Photo Gallery

A view of Lake Titicaca, the highest commercially navigable lake on Earth, situated at an altitude of 3,812 metres. Behind a traditional dry-stone wall in the foreground, traditional Andean farming with small plots of land can be seen along the shore. In the background, the Cordillera Real can only be glimpsed behind the low-hanging clouds. – Puno – Peru – 1972

The photograph shows a rural dwelling and farmland on the shores of Lake Titicaca in the Peruvian Altiplano. Small, simple stone houses with thatched roofs and fenced-in courtyards characterise the barren landscape. – Juli region – Peru – 1969

Lake Titicaca, situated at an altitude of 3,812 metres and straddling the border between Peru and Bolivia, is fifteen times the size of Lake Constance. It fills a tectonically formed highland depression, is divided into several sub-basins by peninsulas and dotted with islands (Amantani, Moon Island, Sun Island, etc.). Two species of rush thrive on its shores, from which the indigenous people build their boats as well as floating dwellings. - Book: Picture 3 - Peru - 1969

What could be more picturesque than a reed raft floating on Titicaca? For millennia, the Aymara people of the paradisiacal "Mediterranean" of the Andes have been fishing in their elegant reed boats in the sacred lake. The boats are made “by hand” by bundling the reeds with ichu strings. - 1969

On Lake Titicaca, near Puno, the Uros people live on artificial, floating islands made of dried totora reeds, which have to be renewed regularly. Both the huts and the traditional reed boats (balsas) are made entirely from the totora reeds that grow in the lake. – Peru – 1969

An indigenous woman in a reed boat on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca. As the lake is only a few metres deep over large areas, the indigenous people use a long pole for poling as well as the reed sail. The striking resemblance of these reed boats to depictions of papyrus boats in ancient Egyptian tombs, together with certain parallels between Mesoamerican cultures (for example, the Maya pyramids) and the culture of the Nile Valley, has given rise to the most daring hypotheses. Thus, a few years ago, Thor Heyerdahl attempted to cross the Atlantic in a papyrus boat. However, this does not disprove the assumption that similar environmental conditions and the inherent properties of the available materials must lead to analogous solutions. - Book: Picture 145 - Peru - 1969

Traditional reed boats (made from totora reeds) of the indigenous Uros people on Lake Titicaca. The reeds, which grow in abundance on the lake’s shores, have served as their main building material for centuries, used to construct islands, houses and boats. – Puno – Peru – 1976

A woman of the "Uros" who lives on the floating islands on Lake Titicaca. She still grinds the wheat as it did hundreds of years ago. - 1969

Isla del Sol (Sun Island) on Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, with the snow-capped peaks of the Cordillera Real in the background. In Inca mythology, the island is regarded as the birthplace of the sun and is home to numerous archaeological sites. In the foreground, typical historic terraced fields and ruins can be seen. – Bolivia – 1976

The hilly, terraced landscape of Isla del Sol, which is the largest island in Lake Titicaca. Some of the stone terraces date back to Inca times and are still used for farming today. Lake Titicaca has deep blue water and is the highest commercially navigable lake on Earth, at an altitude of around 3,812 metres. In the background, you can see the snow-capped Cordillera Real mountain range in Bolivia. Among the most striking mountains in this region, visible from the island, is the Ancohuma (Cerro Jankhouma), which rises to over 6,400 metres. - In Inca mythology, the island is regarded as a sacred place and the origin of the sun, as well as the birthplace of the founders of the Inca Empire (Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo). Today, it is a popular destination for hikers and nature lovers, with no motorised vehicles permitted on the island. – Bolivia – 1976

The simple houses scattered across the picture, with their typical corrugated iron roofs, are characteristic of the rural communities in Bolivia’s Lake Titicaca region. The slopes reveal the millennia-old Inca and pre-Inca terraced structures for which the Incas’ sacred island is known throughout the world. – Presumably the area around Yumani on the ‘Island of the Sun’. – 1976

On the boat trip from Moon Island back to the mainland. In the background, you can see the snow-capped peaks of the Cordillera Real. In Inca religion, Moon Island is regarded as a sacred place where, according to legend, the creator god Viracocha commanded the moon to rise into the sky. The island is home to the ruins of the Inca temple of Iñakuyu (Palace of the Sun Maidens), where selected women performed ritual duties. Bolivia – 1976