The Andes. For most travellers, the world`s longest mountain range rightly conjures images of snow-wreathed peaks and lost cities.

But in fact Peru, the “Egypt of the Americas”, with more archaeological sites than the rest of South America combined, and the setting for the pre-Hispanic and colonial jewel which is Cusco, also possesses an extraordinary diversity of ecosystems, with 84 of the world’s 104 life zones represented within its borders.

Almost two-thirds of this country larger than England, France and Spain combined is covered by the tropical forests of the Amazon, while the contrastingly arid desert coast, with its fine colonial cities, was once home to cultures that fished the world’s richest seas a thousand years before the Incas rose to prominence.

“Living Culture and Natural Beauty”

Ecuador’s capital lies in the shadow of high volcanoes, some 2750 metres (9,000 feet) above sea level and just 25 kilometres from the equator. To the east, Amazon forests stretch deep into Colombia and Peru, while to the west the Galápagos Islands lie almost a thousand kilometres off the Pacific coast.

Far from the ocean, land-locked Bolivia is also a country of contrasts. North of La Paz, at 3636 metres (11,930 feet) the world’s highest administrative capital, where bowler-hatted women sell their wares on its narrow streets, a single road crosses the snow line to drop almost 4000 metres (13,000 feet) in just 80 kilometres to lush, tropical forests. To the south, vast salt pans stretch, blindingly white, to the horizon, beyond which lie the infamous silver mines of Potosí and the colonial charm of Sucre.