The Lake Titicaca

The Titicaca lake (map) is situated at the height of 3810 meters. It occupies the territory of 8287 km², this is the largest in the world high-mountain navigable lake. The water contains increased content of salt. The lake is located at the border of Bolivia and Peru. One of the most wide spread construction material in this area is cane reed. It grows everywhere here and for ages it has been used not only for construction of ground buildings but for making of floating huts and even complete floating villages. It was the Indians Uru who were the first to create these floating islands, some of the islands are inhabited till now. The local residents used cane for construction of boats as well. When Norwegian traveller and scientist Thor Heyerdahl made up his mind to prove that even at the dawn of the human history the people made thousand miles long voyages on cane boats across the ocean, he studied the boat construction experience of the Titicaca Indians. It was found out that the residents of the Easter island which is 4200 kilometers away from the South American coast, possessed the similar knowledge in this field. This fact confirms the hypothesis about existing previous contacts between the South America and the Easter island.

Panoramic view of Lake Titicaca. Year 2008.
↑ Click for detailed view ↑