Atacama Desert

A flamin' flamingo surprise

By Thomas Feng

November 3^rd, 2017

ALTITUDE STRIKES

I woke up with my head throbbing. I heaved for air but instead I coughed heavily.

Altitude sickness finally defeated my battling body at 4200m above sea level. The air around Salar de Uyuni where I spent the night was dry, dusty and left my throat feeling like there is a constant lump of salty coal stuck inside. My lips will forever be chapped.

Over the next two days, the tour of Salar de Uyuni would take me to the Atacama Desert to witness the surrounding landscapes around the salt flats reaching 5300m above sea level.

Coral Castles

The first stop was the fossilised coral reef, which was surprising considering Bolivia is a land-locked country. The Bolivian Andes were an ancient sea-bed until volcanic eruptions created the Andes ranges and the sea beds became lakes. Due to the harsh sun, they dried out and today they have become fossilised coral castles.

The Border to Chile

Our tour guide Daniel took us to the train-line which runs from Uyuni to Chile three times a week carrying various minerals mined from Bolivia to be exported.

Bolivia is the poorest country in South America, and it was insightful hearing from Daniel about Bolivia being resource-rich, but the people not wanting their land to be exploited long-term for a short-term generational mining economic boom.

Also a great spot for Ell to pretend to be on the train tracks from Inception and for Carlos to become stuck in the desert ground.

Flamingos!

The landscape surrounding the salt flats is spectacular. It is desolate with no sign of life outside of the volcanoes and the thick spiky shrubs spread around the sand.

It made me curious about home and the Australian deserts, places I have yet to witness despite having travelled all around the coast and through the highlands.

Suddenly, a lagoon appeared and there they were: flamingos. This was the last thing I expected on the tour! I associate them with tropical jungles, but they actually live throughout the Andes at these lagoons in ridiculous altitudes.

Up close and personal

We visited a couple of other lagoons where we were only a couple of metres away from the flamingos! Observing the awkward birds bobbing their heads up and down and walking with their legs in reverse were a welcome distraction from my altitude sickness.

This culminated at the Red Lagoon, which in December is home to 30,000 flamingos for breeding. The lagoon is red due to a rare variety of algae which thrives in the salty shallow water and attracts the flamingos.

This was truly a spectacle I will never forget!

life on mars

The rest of the day was spent exploring the extremely barren, Marsian landscape. All around us was sand and mountains covered in sand. At one point we were in the Dali Desert, which strongly resembles the barren surrealist world depicted by Salvador Dali.

The wind was chilling to the bone. Dust and salt filled the air. Seldom sign of life. If this was life on Mars, I think I would give it a pass. We were fortunate to see Andean foxes, a north Andean deer taruca and the occasional stray llama.

Incredible respect to the small amount of people who have lived in these harsh conditions for generations. Life in the Andes highlands is not easy.

hot springs

On the final day, we began the day at Aguas Calientes: natural hot springs at 4700m altitude. Around us were geysers shooting geothermal energy from the surrounding volcanoes.

This was a warm, relaxing and reinvigorating start to the day and soothed my head briefly.

final stop: llamas

After reaching the border of Chile at 5300m, it was time for the five hour drive back to Uyuni with one final stop: Villa Alota, where there were hundreds of llamas.

Outside of the occasional adorable llama call, the valley was still; the winds halted, the clouds faded thin, ducks waded silently in the pond and for a moment I could breathe again.