Be a king, is be the greatest being of a determined place, like Julio Cesar due to his legislatives qualities to organize The Romaine Empire , like The king Salomon due to his wisdom, like Moses became king due to his great capacity instead Aaron the real inheritor, like the Queen Cleopatra due to her extreme beauty and guile to manipulate Julio Cesar himself or like the lion, imposing itself in The African Savannah; The condor is considered the king of the Andes due to its stately flight on top of them.

What is so special about this bird? , well first able is the second biggest flying bird in the world it can measure up to 4 ½ feet height and weight up to 33 pounds and is the bird which make the highest flight in this planet, due to the thermal currents of air that blows through the Andes it can fly over 7000 meters above sea level (10 000 meters is the average for a plane); it got wings up to 90 cm length each and it can fly through the Andean sky for hours just gliding (200 km per day), amazing isn’t it?.

So for this reasons, there is no doubt that The Condor with its imposing size and its majestic flight, is definitely the king of the Andes, a very good place to relish the company of this amazing mythological giant bird, is definitely on the edge of The Colca canyon located in Arequipa, Peru; which is the deepest canyon in the world twice deeper than the impressive Grand canyon (13,650 feet) located in USA, The condor is undoubtedly an animal with amazing physical conditions after it huge size and the powerful flight it develops, we have to add that it can live between 50 to 80 years old, it can eat 11 pounds of meat in one day and fast for around 5 weeks. Another great thing about it, is what it represents for the Andes population and for the Incas, the condor was very respected for them, it was considered inmortal, according the myth when the condor is getting old and it strength is getting over, it place itself in a high spot, up on the mountains, fold it wings and just let itself drop sharply against the gorges in that way finishing it reign, this strange way of die was symbolic for the Incas, like starting a new life cycle; this bird symbolized the strength, the intelligence and the praise, it was consider the responsible of the sunrise every morning, because with its energy was able to take the sun and raise it over the Andes; besides that was an important role in the Inca’s legends, specially like a omen, one of the legends says that during the Inty Raymi (GOD’S SUN CELEBRATION), a condor crossed the sky chased by falcons and kestrels, knock it down in the middle of the main square, it was attended for many days but it died, The Inca’s population got scared for this incident, after this The Spaniards came to America to conquer it.

Something bad about this bird, is that its production rate is very low, a condors’ couple can have just 1 offspring every 3 years, for this reason we cannot enjoy this amazing and extraordinary animal for long, it is in danger of extinction still exists just above 5000 of them, around 2500 in Peru (more than 2000 of them in the south specially in the Colca canyon, another 200 in the north), around 2700 between Argentina and Chile, around 100 in Colombia less than 50 in Venezuela, does not exist any registration of them in Bolivia( ALL THIS QUANTITIES ARE JUST ESTIMATIONS).

Probably this animal’s flight might be considered one of those spectacles that we should enjoy once in our life, unfortunately nobody can say exactly until when, in Peru we are starting with conservation plans for this amazing birds, let’s support it and for now do not miss the chance to watch them on the edge of The Colca canyon, if you are interesting to be witness of this unforgettable experience, come to Peru contacting PERU INKA TRIPS which is a travel agency 100 % involved and concerned about your full vacation experience satisfaction, the Andes spirit is still alive in the condor, come and be part of it.
NEXT TIME BLOGGERS…….! 
Jorge Horna