Dune Hiking and Sandboarding on the highest dune in the world

Peru is home to one of the biggest deserts - occupying 188,700 square km, and most likely home to the highest dune in the world - the Cerro Blanco dune. The ever-changing nature of dunes makes them incredibly difficult to measure, but the Cerro Blanco dune is thought to be as high as 2,080 meters (6,824 feet). The dune is located in the arid Nazca region of Southwest Peru, between the Andes Mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It’s about 700 km (434 miles) west of Cusco, and 450 km (280 miles) south of Lima, Peru’s capital city.

People come to the dune mostly for hiking to the peak of Cerro Blanco. The typical trail that most hikers take is nine miles long, passing breathtaking canyons and wild desert scenery. Once you start hiking in the sand dunes, you’ll actually hike along the ancient Inca trail, before it finally disappears in the neverending sand dunes. It takes most hikers about three or four hours to reach the top of the dune. At the top of the dune, you'll be able to see the Nazca valley, and if the weather is clear enough, you can even see the Pacific Ocean.

Once you reach the top of the dune, you can take the same route to go back. However, many people who come here aren’t interested in walking down. Rather, they sandboard down the dune. If you’ve ever gone snowboarding, the experience is very similar. But with sandboards, you can sit or even lay down if you want to, providing an opportunity for anyone to give it a try. For most people, it takes much longer than four minutes to slide down the dune. This is for sure one of the most unique experiences one could have.