Overview
At Natures Images, we always select the right time and the right locations, working with the best wildlife photographers and guides in the business.
Occasionally we come across a corner of the world that is well off the beaten track and as a result offers a combination of genuine adventure travel alongside the wildlife and environmental photographic opportunities and the High Andes of the Atacama regions of Chile and neighbouring Bolivia is just such a place. Alongside the dramatic mountains, salt lakes and some of the best night skies to photograph anywhere in the world, indigenous wildlife such as vicunas and viscachas can be found and if that wasn’t enough it is one of the most dramatic regions in the world to photograph flamingos. Three species can be found here and at this time of year they will have gathered in large numbers for the start of the breeding season which offers dramatic photographic opportunities. We’ll explore salt lakes where they gather to breed and feed in both Chile as well as the colourful Laguna Colorada across the border in Bolivia in this trip which will have them as our core focus but will no doubt throw up a great diversity of images as part of a genuine adventure in a remote corner of the world.
Itinerary Open +Close -
Day 1: Our overnight flights will depart from the UK this evening to Santiago, Chile.
Day 2: On arrival at Santiago de Chile airport we will connect with a domestic flight to Calama in the Atacama region of Chile arriving in the afternoon and we will then pick up our transfer to our hotel in San Pedro de Atacama for a well-earned nights rest.
Days 3 – 6: During these first few days we will be working at Flamingo lagoons relatively close to San Pedro de Atacama not only because there are some excellent locations here but also to help us to adapt to the altitude before heading to the Bolivian salt flats highlands later in the trip.
At this time of year all 3 South American species of flamingo (Andean, Chilean and James’) will be feeding and breeding and so there should be good numbers at the salt lake flats where they gather. Our plan will to be there for the early morning light and photograph for as long as the light conditions are favourable at this and the other end of the day. In the middle part of the days we will rest as well as explore the extraordinary (and very photogenic) High Andes landscapes and where other species including vicuna and viscacha can be found.
The incredibly clear night skies here also offer a great opportunity for night sky and milky way photography which we will look to do on a number of evenings as well in a very full few days.
Day 7: After an early breakfast we will head higher and across the border into head Bolivia, heading specifically for the Laguna Colorada which is also called “the red lake” due to the high content of minerals and algae it contains. Situated in the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve this shallow salt lake (it’s less than a metre deep) is home to all three species of flamingo with large numbers of the rarest of all, James’. They gather here to feed on plankton, which is abundant in these scarlet waters, and we will photograph here until as late as we can before heading to our desert lodge.
Day 8: We will again head out early in the morning to focus on landscapes (with vicuna in to make them even more dramatic) and an excellent location for viscachas, before returning for lunch at our lodge. In the afternoon we will return to the Laguna Colorada once more until as late as we can before our second night in our Bolivian base.
Day 9: After breakfast we check in with the flamingos at Laguna Colorada before returning to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile during the afternoon no doubt stopping at times to photograph the incredible landscapes of the Bolivian and Chilean highlands as we pass through.
Day 10: After breakfast we will head to Calama airport for our domestic flights to Santiago de Chile where we will spend our final night.
Day 11: After breakfast, we go to the international airport of Santiago de Chile and get our lunchtime flight back home.
Day 12: Arrive back in the UK after overnight flights.
What our customers say
“The landscapes were incredible and the flamingos simply stunning: what a place”
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