The Atacama desert in Northen Chile is one of the driest places on earth. It’s located on a high altitude plateau covering some 181,300 square kilometers and borderes both Argentina and Bolivia. It's a huge, vast area of salt flats (salares)and lava flows. Anywhere you look around you, you will see volcanoes. The small town San Pedro de Atacama seems to be placed in the middle of no where. The nearest town is Calama, 100 kilometers away. Except for one petrolstation in San Pedro, the nearest is in Calama. To explore the desert, you really need to have a car.
One of the places we chose to visit was Laguna Chaxa, located only 65 kilometers from San Pedro. It’s part of Los Flamencos National Reserve. Because of this rather short drive from San Pedro it is easy reachable by car.
This oasis make up the perfect place for the flamingos to feed. It’s rich with plankton and shellfish. this saltflat is covered with salt crystals. An amazing sight to look at this vast lagoon with volcanoes surrounding the place. We were here in the late afternoon on our way back to San Pedro. It is supposed to be even better at sunset when the low sun is causing a change in colors to red, orange and purple. There are several species of flamingos breeding here at the laguna. Boards with photos and information will help you to recognize the different species. Laguna Chaxa is a "must see" when visiting the desert.
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U.J
Kristiansand, Norway
All the photoes are mine, Ulla Jensen (flickr, Instagram and facebook)