On this series I will show you the gorgeous Miscanti Lagoon, located in the meeting of the Andes Mountains with the Atacama Desert, a mixed region called “Altiplano”. At a height of more than 4.000 meters, its waters are derived from the melting of tops of volcanoes and surrounding mountains.

Miscanti is the name of this lagoon but also of the volcano that formed it.

To reach this lagoon you better rent a car. Can be a regular one, if you are a quite good driver, otherwise, prefer a 4×4 car. Just leave the town of San Pedro de Atacama, on North Chile,  and goes towards the border of Argentina.  On this road, you will see lots of mountains and volcanoes and great landscapes. Drive about 120 km and you will reach the entrance of Miscanti, leave the road and enter a dirt road. Just go slow and you won’t have problems. No need to be afraid or suspicious. The ascent is pretty amazing and the road is a spectacle apart.

In this reserve, belonged to indians, you can see flamingos and some wild and free camelideos, as guanucos and alpacas.

To complete this trip and make it more surprising, you have a second lagoon hidden to the right of Miscanti. It’s called Miniques and it’s super gorgeous. 

Buddy, I can tell you for sure, Atacama is the best part of South America.

The post Miscanti Lagoon and Miniques – Atacama Desert appeared first on Viagem.Space - Discover Places to Explore!.

Detailed description of the 5-day trekking for now is only in Portuguese, but you can ask me  directly some questions regarding this trekking or try to use the language selected on the portuguese version.

I have been there twice. First, at 2002, to photograph to a tourist agency. Second time at 2017, for doing this trekking. Bellow, you have the text of 2002, but it still gives you an idea about this interesting place.

Brazilian Deserts?

It is even hard to believe but, besides beaches, forests, mountain ridges and the Pantanal swamplands, Brazil still keeps another beautiful and rare scenery for its dwellers and tourists: a desert with scattered fresh water ponds. This region is part of the Lencois Maranhenses National Park which was established in 1981 aiming to protect and study this ecological system. It has become, however, a major tourist attraction.

The Park holds a total area of 1,550sq.km. (i.e. 382,850 acres). There is dune after dune, all carved by the high wind caused by the coming and going of the tides. Notwithstanding its desert-like appearence, Lencois Maranhenses records an annual rainfall of 1600mm (i.e. 62.9 inches). All that water comes down during the well marked rainy season, from January to June.

From July to December, it is time for the dry period, when dozens of ponds drain completely or partially. The miracle in that story lies in the fact that when the ponds fill up again, life comes back. Fishes, crustaceans and turtles reappear as if they had never left the place. For a visit, the best time of the year stretches from May to September, when the natural pools are formed.

The beauty of this cool place is not only in the ponds. The dunes, which sometimes reach up to 20mts or 65 feet, consist of a very white sand. The landscape is in permanent change, and thus no one has the privilege to see the same sight twice.

Besides its “desert”, Lencois Maranhenses has also its mangroves, rivers (where the local, specially adapted boats named “voadeiras” navigate), beaches and, of course, its “natives”. The natives are fishermen who raise their little flocks of cattle to help themselves get by during the dry season, giving the landscape a desert-like/rural flavour.

The Park is located on the coast in the State of Maranhao, between Barreirinhas and Primeira Cruz counties. To get there the visitor may choose travelling by bus or by car for a 10 hour trip, or with a charter flight from Sao Luis (the capital city of that State), towards Barreirinhas.

The touristic spot has little structure, but Barreirinhas has hotels, hostels, restaurants and handicrafts shops. At the mouth of the Preguicas river (which flows accross Lencois Maranhenses area) lies the small village of Cabure, that also has guesthouses and restaurants. In the villages it is possible to appreciate the typical food of the region, to go birdwatching late in the afternoon and to take another boat to continue the trip: a trip with a lot of sand, beautiful sceneries, wind against the face, great food and sympathetic people.

—————————————-

Fotos, vídeos e textos de Marcelo Ozório.

The post Trekking at Lencois Maranhenses National Park – Maranhao – Brasil appeared first on Viagem.Space - Discover Places to Explore!.

El Tatio Geysers are one of the majors attractions at Atacama Desert, if not the most famous.

Must be one of the most visited places in all Chile.

Indeed, it´s a very special place. It´s a kind of surreal manifestation of the planet, cause you have the impression you are in a cloud factory.

All this spontaneous phenomena is caused by the meeting of groundwater table with the heat of the volcanic field which, when release to the surface by the diverse wholes and cracks, in contact with the andean cold air, produces these rare white smoke that looks like clouds.

Tags: north chile atacama desert tatio geysers volcanic field.

Photos, video and text by Marcelo Ozorio

The post The Surreal El Tatio Geysers – Atacama Desert – Chile appeared first on Viagem.Space - Discover Places to Explore!.