Cold Flamingos

Nearby are more Salars – none of them as impressive as Uyuni in Bolivia – but salt flats nonetheless.  The Salar de Atacama has enough water in it to attract three different species of flamingos – James, Chilean and Andean. We took a day trip to go see some big pink birds.

The Atacama desert is really spectacular. Having recent snow on the mountaintops made it even cooler. These salt flats aren’t blinding white like in Bolivia, and they have a bizarre texture that you certainly wouldn’t want to drive across. Fortunately, this time there are graded roads to follow.

The birds are all within the Reserva Nacional Los Flamencos. Angela had to convince me to take the trip out here, but it turned out to be really nice. Flamingos everywhere – close up and flying overhead. Bode read all the park information boards and told us all about the types of birds and how to identify them.

Fun fact for the day: the James is the rarest.