Pampa Galeras – Barbara D'Achille, Protected area in Ayacucho Department, Peru.

Pampa Galeras – Barbara D'Achille is a protected area in Ayacucho Department, Peru, covering 6,500 hectares of high-altitude plains and gentle hills. The landscape consists of natural ichu grass pastures and small forests of qishuar trees.

The reserve was created on 18 May 1967 through the efforts of engineer Flavio Bazán Peralta, during the government of Fernando Belaúnde Terry, to protect the vicuña. It is named after Barbara D'Achille, a Latvian conservationist murdered by Shining Path terrorists in 1989. Protection began with rangers and patrols, and the vicuña population reached 52,000 within 15 years.

The annual Chaccu festival on June 24 brings families from surrounding villages together to herd and shear vicuñas using techniques passed down through generations. The ceremony follows rules that existed before the Inca period and combines respect for the animal with collective work.

The reserve lies between 3,800 and 5,000 metres above sea level in the Puna ecoregion, so altitude acclimatisation matters before walking the grassland. The 6,500-hectare protected core is surrounded by an influence zone of over 60,000 hectares held by Lucanas peasant communities, whose trained members patrol against illegal hunting.

The reserve was named after Barbara D'Achille, a Latvian conservationist murdered by the Shining Path in 1989. Its core area covers 6,500 hectares, while the surrounding zone of influence extends over more than 60,000 hectares, owned by peasant communities of Lucanas.