A Guide to the Atacama Desert, Chile

.....How big is it?


As an "eco-region" it takes in most of northern Chile from the Peru border at Arica down south to about Copiapo, or a coastal strip of about 1000 kms. This is the really dry part where yearly rainfall recorded can be 1 mm or less! To the east the desert extends to the less arid central Andean plateau at 4000 meters in altitude. All told, the Atacama desert covers over 180,000 sq. kms consisting of barren sand, volcanic rock and salt pans.
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