The Huascaran National Park is located in the department of Ancash, in the Cordillera Blanca massif, the world’s highest tropical mountain chain. It was established as a national park in 1975 over an area of 340,000 hectares and declared Mankind Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985.

The park is home to one of the most extraordinary high-mountain eco-systems on Earth: 663 glaciers, 269 lakes and 41 rivers, as well as hundreds of mountain peaks, 26 of which top 6,000 meters. The park teems with an extraordinary variety of flora and fauna, including 800 plant species and dozens of kinds of animals.

It is also the site of 33 pre-Inca archaeological complexes (such as Wilcahuain) and dozens of Quechua-speaking peasant farming communities who use traditional farming and livestock herding techniques.

The park was created in 1975 with the purpose of preserving the wild animal and plant life, geological formations, archeological sites, and beautiful scenery. Inside the 340,000 hectares, which include almost the entire White Cordillera, you can observe the great variety of high Andean plant life like the Puyas Raimondi in the areas of Quesque and Pumapampa (this flower is considered the biggest in the plant realm, and once it has blossomed, the plant dies), and the queñual trees in the Llanganuco Lakes.
Of its 663 glaciers, the most impressive are Huascaran (6768 masl/ 22.199 fasl), Huandoy (6395 m.a.s.l. / 20,976 f.a.s.l.), Chopicalqui (6354 m.a.s.l. / 20.841 f.a.s.l.), Hualcan (6122 m.a.s.l. / 20,080 f.a.s.l.), and Alpamayo (5947 m.a.s.l. / 19,506 f.a.s.l.).
It also houses a great diversity of birds and animals such as pumas, deer, Andean cats, and three endangered species, the spectacled bear, the Andean deer, and the Andean condor.

The Huscaran National Park is a paradise for mountain climbers, hikers and mountain lovers.