Chile's wonders

Chilly in the desert?

Wait! We mean the desert in Chile! (Pic: Flickr: Jen Morgan)

For warmer climates, Chiles' Atacama desert has a beguiling array of natural wonders from geysers to salt flats, which can be explored using the luxurious boutique hotels in San Pedro as your base.

The Atacama Desert in the north of Chile covers an area of 1,000 kilometres of land between the Pacific coast and the Andes. It is the driest desert in the world other than the Polar regions. Most explore the region by using the little town of San Pedro de Atacama as the base. A visit should be for a least three full days and will include visits to the most of the following natural wonder.

Of the FIVE natural wonders to see in the Atacama Desert, here are two.

El Tatio Geysers

The largest geyser field in the southern hemisphere and the third largest in the world, these are also one of the highest at 4,350 metres above sea level. There are over eighty active geysers, the highest of which erupts steam to over six metres. The name means 'oven' in the Quechua language. You’ll need to get up early to see this natural wonder, tours depart around six in the morning.

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Valley of the Moon

Flickr: Miguel Vera León

As the name suggests, the desert is located very close to the town of San Pedro de Atacama. This bizarre landscape made up from varying colours of stone and sand formations make it look somewhat like the surface of the moon, hence the name. This desert area is one of the driest places on earth. No rain has dropped here in over a hundred years. Interestingly the area was used for testing the Mars rover prototype. Tours here usually arrive in the afternoon allowing for some time to explore before watching the incredible daily sunset.

See the other four wonders here....

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