After several months of posting weekly stories, I’m taking a couple of weeks off - for travelling - but can’t resist adding some photos from last week’s story/journey. These were taken after crossing the Andes into Chile and exploring a canyon called Quezala that leads down into the Atacama Desert from Lascar Volcano.
Don Sotero lives in a village called Talabre in the shadow of a volcano, Lascar, and guides visitors down into Quezala Canyon ( the start of the canyon is middle right). The shady ravine allows all kinds of flora and fauna to flourish despite the extreme climate
Magellanic Horned Owl in the canyon. Jaguars also live inside this sheltered ravine but are rarely seen
Humans also found the canyon hospitable in ancient times and left petroglyphs
The Viscacha, a long-tailed rabbit, much loved by jaguars and eagles
Variable Hawk flying near the head of the canyon at around 5,000 metres altitude
Llamas at the head of the canyon, a tough place to survive
Lascar and cacti
Don Sotero’s house in Talabre. The old village got swept away one year and now the people live away from the canyon itself. Most of the residents are either old or young: the rest head for the copper mines to find work
Back with a new story in two weeks. Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
These are beautiful pictures. I'm a geologist and among my non-academic (for now anyway) interests is the socio-environmental relationship that exists between the local communities and the landscape. Its a stunning setting, rich biodiversity and I can imagine an intimate connection that people have.
These are beautiful pictures. I'm a geologist and among my non-academic (for now anyway) interests is the socio-environmental relationship that exists between the local communities and the landscape. Its a stunning setting, rich biodiversity and I can imagine an intimate connection that people have.
Great photos. Thanks for posting.