One of my favourite places in the Atacama Desert is Salar de Tara. situated at a breath-taking 4000 metres above sea level. Nearby is Salar de Pujsa, home to a large number of Andean and Chilean flamingos, some ducks, and various shore birds. The salt lake is quite large, and ringed by spectacular scenery under a clear blue sky. Flamingos are notoriously camera shy, or at least I find them to be in the Atacama Desert. As soon as they are aware of your presence, they turn around in the water and wade away!
It is a great way to spend the day prior to driving from Awasi to Calama in the late afternoon for the 18:30 flight to Santiago.
Strong winds play havoc with the take-off of a couple of Andean flamingos at Salar de Pujsa.
The LAN Chile flight is reliably on time from Calama, and again on departure from Santiago to Sydney. It is sad as always to leave the long, thin country that is Chile, for the long flight back to Australia. The love affair with Chile and the Atacama Desert is far from over. I can already see myself returning for a fourth visit to the Atacama in the near future.
