Chile

Chile’s deep south

/ mikeosbornphoto / 2 Comments

Chile may be a slender nation, but it’s full of wild, varied and majestic landscapes. It takes a few hours to fly from the arid lands of the Atacama Desert in the north to Patagonia, towards the tip of South America.

You instantly feel the chill, rasping winds and even summer snow as you climb higher on epic treks. Torres del Paine is a territory full of rugged mountains, glacial lakes and craggy moraines.

The nearby town of Puerto Natales has a frontier feel to it, with its own otherworldly views and sunsets that last an age.

It’s easy to be overwhelmed with landscape photo opportunities here in a country of boundless contrasts – but this is one beguiling place.

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Chile’s Atacama

/ mikeosbornphoto / 8 Comments

Distant Chile is the longest nation on Earth, snaking its way down the side of South America. Its geography is monumentally diverse, starting in the north with the Atacama Desert.

This is the most otherworldly and magical place on Earth that I’ve visited. Between the barren, mesmerising landscape there are vast salt pans inhabited by flamingos, geysers which only bubble into life before sunrise, and Martian sunsets cloaking lunar terrain. A photographic spectacle.

Visitors are looked after well in this at times inhospitable place – you can even have drinks to witness the sunset and a hot breakfast rustled out of nowhere to see off the freezing dawn.

It may be a long journey to Chile, but the rewards are there.

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Rapa Nui

/ mikeosbornphoto / 16 Comments

This tiny speck of land in the eastern Pacific is better known as Easter Island. A territory of Chile, it’s renowned for its collection of stone statues (moai) which even have their own emoji.

Their presence dominates any visit to the island and they’re an integral part of all photography. But there’s more to Easter Island, including an astonishing freshwater caldera, a tropical beach and its only town Hanga Rua, filled with an abundance of wonderful restaurants.

As for the stone statues, there are various theories about them. Our guide told us they represented ancestors, while the civilisation fell apart partly because so much effort was put into creating them.

The island is a five-hour flight from Chile’s capital Santiago and undoubtedly worth a visit – you’ll find nothing like it anywhere else.

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