2 Best Sights in Reserva Nacional Pampa del Tamarugal, El Norte Grande

The amazing Cerros Pintados, the largest group of geoglyphs in the world, within the Reserva Nacional Pampa del Tamarugal are well worth a detour. These figures, which scientists believe helped ancient peoples navigate the desert, date from AD 500 to 1400. They are also quite enormous—some of the figures are decipherable only from the air. Drawings of men wearing ponchos were probably intended to point out the route to the coast to the llama caravans coming from the Andes. More than 400 figures of birds, animals, and geometric patterns adorn this 4-km (3-mile) stretch of desert.

The tamarugo tree is an anomaly in the almost lifeless desert. These bushlike plants survive where most would wither because they are especially adapted to the saline soil of the Atacama. Over time they developed extensive root systems that search for water deep beneath the almost impregnable surface. Reserva Nacional Pampa del Tamarugal has dense groves of tamarugos, which were almost wiped out during the nitrate era when they were felled for firewood.