The Atacama Desert
This desert in northern Chile, renowned as the world’s driest non-polar desert, stretches between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains. As you drive into the desert you are struck by a landscape dotted by what look like volcanos. They are volcanic cinder cones and are created by short-lived, explosive eruptions of basaltic lava fountains. They are common worldwide but one of the largest regions is this area in Northern Chile, part of the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes. The Atacama Desert features dozens and dozens of these cinder cones with many still active within its 40,500 square mile, high-altitude plateau. Averaging an altitude of 7,900 to over 13,000 feet the cinder cones are mixed into a rocky landscape with small salt lakes, extensive salt flats, geyser fields, and a moon-like valley.
If you overlooked it in one of the desolate scenes above there’s a Llama or perhaps one of its wild relatives, guanacos and vicuñas that are abundant in the high-altitude, arid regions of the Chilean Atacama Desert.
Any plan to visit Chile must include a few days in the Atacama Desert’s main town of San Pedro (Find additional information HERE)
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