In San Pedro de Atacama you can find unique landscapes, you can see the stars like in no other part of the world, do adventure sports and relax in its salty waters, but that's not true, you can also do bird watching and take incredible pictures of the fauna Chilean Here we tell you where and how to do it.

Despite being an arid desert, the Atacama is also home to several different types of animals. Exemplary characteristics of the altiplanic fauna such as the guanaco and the flamingos, they live in bofedales, salt flats and lagoons of this region. Then we tell you which are the animals you can see in the surroundings of San Pedro and where you can find them. We recommend you take binoculars, your camera and never feed the wild animals.

  • Flamingos: In the Atacama Desert, you can find not one, but three different types of flamingos. The Andean, the Chilean and the James. The Chaxa lagoon is the favorite place for many to observe these birds, although you can also see them in the Salar de Pujsa and Las Vegas de Quepiaco.

 

  • Culpeo Fox: This canid is one of the best known in the list of Chilean fauna, since it lives from the north of the country to Tierra del Fuego. Where does the culpeo fox live specifically? In any place where it can make its burrows, that is to say, bushes and steppes, low and dense shrub communities.

 

  • Horned Tagua: Little known, this bird lives from 3000 to 5200 meters high. It nests in the Miscanti and Miñiques lagoons, where they have been seen in greater quantity during the autumnal season. It differs from other taguas by having a fleshy skin that protrudes from the forehead instead of having the frontal shield that birds normally have.

 

  • Guanaco: It is one of the four types of camelids that live in Chile, can measure up to 1.90 centimeters tall, and weigh up to 150 kilos. Familiar with the alpaca and the llama, it has a gray face, small ears and fur that vary between light brown and dark red. You can find it in the  ​​Los Flamencos National Reserve.

 

  • Vicuña: The vicuña, as well as the guanaco is one of the South American camelids that have not been domesticated as the llama and the alpaca. Much smaller than the guanaco, it can weigh up to 65 kg. Live in the puna meadows of the Andean highlands, being one of the most common places to see the Salar de Tara.

 

  • Llama: Unlike the guanaco, the llama is more corpulent, and has been domesticated. The Salar de Tara is an excellent place to see this camelid.

 

  • Cougar: If there are guanacos there are pumas lurking. The also known as mountain lion, lives in Chile from Arica to Magallanes, from 5000 meters high to sea level. You can find it anywhere in the Los Flamencos National Reserve, where its prey lives.

 

  • Vizcacha: It is one of the most abundant and corpulent rodents in the area. Its fur is soft like a hare, but unlike this one, it has a long tail and smaller ears. It is not so easy to see, because it is nocturnal, but if you want to try your luck, the Salar de Tara is your destination.

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