Trip of the week: off-roading from the Atacama to the Andes

Side by side where Chile and Bolivia meet lie two of the harshest and most spectacular regions on Earth. The Atacama is the driest of the world’s non-polar deserts, a barrier between the Pacific and the Andes “far worse than the most turbulent ocean”, in Charles Darwin’s words. The Andean Altiplano – the largest high plateau outside Tibet – is scarcely more hospitable.

But today, you can cross them both in a 4WD, says Jamie Lafferty in the FT – and even sleep in comfort along the way, thanks to the adventure tourism company Explora. Last year it opened three small luxury lodges in “extremely remote” locations, to support a multi-day, guided crossing it calls the Travesía – an off-road journey from Chile to the fabled Bolivian salt flats of Uyuni.

From the town of San Pedro de Atacama, the route climbs towards the Licancabur volcano, soon rising above 4,500m and never dipping below 3,000m thereafter. At such altitudes, it’s wise to move slowly and stay hydrated. Crossing the Bolivian border, you reach Laguna Colorada, a lake that looks like “melted ice cream”, marbled with streaks of black, blue, red and white. Thousands of James’s flamingos feed in its mineral-rich waters, huddling together against the desert wind.

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Then come the Sol de Mañana mud geysers, and not far beyond, the first of Explora’s lodges, Ramaditas. Like the others, it has a simple, “industrial” exterior, but is cosy inside.

There are hikes to enjoy along the rest of the route, along with more flamingo-filled lakes, “outrageous” sunsets, giant cacti and lots of vicuñas (llama-like creatures with famously soft fur). Near the village of San Juan is an ancient necropolis where the bones of pre-Incan people lie untouched in open-sided crypts. And not far north, the salt-encrusted plain of Uyuni stretches to the horizon like a vast ice field – a “bleached void” of such “terrible brilliance” that the distant mountains seem to float over it like islands.

Visit journeylatinamerica.com and explora.com for more information