(Getty Images/Maximilian Müller)
"The Atacama region was punished, but also blessed by the phenomenon of a flourishing desert, something that happens only after the rains, this time brought about by El Niño and climate change," Daniel Diaz, National Tourism Service director in Atacama, expressed to Spanish international news agency EFE. "The intensity of blooms this year has no precedent," he added. "And the fact that it has happened twice in a same year has never been recorded in the country's history. We are surprised."
An estimated 20,000 tourists are expected to travel to the Atacama to see the blossoming for their own eyes before the landscape returns to its normal form in November.
In addition to the flowers, the rains allowed over 200 other native plants to grow and complement the pink mallows with other colors and aromas.
750 kilometers north of Santiago de Chile, Chile. (EPA/Mario Ruiz)