In Effort to Preserve Inca Trail, Peru Will Limit Hiker Traffic
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LIMA, Peru — In an effort to preserve the famed Inca Trail to the Machu Picchu ruins, Peru announced plans Wednesday to limit the growing number of hikers on the route to 500 a day.
The 30-mile path is dotted with the remnants of Inca culture as it winds through the jungle-cloaked Andes to Machu Picchu, situated atop a craggy peak about 310 miles southeast of the capital, Lima.
Trains and buses have long carried tourists to the site, but the Inca Trail is also popular.
A recent U.N. report urged Peru to stem hikers as their number ballooned to 66,000 in 1998.
So far, the 500-person limit has not been broken, officials said.
The plan drew criticism from Timothy Currie, manager of Lima’s South America Explorers, a nonprofit foundation that promotes conservation on the trail. He called the plan a “token gesture,” saying it didn’t go far enough in protecting Peru’s cultural wealth.
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