Salinas Lake by bike
Laguna de Salinas is located at 4300 meters (14107 feet) above sea level, Salinas and Aguada Blanca National Reserve is 2:30 hours from Arequipa city, that's why we recommend departing at 7:30 am in order to arrive earlier, and spend there with more light hours; but the departure time is flexible upon request.
As soon we get to the lake, we will have a spectacular landscape, here Nature offers us a wonderful gift, Salinas lake is surrounded by volcanoes; it is possible to see the most active volcano of Peru, the Ubinas volcano, and the backside of Misti, Chachani and PicchuPicchu volcanoes.
At the lake we’ll get the bikes, and we’ll ride in the salt flats if is possible, it would depend on the weather condition, we can walk and ride the bikes over the salt in the dry season (April to December), it looks like a land of another world, for sure it will be an unique experience, in a quiet and natural location; but if the lake is full of water we'll ride the bikes on the road next to the lake. Here we can observe Andean rabbits, Andean deer, birds and South American camelids such as vicuña, llama and alpaca.
Salinas lake is also the natural habitat of other sorts of andean birds like guallatas, (Andean goose), crested ducks (lophonetta specularioides), yanavico (plegadis ridgway), giant coot – ajoya (Fulica gigantea), andean gull - kiulla (larus serranus).
Thousands of flamingos are observed at Salinas, it is possible to see three species, one is permanent and the other two migratory:
We’ll spend enough time in Salinas for biking, watching birds, and take pictures of the mountains and llamas, afterwards we’ll go by car to Simbral cross 4200 meter, from there we’ll get the bikes again, and do a downhill by bike to Chiguata village (2900m). This descent by the Picchu Picchu volcano will take about an hour and a half, is a dirt road with many curves, all the time with an impressive view of Misti volcano, we will arrive to the square of Chiguata, where we'll appreciate its colonial church and then will eat the snacks, after this break will return to Arequipa in our private transportation.
We’ll arrive to Arequipa around 5:00 pm.