Atacama desert News
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Death Valley -
Perfect conditions have led to a burst of colorful wildflowers in Death Valley National Park in Central California this month. The usually barren landscape has been transformed into a palette of vivid colors.
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Death Valley -
California's Death Valley National Park endured torrential rains in October this year, making it the wettest month on record. The hard-hitting storms and weather system were responsible for the 1,000-year-flood event that followed.
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Atacama -
Something spectacular has happened in South America this year. The Atacama desert of Chile, known as the driest non-polar place in the world, erupted in bloom, not once, but twice over the past year, a phenomenon never before seen.
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Arica -
The mummies of the Chinchorro culture, deemed the world’s oldest, are being threatened by environmental and biological issues that experts link to climate change. The Chinchorro Indians lived about 9,000 years ago in the coast of the Atacama Desert.
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Santiago -
Remember the ordeal of the 33 miners who were trapped for 70 days in the San José copper mine in northern Chile in 2010? They came together again to film a moving video in support of Chile’s national soccer team playing in the World Cup Brazil 2014.
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A team of adventurous filmmakers has made a documentary that shows the opportunities to see wildlife along Chile, from the arid regions of the Atacama Desert to the Patagonia and Antarctica, and from the high Andes to the Pacific Ocean.
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Calama -
There are locations on Earth that resemble otherworldly landscapes. Chile’s ‘Valle de la Luna’, or Valley of the Moon, in the Atacama Desert, near the Andes foothills, is one of those places.
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Llamas are Andean mammals related to camels and dromedaries. Llamas were first domesticated about 5,000 years ago by the Incas of the Peruvian highlands and they are still bred by the people of the Andes for their meat, wool and as beasts of burden.
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Calama -
Toconao, a small town in the Atacama Desert is home to an ancient native community. The charm of the village comes from its plainness, the calm of its people, its special climate, and its lovely religious architecture that has stood the test of time.
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Calama -
About a million years ago a volcanic eruption stopped the flow of mountain creeks. The water collected on a plateau high above the Atacama Desert forming two lagoons of breathtaking beauty now occupied by waterfowl species typical of the Andes.
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Calama -
This charming little village offers many historical and cultural attractions typical of northern Chile, and is surrounded by breathtaking natural scenery such as volcanoes, geysers, hot springs, and varied flora and fauna.
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Antofagasta -
In the middle of the Atacama Desert, in a parched and forsaken region, a giant hand comes out of the ground. It is a sculpture by Chilean artist Mario Irarrázabal representing the victims of injustice and torture during the military regime in Chile.
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Antofagasta -
The port of Antofagasta, located on the Pacific Ocean at the edge of Chile’s Atacama Desert, is mostly a mining and industrial center; however, fishing is also an important economic activity attracting local buyers and external visitors.
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Santiago -
Canadian mining company Barrick Gold Corporation said today that it will comply with the details of the resolution of Chile's Superintendent for the Environment (SMA) in which the authority fined the company US$ 16.4 million.
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Antofagasta -
The old Baquedano railway complex, located 90 kilometers northeast of the city of Antofagasta in the arid Atacama Desert in northern Chile, was the converging point of Chile’s North-South railway line and the East-West Antofagasta-Bolivia Railway.
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Vallenar -
The Atacama Desert of Chile is known as one of the driest places on Earth; however, because of higher than usual winter precipitation related to El Niño phenomenon, the desert can burst in a sensational bloom of colourful flowers.
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Santiago -
The fossil remains of a prehistoric bird of huge proportions discovered in coastal sediments of the Atacama Desert of Chile, near the town of Bahía Inglesa, has been described as a new species.
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La Serena -
Chile is home to several astronomical observatories located at the foothills of the Andes Mountains in the Atacama Desert, where around 300 clear nights per year and a very stable atmosphere allow international astronomers the study of the southern sky.
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Santiago -
A message in a plastic bag written in red ink on a paper stuck to the end of the probe that carries out rescue operations brought extreme joy to the families of 33 miners trapped 17 days ago at the site of the San José mine in the Atacama Desert of Chile
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Atacama desert Image
At the beggining of the spring the dry sand starts filling with colourful flowers.
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Early morning at San Pedro de Atacama. In order to preserve the original appearance of the old town, no street has been paved. The dirt roads have been covered with "vichufita", a mixture of clay and salt compacted with water.
Shoreline of the Atacama Desert in the Antofagasta region. These beaches were locations inhabited by the aboriginals of the Chinchorro culture.
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Valley of the Moon is a pre-Andean depression in the middle of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.
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Late afternoon at the Altiplanic lagoons Miscanti and Miñiques. After climbing breathtakingly beautiful gravel roads, Miscanti is the first lagoon revealed to the traveler.
Succulent desert plants show their bright green color contrasting with the blooming flowers.
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A long dock facing the ocean leaves a protected quay for the boats and where a large number of sea-lions live off the fish scraps from the fishermen and fish cleaners.
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Altiplanic lagoons Miscanti and Miñiques. The sky is clear, the air is crisp, and the summits of the highest mountains of the Andes are very close.
Desert flowers struggle for survival in the middle of one of the driest deserts in the world.
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Altiplanic lagoons Miscanti and Miñiques. The ochre hills display a glaring contrast to the blue water of the lagoons lined by white margins.
Blooming field of Doquilla emerging from the dry desert sand.
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The Peruvian pelican (Pelecanus thagus) lives along the coast of South America from Ecuador to southern Chile. Since 2008, they are listed (IUCN Red List) as "Near threatened". Pelicans living in fishing coves become really tame and friendly.
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Access to the Antofagasta Fisheries Terminal in the northern section of the port of Antofagasta, Chile. Part of the city extends to the hills shown in the background. Beyond the mountains is the 105,000 square kilometres plateau of the Atacama Desert, one of the driest deserts on earth.
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The fishing cove is protected from the wind and the waves of the Pacific Ocean by a long dock leaving a channel between the red and green light signals for the boats to come in and out.
Succulent desert plants show their bright green colors contrasting with the blooming flowers.
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Fishermen arrive to the cove with their catch of smelts. Untangling the small fish from the nets is hard, tedious work.
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San Pedro de Atacama Church. The building is constructed of adobe walls and ceilings made of wood from native trees covered with a mixture of straw and clay. In 1951, the old church was declared a National Monument.
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This simple construction is the oldest building in San Pedro de Atacama and perhaps the oldest in Chile. It dates from June 1540 and was constructed to provide refuge to Spanish conquistador Don Pedro de Valdivia during his visit to the budding town.
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The ancient church of San Pedro de Atacama is one of the most unpretentious and beautiful old churches of northern Chile. No one knows the date of its construction, but it has served as the town’s parish since 1641.
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