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Atacama Desert bloom phenomenon to return in mid-September
The desert bloom phenomenon is set to return to Chile in September. File Photo by Adriana Thomasa/EPA
Aug. 18 (UPI) -- The desert bloom phenomenon is expected to return in the third week of September in Chile's Llanos de Challe National Park and surrounding areas, reaching its peak in October after early August rains in the Atacama region, officials with the National Forestry Corporation, or CONAF, said.
"We expect the blanket of flowers to stretch from the Totoral area in the north to Caleta Chañaral de Aceituno at the southern edge of the region, from the third week of September through the first half of November, with its peak in October," Jorge Carabantes, head of protected areas at CONAF, said.
The desert bloom occurs when winter rains pass certain thresholds and "awaken" a bank of seeds and bulbs that can remain dormant for years. That pulse of water, often tied to phases of the El Niño weather pattern, triggers mass germination and flowering that in Atacama usually takes place between September and November.
That this explosion of color takes place in the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth, makes it exceptional. Some areas receive only a few millimeters of rain each year, and when it does rain, the landscape can be transformed in just a few weeks.
Along the coast, more than 200 endemic plant varieties have been recorded during these blooms. The mix of colors varies with the intensity and distribution of rainfall.
Cristian Cortés, regional secretary of Chile's Agriculture Ministry, called the bloom welcome news.
"It will boost regional tourism and allow us to show the world how wonderful the Atacama Desert looks after a rainfall," he said.
Authorities are urging low-impact tourism: stay on marked trails, keep pets out, avoid picking flowers or seeds and carry out all trash. Following these rules is essential to preserving a phenomenon as fragile as it is extraordinary.
Llanos de Challe National Park is a protected area of 113,000 acres on the Atacama region's coast. Created in 1994, it was established to safeguard the Huasco coastal desert and its biodiversity, including fog-fed hillside ecosystems, cacti and emblematic species such as the lion's claw (Leontochir ovallei). The park is also home to a significant guanaco population.
The park's climate is coastal desert: scarce rains concentrated in winter (May to August), mild temperatures moderated by the ocean and frequent coastal fog known as camanchaca that provides moisture. When winter brings enough rain, those conditions allow the desert bloom to appear in spring.
