Ferreñafe, located in Peru's Lambayeque region, offers a diverse tourist experience, notable for its rich culture, colonial architecture, and natural attractions such as the Bosque de Pómac Historic Sanctuary and the Mayascón Jagueyes. It is also known as the "Land of Dual Faith" for its coexistence of Catholic and shamanic beliefs.
Location
Ferreñafe is located east of the Lambayeque region, 19 km from Chiclayo Province, the regional capital, and 37 km from Lambayeque Province.
Climate
In the coastal districts of Ferreñafe, Pueblo Nuevo, Pitipo, Mesones Muro, and in the towns of Batan Grande and Posope Alto, the climate is warm and semi-tropical; the rest of the province is hot. In the districts of Incahuasi and Cañaris, the climate is temperate in the lower reaches and cold in the Punas. However, in Cañaris, in the jungle area, it is extremely hot and humid.
Tourist Attractions
Church of Santa Lucia
Of Baroque-Colonial architecture. The altar is made of cedar and the doors are made of carob. The façade has four columns on either side of the main door, two of which are longer and end in narrow ornamental points. It also features two towers with hemispherical domes. The temple's columns are Romanesque. The Church's coat of arms features the blue eyes of Saint Lucy in the center of the emblem, flanked by two angels who guard God's command and keep the devil under control, located below. The coat of arms symbolizes the martyrdom of Saint Lucy.
National Museum
Sicàn, or House of the Moon, is a museum that houses the results of research conducted for more than two decades by archaeologist Izumi Shimada, director of the Sican archaeological project (1978). The exhibition compiles artifacts found in the excavations at the Batan Grande site and displays them as they were used or manufactured. It seeks to capture different aspects linked to the Sican culture through the representation of details of domestic life, manufacturing processes, and productive labor from various aspects of the economic life of the community. The museum has an advanced audiovisual multimedia system that creates the exhibition and turns the work into a kind of time tunnel that transports you back 1,300 years.
Pomac Forest Historical Sanctuary
The Pomac Forest Historical Sanctuary is located in the district of Pitipo, Ferreñafe province (Lambayeque region). It covers an area of 5,887.38 hectares, representing 0.41% of the region's area, and is crossed in its central part by the La Leche River. The Pomac Forest Historical Sanctuary protects 0.2% of the total area of the Tropical Pacific Desert, where two of the three life zones encompassed by this desert are found: the Tropical Superarid Desert and the Tropical Premontane Superarid Desert. Several plant communities thrive there, such as dense and semi-dense forests, scrublands, and the most important natural formation of carob trees in the country.
The biological diversity of the Pomac Forest is high, despite its degraded condition. Up to 26 species of birds and 7 species of mammals can be found in this protected area.
The area also houses important archaeological samples from the period dominated by the Sican or Lambayeque culture around 900-1100 AD. There are remains ranging from small mounds to monumental pyramids in a good state of preservation.
The Sican culture possessed massive, large-scale metallurgical technology. The funerary offerings found in elite tombs up to 20 meters deep were surprisingly rich.
Wildlife Refuge
The Laquipampa Wildlife Refuge (RVSL) was established primarily to conserve the last remaining refuge for the White-winged Guan Penelope albipennis, in the wild. This bird is endemic to the dry forest and is critically endangered. There are approximately 350 specimens worldwide, of which 20 to 25 are found in this area in their natural state. This wildlife refuge covers an area of 8,328.64 hectares.
