The Pyramid Project

The Pyramid's Shamanic Tour

Iquitos, Peru

The Butterfly Farm

“Enjoy the magic world of butterflies"
Delicate and beautiful        

Have a break from the Ayahuasca for a day and join us at the Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm and Animal Rescue Centre, a nature lovers paradise.  Although there are many animals to be seen here the main attraction is the wonderful array of colourful butterflies that flutter about in all directions.  Austrian born Gudrun Sperrer and her husband, who have run Pilpintuwasi for 25 years, care deeply about the local flora and fauna.  As soon as you start talking with Gudrun, her passion for wildlife and their habitat becomes infectious and you start to think about things you never thought about before.  Most of us feel that butterflies are beautiful creatures but few of us realise how fleeting and delicate their existence really is 

Butterflies lay their eggs on particular plants known as host plants.  After a few days tiny caterpillars hatch from the eggs and they start to eat the host plant.  Caterpillars only aim is to eat and grow which, depending on the species, takes anywhere from 2 to 10 weeks to reach their full size.  During that time the caterpillar moults its skin four to six times and finds a place to hang itself becoming a pupa or a chrysalis.  Within the pupa shell the tissues of the larva are broken down by chemical process and reconstructed into a completely different animal: the adult butterfly.  This process can take as little as one week or as much as several months.  The adult butterfly then mates and starts the process a new

The butterfly farm is also home to several rescued animals, especially monkeys.  As Gudrun warned during our visit, buying animals from street vendors does not help the animals in the long run.  Many people have the misconception that when they buy an animal they are rescuing them when in fact they are just feeding a business cycle which plucks animals out of their natural habitat, many of which are endangered, and sells them to more people with good intentions 

There are countries which import pupas safely, make a great deal of money doing so and allow other places around the World to enjoy the splendour of butterflies - for example Puerto Rico.  Unfortunately, as Gudrun  points out, it is very difficult to export living insects from Peru because of the slow bureaucratic process - the insects die in transit! - This needs to change!

The Pyramid's Shamanic Tour gives you the chance to visit the butterfly farm.  One of our guides will take you out there and by paying your entrance price you give us the chance to support this lovely place

Check out the Pilpintuwasi website