After our tour through the Bolivian highlands we returned to Chile early in the morning, where we settled into our base in San Pedro de Atacama for the next few days. We arrived at the hotel at midday and in the early afternoon drove on to the nearby Valle de la Luna, the Valley of the Moon. Where the name comes from quickly becomes clear: the formations, and above all the view from above with the drone, were impressive. After two or three stops we enjoyed the sunset at a beautiful viewpoint above the valley. The Valley of the Moon lies about 13 kilometres west of San Pedro in the Cordillera de la Sal; wind and water have shaped its stone and sand, it has been a nature sanctuary within the Los Flamencos reserve since 1982 – and because it is so dry, a Mars rover prototype has been tested here.
The sky fades from blue to orange, the mountains silhouetted above the plain.A track across the white plain, snow-capped mountains behind in orange light.A snowy summit in the last light above the pale plain.From the dark car: a cone-shaped mountain beneath a blue sky.A dusty track between steep ochre rock walls in the Valle de la Luna.The wide track leads through rounded beige rocks into the Valley of the Moon.Left, the track in the valley; right, a photographer on the ridge.A sharp rocky cone above cracked, pale ground – it soon becomes clear where the name comes from.Folded ochre ridges above the pale valley floor.Furrowed slopes, a road in the valley and snow peaks on the horizon.Tightly grooved slopes right above the road – shaped by wind and water.Left, hairpin bends; right, a red ridge in the Valley of the Moon.Ravines in front, a cone-shaped mountain and the snowy chain of the Andes behind.Narrow rock ribs with long shadows in the late afternoon.Folded slopes in warm light, a hazy mountain above.Jagged rocks in the evening light, the wide plain of San Pedro de Atacama behind.Golden ranges of hills and distant snow peaks – the Cordillera de la Sal in the evening.Pale patches of salt between ochre ridges.Left, a furrowed valley in the evening light; right, pale rock surfaces.A rocky spur in front, the volcanoes glowing on the horizon at sunset.Slopes patterned in pale and rust-red – a Mars rover has been tested here.Branching channels in pale and brown rock.Ridges in the evening light, a track and the plain beyond.Pink evening sky above the plain, the rocky crests in front.The track winds through the rocks to the wide plain – sunset over the valley.
