Chile - Land of Contrasts

In the north the Atacama Desert, the world’s driest, stretches 600 miles from the Peruvian border, giving way inland to pampas and, at higher elevations, the vast altiplano of the Andean foothills. This is a wild, stark and beautiful region of desert landscapes, spectacular snowclad volcanoes set against cobalt skies and glimmering salt lakes with thousands of flamingos. Bands of vicunas graze the grasses of the altiplano and Andean condors ride the thermals above.

South of the Atacama, the deserts give way to a temperate zone of beautiful and varied landscapes, from cultivated orchards and vineyards to a complex array of woodlands and forests. Thorny sclerophyll woodlands are found in drier regions, while deciduous woodlands and forests, and broadleaved evergreen forests occupy successively wetter parts. Southern beeches (Nothofagus) dominate many forest types, while coniferous forests of giant araucarias and alerce characterise other parts of the landscape. Chile is also famous for its great diversity of beautiful flowering shrubs and herbaceous plants, some of which, such as Fuchsia magellanica, have become favourite garden plants in our part of the world. Birds and mammals are equally diverse and include such bird specialties as the large brown Peruvian pelican, Peruvian booby, Giant hummingbird, miners, earthcreepers, cinclodes, canasteros and, much further south, Humboldt and Magellanic penguins.

The far south is a spectacular mountainous wilderness of steep walled fjords, tidewater glaciers, complex archipelagos and dark southern beech forests. Here we visit Torres del Paine National Park, renowned for its spectacular peaks, varied Patagonian scenery and its great wealth of wildlife and plants. Grey foxes of several species, puma, guanacos, Lesser rhea, Black-necked and Coscoroba swans and Chilean flamingos are representative.

Our tour encompasses all three major Chilean regions - the deserts of the far north, the temperate central region and the far south.