 Flowers
in Chile are spectacular.
The
most impressive display is the desert in flower, in September and
October, but walking trips in all parts and horseback riding trips
into the Andes pass through areas abundant with flowers, some unlikely
to be seen in other areas. Our wild flowers observation trips take
you to all parts of the Andes, but especially to the 'desert in
flower'. This amazing eruption of wild flowers occurs occasionally
in the Atacama, the driest desert in the world. The coastal mists,
"camanchacas", bring some moisture and when the El Nino
current occurs, the miracle happens: it starts to rain. Abundant
herbs and wild flowers bloom, revealing the incredible spectacle
of the ‘flowering desert’, covering the sand with wild
flowers of every kind. Unique in the world, this occurs from August
until the end of the year. There are some species of ephemerids
which survive in the form of seeds. When they receive rain and appropriate
temperatures, they germinate, bloom, seed and die over a period
of weeks.
The hundreds of plants which bloom include: the alstroemerias (the
multicoloured irises); rhodophilias (the red and yellow; ananuncas);
nolanas (three coloured pansies); leucocorymnes (spring onions,huilles);
calandrinias (guanaco foot) and argylias (velvet and cartuchos).
In addition, in the southern extreme of the Atacaman desert 204
native species bloom, such as: Garra de Leon (Leonthochir ovallei),
Pata de guanaco (calandrinia logiscapa), Don Diego de la noche (oenothera
coquimbensis), Retamo, San Alatodo(Caesalpinia Angulicaules), Flor
de Pajarito (Corola viol‡cea), Ananucas (rhodophialas), La
flor del minero (centauria chilensis), Los cuernos de cabra (skytanthus
acutus), Cactus Copiapoa and Huillis (Leucocoryne).
About 65 million years ago, with the gradual growth of the Andes
Chile was transformed into an island where the new species appeared
and became confined. An actual extreme case is "lion's claw"
(Leonthochir ovallei) which is found only in a very small area of
the coastal gorges of the provinces of Copiapo and Huasco.
 Wildflowers
of the Chilean Desert, 10 Day,  ,
Sep. to Dec.
We
will discover the incredible spectacle of the "flowering
desert", unique in the world, wich paints a myriad of colors
to the arid northern desert of Chile. |
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