2 Best Sights in The North Coast and Northern Highlands, Peru

Getting to the Chaparri Reserve on your own can be difficult—it's 75 km (47 miles) northeast of Chiclayo, a little more than an hour's journey—but if you can get a group together or join a tour to this community-owned dry-forest nature preserve, it might just be one of your most memorable experiences in Peru. The 34,412-hectare (85,000-acre) reserve was created to help safeguard rare native species such as the white-winged guan, the Andean Condor, and the guanaco (a type of camelid similar in appearance to a llama). Perhaps their most important work is protecting the spectacled bear, for which they have a rescue center that works to reintroduce rehabilitated animals into this last refuge for populations of the species.

While you can visit the reserve anytime from 7 am to 5 pm, you'll up your chances of seeing wildlife if you stay overnight in the 12-room Chaparri Ecolodge (084/255–718, www.chaparrilodge.com) in the heart of the reserve. Stays include three daily meals and a guide to the reserve. Advance booking for day visits and overnight stays is highly recommended, as space is limited and all visitors must be accompanied by a guide.

Offering insight into the culture of the Sicán people, this interesting museum also has unique exhibits on such topics as the El Niño effect and where the pre-Inca civilizations fit into world history. Visual timelines hammer home just how far back Peruvian history goes. The displays introducing the Sicán (also known as the Lambayeque) touch on everything from common eating utensils to ceremonial burial urns, with models of what their homes might have looked like and a central room full of amazing headdresses and masks. The replicas of the tombs are especially cool.