Salar de Tara

Salar de Tara lies at about 4,300 metres in the high puna of Chile's Atacama region, close to where Chile, Argentina and Bolivia meet. It is a shallow salt basin of some 48 square kilometres whose open lagoons expand and shrink with the seasons, fringed by bright white salt crust and green high-Andean wetlands, and framed by enormous eroded rock formations. Along its edge stand the Catedrales de Tara, a massive wall of tall, wind-cut volcanic pinnacles, and on the approach from the highway rise the Monjes de la Pacana, isolated vertical rock pillars scattered across the open plain like solitary figures.

The salar occupies the caldera of the Vilama volcano and is the low point of a closed drainage basin of roughly 1,800 to 2,000 square kilometres, unusual in being shared among three countries. Its main inflow, the Río Zapaleri, arrives from the north after passing through Bolivia and Argentina and brings in clean fresh water; with no outlet, the lagoons lose it only to evaporation in the thin, dry air, where the average temperature hovers around freezing. The water ranges from almost fresh to strongly saline across the basin.

This mosaic of salt, fresh springs and bog-like bofedales supports a surprising amount of life. Flamingos feed in the lagoons, and vicuñas, culpeo foxes, Andean geese, Andean gulls and puna plovers live around the shores. The salar forms part of Los Flamencos National Reserve and, together with the nearby Salar de Aguas Calientes, is protected as a Ramsar wetland of international importance. The Chilean geographer Luis Risopatrón recorded the lagoon in his 1924 geographical dictionary of Chile.

Getting there

Salar de Tara lies roughly 100–150 km east of San Pedro de Atacama, the usual base for visits, and is reached from Route 27, the highway towards the Jama Pass, followed by off-road tracks that require a four-wheel-drive vehicle. The nearest city is Calama, about 178 km away in a straight line, served by El Loa Airport (CJC), about 174 km away.