In Effort to Preserve Inca Trail, Peru Will Limit Hiker Traffic

In an effort to preserve the famed Inca Trail to the Machu Picchu ruins, Peru announced plans Wednesday to limit the growing number of hikers on the route to 500 a day.

The 30-mile path is dotted with the remnants of Inca culture as it winds through the jungle-cloaked Andes to Machu Picchu, situated atop a craggy peak about 310 miles southeast of the capital, Lima.

Trains and buses have long carried tourists to the site, but the Inca Trail is also popular.

A recent U.N. report urged Peru to stem hikers as their number ballooned to 66,000 in 1998.

So far, the 500-person limit has not been broken, officials said.

The plan drew criticism from Timothy Currie, manager of Lima’s South America Explorers, a nonprofit foundation that promotes conservation on the trail. He called the plan a “token gesture,” saying it didn’t go far enough in protecting Peru’s cultural wealth.