The Lost Inca City Hiram Bingham Missed: How another explorer found Vilcabamba deep in Peru’s jungle

For decades, one of the greatest mysteries surrounding the Inca Empire remained hidden beneath the dense forests of the Peruvian Andes: where was Vilcabamba, the last stronghold of the Incas?

The mystery became even more intriguing because the American academic Hiram Bingham III, the man whose 1911 expedition brought Machu Picchu to international attention, believed he had already found the answer.

He was wrong.


More than half a century later, American explorer Gene Savoy travelled into one of the most inaccessible corners of Peru and identified ruins at Espíritu Pampa as the likely location of Vilcabamba, the final Inca capital and a centre of resistance against Spanish conquistadors.

A BBC crew followed Savoy's trail just six weeks later, undertaking a hazardous journey through rivers, steep mountain terrain and dense jungle. Their expedition helped uncover clues that would eventually strengthen the case for Espíritu Pampa as the lost Inca city.

The Inca Capital That Disappeared

Vilcabamba became the final refuge of the Inca state after Spanish forces captured Cusco in 1536.

Manco Inca, who had lost control of the imperial capital, retreated into the mountains with his followers. There, according to historical accounts, the Incas established a new centre of power far beyond the reach of the Spanish.

The settlement was more than a hiding place. It became the heart of the remaining Inca resistance, from where campaigns were organised against the conquistadors.

For decades, however, the precise location of the city remained uncertain.

The settlement eventually met a violent end. In 1572, facing a Spanish invasion, the Incas abandoned the city after setting it ablaze. The jungle subsequently swallowed much of what remained.

The BBC's account of the search for Vilcabamba describes how the lost city gradually became a mixture of historical fact and legend, drawing explorers deeper into the remote Peruvian mountains.

Hiram Bingham Thought He Had Found It

Hiram Bingham's connection to the mystery began before his famous 1911 expedition.

In 1909, Peruvian landowners encouraged the young Yale academic to investigate Choquequirao, a remote archaeological site that some believed could be the legendary Inca refuge.

Bingham was not an archaeologist at the time. In fact, he openly acknowledged that his knowledge of the Incas was limited.

Nevertheless, the journey sparked his interest in the possibility that another major Inca settlement remained hidden somewhere beyond the mountains.

Two years later, Bingham returned to Peru with a Yale expedition to search for the final Inca stronghold.

His expedition famously reached Machu Picchu, which he believed could be the lost city he had been looking for.

But the site was not Vilcabamba.

The irony, according to the BBC's account, is that Bingham had already travelled surprisingly close to the location that would later be identified as the last Inca capital. Bad weather, dwindling supplies and difficulties with his expedition forced him to move on.

Gene Savoy Enters the Mystery

The Vilcabamba mystery resurfaced dramatically in 1964 when Gene Savoy set out to investigate remote ruins near Espíritu Pampa.

Savoy, an explorer from Portland, Oregon, was 37 when he reached the area with Peruvian explorer Antonio Santander Cascelli.

Getting there was an adventure in itself.

Local people were initially reluctant to guide the pair into the forest because of stories surrounding the ruins and fears that revealing the location could bring supernatural punishment.

Eventually, however, guides led the explorers to the moss-covered remains hidden among the mountains.

Savoy was stunned by what he saw.

The ruins extended across three mountain plateaus and included substantial stone structures, fountains and what appeared to be a palace complex. The first plateau alone was estimated to be several times larger than Machu Picchu.

The scale of the settlement convinced Savoy that he might finally be standing inside the legendary final refuge of the Inca rulers.

BBC Crew Follows Savoy Into the Jungle

Savoy's expedition did not end the mystery.

Just six weeks later, a BBC film crew followed the same route to investigate the ruins for a documentary associated with David Attenborough's BBC Adventure series.

The journey was anything but straightforward.

The crew travelled by rubber dinghy through rapids, with the dangerous river journey reportedly ending in a capsize. From there, the expedition involved steep climbs, difficult canyon terrain, mules and long stretches of jungle that had to be cleared by hand.

The BBC crew spent days moving through rain-soaked mountain forest before reaching the ruins.

The environment itself offered a glimpse of why Vilcabamba had remained hidden for so long. Thick vegetation had grown over walls and terraces, while tree roots and vines had become intertwined with the ancient structures.

The BBC account also noted that information gathered along the route had made the filmmakers question some of Savoy's conclusions. Still, after travelling such a difficult distance, they continued to Espíritu Pampa to examine the ruins for themselves.

One Small Discovery Changed the Story

The expedition uncovered an important clue: roof tiles.

At first glance, the discovery might not appear particularly significant. But the tiles were unusual because the Incas generally used thatched roofing.

The tiles found at Espíritu Pampa appeared to combine Spanish design with distinctive Inca influences in their colouring and markings.

That detail mattered because historical descriptions of Vilcabamba contained references to buildings with tiled roofs.

The BBC presenter noted the tiles as some of the strongest physical evidence linking the ruins to the final Inca capital.

Later research strengthened the connection. John Hemming, a leading expert on the Incas and former director of the Royal Geographical Society, compared historical descriptions of Vilcabamba with the physical characteristics of the ruins.

Descriptions recorded by the 16th-Century friar Martín de Murúa proved particularly important. His account referred to an Inca palace built across different levels and covered with roof tiles.

The pieces of evidence began to fit.

The Lost City Was Hiding in Plain Sight

The emerging conclusion was extraordinary: the ruins at Espíritu Pampa were likely the Vilcabamba that generations of explorers had searched for.

That meant Bingham had come remarkably close during his earlier expeditions without recognising what was there.

For Savoy, the discovery transformed Vilcabamba from a legendary lost city into a tangible historical site.

Yet it also opened another mystery.

Savoy believed the Incas may have deliberately hidden valuables before abandoning the city. He suggested that some of the empire's remaining gold and jewels could have been thrown into lakes or concealed in caves to prevent them from falling into Spanish hands.

He claimed to have encountered unmapped lakes and sealed tunnels during earlier expeditions and argued that the search for Inca treasure might not be over.

Peru’s Jungle Still Holds Secrets

More than four centuries after the Incas abandoned Vilcabamba, much of the surrounding area remains difficult to access.

The jungle has protected portions of the ruins from the kind of development and tourism that transformed Machu Picchu into one of the world's best-known archaeological destinations.

That isolation has also left researchers with unanswered questions.

Archaeologist Javier Fonseca of Peru's Ministry of Culture told The Guardian in 2018 that the area remained largely undisturbed and had not been extensively looted. There have even been reports of another possible settlement deeper inside the forest.

The story of Vilcabamba therefore remains unfinished.

What began as a centuries-old tale about the final refuge of the Inca Empire became a decades-long race involving explorers, historians and filmmakers. Bingham helped bring Machu Picchu to the world, but it was Savoy's expedition — followed closely by the BBC's journey into the jungle — that helped redirect the search toward the ruins now regarded as the likely site of the last Inca capital.

And somewhere beneath the dense vegetation of the Peruvian Andes, the possibility remains that more of Vilcabamba's secrets are still waiting to be uncovered.