"Where the Andes Meet the Amazon" is a lavishly-illustrated, coffee-table style book that portrays some of the biological, ethnographic, and historical diversity of one of the largest protected rainforest areas in the world: the fabulously rich wilderness areas of Bahuaja-Sonene and Madidi National Parks. This handsome, 336-page book is illustrated with 336 color photographs from the award-winning photographer, André Bärtschi, and is written by the multiple-Emmy winning writer and filmmaker, Kim MacQuarrie. Both the author and photographer have spent years roaming the Andes and the Amazon; between them, they have collaborated on a simply stunning book.

When Peru and Bolivia joined forces to create these massive, co-joined parks in the mid-1990s, they showed the world a rare, bi-national feat: For one of the first times in history two countries had established reserves adjacent to one-another, thus doubling the conservation impact in an area already considered one of the most biologically diverse in the world-the eastern slope of the Andes. Located only a half-hour plane flight from Cuzco or La Paz, the parks spread from snow-capped Andean peaks all the way down through the cloud forest to the lowland Amazon. Between them, they protect some 3.5 million hectares (8.6 million acres), an area roughly the size of Switzerland.

Inca Indians once roamed here, climbing down the eastern Andes to trade with Amazonian tribes below; their ruins still lie scattered where they left them. Conquistadors came, hacking their way through jungles while exploring for lost cities of gold. Victorian rubber barons were next, piling up fabulous riches extracted by a virtual network of slaves. Even Nazi war criminals took refuge here, hunting for the fabled fever-bark trees, the search for which drove at least one scientist mad.

In addition to their unique location and history, the two parks contain a treasure trove of biology: high Andean plains dotted with blue lakes, pink flamingos and delicate vicunas, rare spectacled bears, orchid-infested cloud forests, wide pampas roamed by giant anteaters and maned wolves, more than 1,000 species of multi-colored birds, 10 species of monkeys, 6-meter (20-foot) caimans, prowling jaguars, nearly 2-meter (6-foot) giant otters, fish filled oxbow lakes, and exciting, rapid-studded rivers. In short, these two co-joined parks protect one of the richest, most biologically diverse areas on Earth.

"Where the Andes Meet the Amazon: Peru and Bolivia's Bahuaja-Sonene and Madidi National Parks" is an excellent addition to the library of anyone interested in the fauna, flora, natives, or history of one of the richest areas of the Amazon Basin-where the greatest jungle in the world and one of the world's largest mountain chains dramatically meet.