Contrasts of Chile: The Atacama Desert to Tierra del Fuego
Contrasts of Chile: The Atacama Desert to Tierra del Fuego
Mark Daffey explores Chile top to bottom, from the Atacama Desert up north to Tierra del Fuego way down south.
San Pedro de Atacama
The perfectly symmetrical volcano, Licancabur, towers over the town of San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. Rising to a peak of just under 6000 metres, Licancabur dominates our western horizon. Dozens of other Andean giants stretch out alongside it to the north and south, but none are as impressive as this.
Wild vicunas beneath Miniques volcano, Atacama
The Licancabur Volcano separates Chile from Bolivia. Though the Bolivian border is just 45 kilometres away, there’s a marked contrast between the countryside over there compared to the one here in Chile. On that side of the ranges, annual precipitation measures around the 300- to 400-millimetre mark. Here, in the Atacama region of northern Chile, we’re lucky if we get 10 millimetres of rain a year. In some years there’s nothing. It’s this that makes the Atacama the world’s driest desert.
Most of the rain tumbling off the mountains into Chile seeps into the ground, and once there, all but a few drops evaporate into the atmosphere, leaving just the minerals collected along the way. Over time that mineral deposit has grown to the point where it’s now believed to be over a kilometre thick. It’s known as the Salar de Atacama, or Atacama Salt Flat.
Andean Flamingo, Chaxa Lagoon, Atacama Salt Flat
Still, that doesn’t stop travellers from swarming here – me included. I’m booked into the Alto Atacama Desert Lodge & Spa, and within an hour of checking in and talking to the activities manager, I know I’ve short-changed myself. I definitely need longer.
This sprawling adobe-style resort in the Catarpe Valley, just outside San Pedro de Atacama, has a catalogue of 33 guest activities included in its nightly tariff. The activities are split into four categories – Contemplation, Astronomy, Adventure and Expedition – and I want to do every one of them.
- Half-day cultural outings visiting surrounding villages
- Multi-day volcano ascents requiring adequate time for acclimatisation
- Mountain bike riding through the Devil’s Throat gorge
- Full-day high altitude hike amongst wild vicuñas and flamingos
- Sunset tour through the Valley of the Moon and to Death Valley
- Visiting the El Tatio geyser field
- Hike through a valley sprouting cacti that are 10 metres tall
- Walks through cultivated gardens and past alpine lagoons
All too soon I’m sprinting for the airport in Calama so I can fly back to Santiago, then connect with another flight to the Patagonian region way down south. From the dry and dusty desert of the Atacama in the north, I’m transported to the treeless pampas and knife-edged mountains near the continent’s southern tip. And it’s snowing when I arrive.
Devil’s Throat gorge mountain biking, Atacama
Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia, Chile
Tierra del Fuego, in Chile’s Patagonia region, is a windswept archipelago separated from the mainland by the Strait of Magellan. Comparisons have been made with Alaska due to its many fjords and glaciers. Unlike Alaska’s Inside Passage, however, only one cruise liner operates in these parts, making cruising here a far more intimate affair.
MV Stella Australis cruise passengers in Ainsworth Bay, Tierra del Fuego
Australis is the local cruise specialist, with the modern Stella Australis built for the unique conditions of the archipelago. She carries no more than 210 passengers and sails along a selection of routes linking Chile’s southernmost capital, Punta Arenas, to its Argentinian equivalent, Ushuaia. It’s mid-October – shoulder season – and I’m aboard Stella Australis on a four-night Fjords of Tierra del Fuego cruise.
Our route takes us through the Strait of Magellan, up the Beagle Channel and onto Cape Horn – names that are all synonymous with famous explorers.
Ushuaia on the Beagle Channel, beneath the Martial Mountains
It is from the Strait of Magellan that we depart Punta Arenas, sailing south to Ainsworth Bay and to the Tuckers Islets – favoured nesting grounds for Magellanic penguins and imperial cormorants. From there we sail west around the Brecknock Peninsula before doglegging towards the Beagle Channel.
Did you know?
A young naturalist named Charles Darwin sailed through here in 1833 aboard the HMS Beagle. It was on this ship that he began to formulate his evolutionary theories. The mountain range that forms the backbone of this archipelago is called the Cordillera Darwin, and it is from these lofty heights that some 600 glaciers spill.
The highlight for most passengers is the chance to stand on South America’s most southerly point: Cape Horn. Shortness of time and some squally weather won’t allow us to round it, but we’re able to step ashore and hike to a lighthouse manned by a Chilean naval officer and his young family. From the driest desert on Earth to what was once considered the ‘End of the World’, it’s a fitting finale.
Luxury Accommodation in San Pedro de Atacama
Chimu Adventures has a three-day, two-night package staying at the Alto Atacama Desert Lodge & Spa from AU$1680 per person. It includes all meals, drinks and excursions to explore some of northern Chile’s most spectacular scenery.
Luxury Accommodation in Tierra del Fuego
Chimu Adventures also has a four-day Fjords of Tierra del Fuego cruise itinerary aboard the MV Stella Australis. Prices start from AU$1699 per person and include all meals, accommodation and shore excursions.
Getting to Chile
LAN Airlines operates seven one-stop flights each week from Sydney to Santiago, Chile, with onward connections to Calama, Punta Arenas and Ushuaia.
This article appeared in Volume 21 of Signature Luxury Travel & Style Magazine