South American nature holidays – take a walk on the wild side

We find holidays in South America where you can explore nature in all its diversity.

Atacama mountains
“Sky-poking volcanoes” in Chile’s Atacama Desert
(Image credit: Habitas Atacama/Kleinjan Groenewald)

An oasis of calm in the Atacama
San Pedro de Atacama is “an oasis amid the Atacama Desert of northern Chile”, says Mark Johanson for Bloomberg Pursuits. Here, visitors will find “glittering salt flats, sky-poking volcanoes, teal lagoons painted pink with flamingos” and the resort town’s most recent hotel opening – the 51-room Our Habitas Atacama, which opened in September. The hotel makes a virtue out of allowing guests to explore the desert by themselves, whether on horseback or by quad bike, and it is well worth it. “By night, the Atacama sky – studied by astronomers the world over due to its almost complete lack of cloud cover, moisture or light pollution – offers a priceless spectacle.”

The hotel has been designed so that guests feel like they are “entering a traditional Atacama home”. The thick clay walls are made of “temperature-controlling adobe” and the grass roofs are lined in brea, a native flowering plant, while the pottery and tapestries have been created by local indigenous artisans. “A highlight at the Atacama property is the clay sweat lodge, or temazcal.” Guests “set forth their intentions” for the treatment as a trained local guide “pours herb-infused water atop fiery volcanic stones, heating the dome-like lodge with increasing levels of steam. The idea is to detoxify your body and remove stress in your mind.”

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Chris Carter
Wealth Editor, MoneyWeek

Chris Carter spent three glorious years reading English literature on the beautiful Welsh coast at Aberystwyth University. Graduating in 2005, he left for the University of York to specialise in Renaissance literature for his MA, before returning to his native Twickenham, in southwest London. He joined a Richmond-based recruitment company, where he worked with several clients, including the Queen’s bank, Coutts, as well as the super luxury, Dorchester-owned Coworth Park country house hotel, near Ascot in Berkshire.

Then, in 2011, Chris joined MoneyWeek. Initially working as part of the website production team, Chris soon rose to the lofty heights of wealth editor, overseeing MoneyWeek’s Spending It lifestyle section. Chris travels the globe in pursuit of his work, soaking up the local culture and sampling the very finest in cuisine, hotels and resorts for the magazine’s discerning readership. He also enjoys writing his fortnightly page on collectables, delving into the fascinating world of auctions and art, classic cars, coins, watches, wine and whisky investing.

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