Cordillera del Cóndor, Mountain range between Ecuador and Peru.

The Cordillera del Cóndor is a mountain range forming the border between Ecuador and Peru, stretching across several hundred kilometers. The region features steep forest-covered slopes, deep valleys, and plateaus that create diverse zones from cloud forest to higher elevations.

Border disputes over this mountain range between Ecuador and Peru resulted in armed conflicts spanning several decades, with tensions culminating in military encounters during the 1990s. A peace agreement in 1998 finally resolved the territorial disagreement and established a clear boundary.

Shuar communities live throughout the mountains following customs passed down through generations, using forest resources in ways adapted to the steep terrain. Their villages are scattered across valleys where family groups maintain connections to the land they have always known.

The range lies on the Ecuador–Peru border, with the Peruvian side partly inside Ichigkat Muja-Cordillera del Cóndor National Park, created in 2007. The Peruvian slopes drain the Santiago and Cenepa rivers. Botanical work resumed only after the 1998 peace treaty; the 2000 expeditions, backed by the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Shuar Federation, reached the Coangos basin. Mining concessions and the Mirador copper mine, in production since 2019, restrict access in places.

In 1993 Alwyn Gentry and colleagues reached the high sandstone ridges by helicopter supplied by the Ecuadorian Army, making the first plant collections in the bromeliad prairies. After the January 1995 conflict, biological exploration became impossible until José Manzanares and Eduardo Cueva made a short visit in May 1998 to collect Bromeliaceae.