Wildlife Watching Near Ica, Peru
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There is no Peruvian desert tortoise living in the Huacachina lagoon, whatever an old listing might say, and there are no wild llamas grazing the dunes either; camelids belong to the high Andes above 3,500 meters, not a sea-level desert oasis. The animals worth traveling for here live an hour up the coast and in the hacienda courtyards, not in the sand itself.
Islas Ballestas: Ica’s wildlife hub
Morning speedboats leave El Chaco marina in Paracas, passing the 180-meter Candelabro geoglyph cut into the coastal cliff before reaching the islands: colonies of endangered Humboldt penguins, thousands of South American sea lions, and dense colonies of Peruvian boobies, Guanay cormorants and red-legged Inca terns, with bottlenose dolphins often trailing the boat. Landing on the islands is illegal, so boats hold offshore the whole visit, which is how SERNANP keeps the guano ecosystem intact. Book the Ballestas Islands boat tour covers the standard all-inclusive morning departure.
Peruvian Paso horse shows
Hacienda Tacama and Hacienda La Caravedo both host exhibitions of the Peruvian Paso, a breed recognized as national heritage for its smooth four-beat lateral gait. Chalanes in white linen and jipijapa hats perform with Marinera dancers in the estate courtyards, usually weekends and holidays, reservations required. Book the Tacama winery tour with the horse show bundles the cellar visit with a show-day exhibition. The show itself runs on the estate’s schedule, not a tourist timetable, so confirm a performance date before planning a visit around it.
Fossil animals in the Ocucaje desert
The desert south of Ica holds one of the world’s richest marine fossil beds. Paleontologists identified Perucetus colossus here in 2023, a whale that may be the heaviest animal to have ever lived, alongside megalodon teeth and fossilized giant penguins; a genuine paleontological draw, not a live-animal encounter, but real all the same.
Skip Ica’s municipal zoo in the Parque Zonal; local reporting has repeatedly raised animal-welfare concerns about its enclosures. Bring binoculars for the Ballestas trip regardless of the boat you book; the islands sit well offshore, and the penguins read smaller in person than in most photos.
If dunes and adrenaline interest you more than wildlife, our adventure sports guide covers the buggy and sandboarding side of the same desert. Wear a hat and reef-safe sunscreen on the boat trip too; the open water between Paracas and the islands offers no shade for the full 2-hour round trip, and the desert sun reflects hard off the water’s surface.