Watch The Atacama Desert Transform From Dry Sands To Lush Plants After Rainfall
by N/A, 8 years ago |
2 min read
This is what happens when the world's driest desert gets a much-needed shower.
The sight of vegetation is a rare, if not unheard of thing in the Atacama desert in Chile. But since unprecedented rain first hit in March, something incredible has happened...
The driest place on earth is now bursting with color and life. But surprisingly, the explanation is pretty simple.
If heavy rainfall comes before or during the Southern Hemisphere's spring, the flowers 'hibernating' beneath the surface bloom, seemingly all at once, in a majestic display of color.
Naturally, people from all over are coming to marvel at the beautiful spectacle.
“The intensity of blooms this year has no precedent,” Daniel Diaz, the National Tourism Service director in Atacama, told EFE news agency. “And the fact that it has happened twice in a same year has never been recorded in the country’s history. We are surprised.”
Locals, who've seen the sight before but never to this degree, are grateful for the tourism the phenomenon is generating.
Currently, experts estimate that over 20,000 tourists will come visit the remarkable sight.
And as far as tourist attractions go, I think it's safe to say the Atacama desert is in a category of its own.
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Do not show me this again