Colca’s main draw, the condor lookout, has become touristy beyond belief and, most mornings, teems with vendors and tour buses. Still, this spot, perched 360 meters above the Colca Canyon and about 60 kilometers (1.5 hours) from Chivay, commands a spectacular view over the canyon and is one of the best spots to see the Andean condor.

An enormous vulture, with a silver collar and a wingspan of nearly 3.3 meters, zooms past the lookout nearly every morning—usually around 8 a.m., again at 10 a.m., and sometimes in the late afternoon. At least a pair, but sometimes as many as a dozen, show up in the morning during the nonrainy months between April and December. Fewer show up during the September–October mating season.

Watching Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) soar over Colca Canyon, it is easy to see why the Incas and other highland peoples considered it a sacred bird. It flies for hours without flapping its wings using only thermals to spiral so high into the sky that it can disappear from sight. The birds sleep pn the canyon walls at night.

The Andean condor is the largest flying bird in the world, with a weight of more than 10 kg and a wingspan of over 3 meters. But apart from its size, the condor is easy to spot because of the white ruff around its neck, the fingerlike feathers at the end of its wings, and a wide band of white at the top of its wings. Juvenile condors are a solid, soot-brown color and take about four years to reach adult plumage.

Farther up the road there is the less mobbed Tapay lookout, where condors fly but less frequently. Any bus headed to Cabanaconde will let travelers out at either of these spots.