The Blooming Desert in Atacama, Chile
Patagonia – the region, not country – covering the lower halves of Chile and Argentina is known for its abundance of marine life, soaring, craggy outcrops covered in snow, and its sense of wilderness at ‘the end of the world’. But just north of Patagonia, in Chile, is a vast desert.
Located at high altitude, it’s not a baking hot desert, not wavering in a dry, unbearable heat like the Sahara. But the Atacama Desert is the driest in the world and, despite the lack of water, an event takes place here in this harsh environment which is unmatched anywhere else on the planet: the flowering of the desert.
When rain does briefly fall in the spring, arrays of blindingly colourful flowers appear, as if from nowhere from the moon-like landscape. Cacti and seeds that have lain hidden under the soils suddenly burst into life and the desert temporarily becomes a garden. Over 200 types of plant species add colour to the display. The ground can be carpeted with little blue flowers called azulillos, round pink ‘guanaco feet’, and bright sunshine yellow petals. The flowers bring out with them a greater
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