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Isla Cachagua, Nevado Tres Cruces, Pan de Azúcar & Laguna Chaxa, Chile

  • Writer: lydiawalton
    lydiawalton
  • Jun 30
  • 1 min read

Updated: 14 hours ago

October 2023


Travelling north from Valparaiso to San Pedro de Atacama, sights were mostly enjoyed rather than captured on camera. That being said, a few national parks made the cut; and while I didn't consider myself a birder at the time, my camera seemed to make an appearance whenever the birds were around...


Isla Cachagua hosts a large colony of endangered Humboldt penguins, which nest in burrows dug in guano. Around two thousand penguins call this island home, which they share with Neotropic cormorants, Peruvian pelicans, Kelp gulls, and more.


A few hundred kilometers to the north is Nevado Tres Cruces National Park, home to volcanoes, stunning lagoons, and salt flats filled with flamingos. Driving through the park was my first experience with altitude sickness, with many areas easily clearing 4,000m, and was only remedied by watching the herds of guanacos roam past.


We continued on to Pan de Azúcar National Park, where we were greeted by a strange mix of ocean and desert. During our hike we were trailed by several small birds and watched by a Culpeo fox, all the while surrounded by patches of Copiapoa cactus.


The last stop for my camera was Laguna Chaxa, a lagoon in the centre of Salar de Atacama and one of the best places to see flamingoes in Chile.


 
 
 

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