Five years ago, a spectacular example of God’s handiwork was known to only about 500 indigenous people in Peru’s Andes mountains. Today, more than 1,000 tourists daily climb a 2.5-mile dirt trail to experience the magical beauty of Rainbow Mountain. And that volume of tourist traffic has environmentalists concerned for the preservation of this newly realized national treasure.
As hikers reach the peak, they gasp not only for breath but also for the sheer beauty. At 16,404 feet above sea level, stripes of turquoise, lavender, and gold point heavenward. The mountain formed after multicolored layers of sediment were laid down over time and later pushed upward when tectonic plates beneath the surface clashed.
“You see it in pictures and you think it’s Photoshopped—but it’s real,” says 18-year-old Lukas Lynen from Mexico.
The traffic has provided a much-needed economic jolt to this remote region of struggling alpaca herders. But that financial gain comes with a cost. Conservationists fear so much foot traffic will destroy the treasured landscape. Peruvian biologist Dina Farfan says, “They are killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.” He points to erosion along the trail which has occurred in just the last 18 months. A wetland once a stopping point for migrating ducks is now a parking lot the size of five soccer fields. Each morning, it fills with vans of mostly European and American visitors.
The local Pampachiri community has netted a small fortune charging tourists $3 each to enter their ancestral land. Last year, fees amounted to about $400,000. That’s big bucks for a community that has seen steadily falling prices on their main source of sustenance: alpaca wool.
The only other option for steady work in this area is gold mining. Both the nature of the work and the risk of being robbed make that very dangerous. Isaac Quispe quit his job as a gold miner. The 25-year-old bought a horse that last year earned him $5,200 hauling tourists to the Rainbow Mountain peak. “It’s a blessing,” he says of the independent work opportunity.
It’s easy to see why the locals view the tourism boost positively, even if there is risk to the landscape.
There are more serious threats too.
Camino Minerals Corporation, a Canadian-based mining company, has applied for mining rights in the mineral-rich area. The company has not yet revealed its plans or whether it intends to preserve the natural wonder.
