- Address: San Pedro de Atacama, San Pedro de Atacama, Antofagasta, Chile;
- Working hours: every day from 9:00 to 19:00.
Not far from the town of San Pedro de Atacama is a unique place, the driest not only in South America, but also all over the world. When asked where the Death Valley is on the map, any Chilean will answer you - in the Atacama Desert , among scorched surreal landscapes resembling the surface of Mars.
Death Valley - the most lifeless place on the planet
Many would like to know what horrible Death Valley is, why they called it so, and who did it? The area got its name in the distant past due to the fact that any person who ventured to cross it, inevitably died. Surprisingly, the fact is: the possibility of life in the Chilean Death Valley, which is 50 times drier than the famous analogous valley in California, is zero. Studies were conducted showing that soil samples taken in the valley do not even contain microbes! Nothing can survive in the desert, and the numerous remains of animal bones that occur almost at every step serve as a confirmation and warning to careless travelers. But the Death Valley is not so uninhabited: it attracts extreme sandporters, lovers of riding on a board along the sand dunes.
What to see in the Valley of Death?
Absolutely all travelers are delighted by the Salty Cordillera lined with intricate chains, colorful hills and hills, stone bends of white and pink flowers, formed from clay, mineral salts and shellfish deposits formed by wind and soil erosion. Under the blue sky of Atacama this magnificence looks amazing. The air is so transparent that the view freely penetrates tens of kilometers ahead. Rain in the Valley of Death does not happen for years, but when they pass, there happens an amusing natural phenomenon - the emergence of ceramics. Drops of water cover the sandy surface, in the morning the sun dries and burns it, resulting in ceramic fragments. The Valley of Death is usually traveled closer to sunset, to enjoy the colors of the desert in the rays of the setting sun. It is at this time you can hear strange alarming sounds - they are made by crystallizing salt. It is worth noting one more attraction of the Valley of Death - an amazing, incomparable silence that can be heard only in such a literally deserted place.
How to get there?
The Death Valley is next to the Lunar Valley , 13 km from San Pedro de Atacama . You can get there even by bike. The nearest airport is in the city of Kalama , an hour and a half away.