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Colca Canyon image | |
|---|---|
 Colca Valley | |
  Colca Canyon image | |
| Coordinates: 15°35′50″S 71°52′45″W / 15.59722°S 71.87917°W | |
| Location | Peru |
| Offshore water bodies | Colca River |
| Dimensions | |
| • Length | 70 km |
| • Depth | 3270 m |
The Colca Canyon is a canyon of the Colca River in southern Peru, located about 160 kilometres (99 mi) northwest of Arequipa. With a depth of about 1000 – 2000 m (3300 – 6600 ft) (whereas bottom is at cca 2000 m and edges are at 3000 – 4000 metres above the sea level),[1] it is one of the deepest canyons in the world. Its length is about 70 kilometres (43 mi).[2] The Colca Valley is a colorful Andean valley with pre-Inca rooted inhabitants, and towns founded in Spanish colonial times, still inhabited by people of the Collagua and the Cabana cultures. The local people maintain their ancestral traditions and continue to cultivate the pre-Inca stepped terraces, called andenes.
It is Peru's third most-visited tourist destination with about 120,000 visitors annually.[3]
- ^ Peru Cultural Society - Colca Canyon
- ^ "Colca Canyon". www.go2peru.com. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ MINCETUR official site. Retrieved 22 October 2012 Archived 18 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine