Salar de Tara - Best day from San Pedro de Atacama

Home to the driest landscapes on earth, to the famed project ALMA, some of the highest salt plains, Atacama is an alluring destinations for those looking an offbeat travel experience. After having hiked in the wet and windy southern Patagonia, Atacama would be a welcome change. Hence, I left for Santiago de Atacama from Valparaiso.

San Pedro - the heart of tourism in Atacama

Much of the tourism in the Chilean Atacama is concentrated in the small town of San Pedro, about 80 Km. from Calama. Much of the tourism in the Chilean Atacama is concentrated in the small town of San Pedro, about 80 Km. from Calama.

“Despite the attempts to distribute the traffic to the nearby villages of Toconao and Socaire, they are nothing but sleepy little villages, with most people still earning their livelihood working in the mining industry”

Salar de Tara - an interesting day trip from San Pedro

With so many people with varied interests, it is never too difficult to find a group interested in doing exactly what you are looking for – if you are looking for off the beaten path trips outside San Pedro, you have plenty of choices. Salar de Tara, an interesting salt flat southward of San Pedro is one such place. The journey from San Pedro cuts across some really high Andean range, sometimes as high as 5,000 m. It passes through really fascinating geography – a series of volcanoes, some sacred, some active, and some rather non-descript.

The paved tar seems to meet an abrupt end, but you still see tire marks leading into oblivion. Some serious off-roading begins soon – sometimes over sand, and at others over volcanic rocks. Those who were asleep were wide awake by now. The famed salars start to emerge in the distance, the blues and the whites providing a much desired contrast in the landscape. The landscape starts to get more and more dramatic with rock protrusions as tall as 100 m. interspersed across the relatively flat valley.

Fascinating volcanic landscape

Some of the rock formations have managed to be bestowed with appellations like Neruda, based on the uncanny resemblance with facial features. If there is cone thing which is common across cultures, that unites us humankind rather than divide us, it has to be our ability to find human presence in the most desolate of places - from finding Roosevelt and Washington in the Antelope canyon to Vietnamese gods amidst a labyrinth of stalactites in a sea cave :)

The back-breaking journey continues on for another hour before we arrive at Salar de Tara. A vast lake, home to an increasing population of flamingoes, sits against a backdrop of the fiery Andes. The rock formations surrounding the salar never cease to image. Explore the area at your own leisure – this still isn’t a place where you would see tourists descending in scores. This area comes under the Los Flamencos National Reserve, and that has helped conserve the area quite well.

If you are looking for an offbeat Chilean adventure, give this a try on your visit to the wonderful Atacama desert. Most of the travel agencies in the town can help you organize a day trip for you.