Machu Picchu (old mountain) is the most important destination of Peru, an ancient Inca city located in the high jungle of Cusco, between mountains and rivers, like something out of some fiction film. Formerly it was a big city destined to worship the sun and as royal apartments of the Incas, today is the biggest resort of Peru. Even awaits visitors eager splendor.
As Peru’s climates allow it to hold about 10% of the world’s orchid species, it comes as no surprise that three new orchid species were recently discovered near Machu Picchu, adding to the region’s inventory that already counts 300.
Volume 15 of the scientific magazine on orchids Icones Orchidacearum, names the new species as Epidendrum Ochoae, Epidendrum Incahuamanii and Epidendrum Mormontoy (named after their discoverers).
The head of the Machu Picchu Biocultural Management Conservation program Gustavo Ochoa; Feliciano Incahuamani Atausinchi, guard and caretaker of Machu Picchu Llaqta and; Rolando Mormontoy, Machu Picchu Inca Trail guard and caretaker at the Decentralized Directorate of Culture of Cusco (DDCC) participated in the discovery.
Moyobamba is considered one of the best places to find Peru’s diverse array of orchids. Located in the northern circuit of Peru, Moyobamba is reached via Tarapoto. The region is said to have about 3,000 species of orchids.
Other regions include Piura and Tumbes on the northern coast; the Machu Picchu region of Cusco; Huaraz and the Huascaran National Park in Ancash; and as for the jungle, Manu and Tambopata; and finally in Huanuco in the central part of the country, there are ample locations to find orchids.
Orchid season (rainy season) is just around the corner and lasts from November to March.