Chile’s Atacama Desert is a 600-mile landscape of otherworldly landscapes. At times you’ll feel like you’re visiting another planet…

The Atacama Desert is recognised as being the driest place on earth – there are areas where a drop of rain has never been recorded.

While backpacking for a few months around South America we went to San Pedro de Atacama, in northern Chile, it’s a great wee desert town.

It was here in San Pedro de Atacama where we arranged our four-day Jeep tour from San Pedro across the Atacama desert and salt flats to Uyuni in Bolvia. Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sqm).

On the way to Uyuni we passed geysers, pink flamingoes, seemingly endless salt landscapes, unique rock formations, and only a few other Jeeps.

We stayed in very basic accommodation – simple walls, no heating – with temperatures below freezing. About -24 degrees celcius.

Our timing was perfectly timed to join the locals in San Juan – a small desert village – for a party!

The day we arrived – 24 de Junio – was Saint’s Day (San Juan). The entire village came out to celebrate and made us feel very welcome. There was dancing and drinking homemade chicha and the hangover of all hangovers the following day.

Salar de Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni in southwest Bolivia is the world’s largest salt flat at 10,582 square kilometres (4,086 sq miles). It’s 3,656 metres (11,995 ft) above sea level. In prehistoric times the area was covered by lakes, now it’s a vastly flat, dry and covered by a few metres of salt crust.

Highlights of the trip included seeing unimaginable and spectacular landscapes, lagoons, giant cacti (9-10 metres high!) on Isla de los pescados, salt mining, geysers, hot springs, pink flamingoes and a hotel made entirely of salt. The wall, the tables and chairs were all made of salt. Yes, that is a lampshade Mike is wearing, it’s not made of salt.

Read more about the Atacama Desert here: National Geographic Magazine