pongo de Mainique". Aventura Latino Americana (in French).  – Pictures of the Pongo de Mainique (4th to 8th)

Coordinates: 12°14′21″S 72°49′16″W / 12.23917°S 72.82111°W / -12.23917; -72.82111


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