CHILE: THE DESERT TO THE SEA

September 14 - 24, 2027

Join Jim for an adventurous tour to Chile that includes a wide range of incredible nature subjects. The Atacama Desert has stark and dramatic landforms and colors, and it redefines the feeling of 'being the middle of nowhere'. It is the world's oldest and driest non-polar desert. It is famous for its otherworldly Mars-like landscapes, high altitude volcanoes, salt flats, and premier star gazing. In southern Chile, you'll be thrilled with photographing the most beautiful water caves in the world. The blue, cyan, and mint green rock contours of the Marble Caves will leave you breathless. And the finale is an elevated vantage over the flyway of Andean condors, You'll be able to take remarkable images of the huge birds as they fly below us, at eye level, and even above us! If you have a drone, this is a spectacular place to fly it and take remarkable aerial perspectives.

What you will learn on this photo tour:

-- How to shoot the Milky Way

-- How to use a star tracker for the night sky

-- How to photograph birds in flight

-- How to set up a dominant foreground for landscapes

-- Using the correct white balance for sunrises and sunsets

-- How to create panorama landscapes

-- The advantages of panorama images over wide angles

DAY 1, Sept. 14, Tuesday: Leave home and arrive in Santiago, Chile (airport code SLC), on this day. Upon arrival, take a taxi to our hotel which is 2.3 miles from the airport. We meet for the first time at a group at 5:30 pm in the lobby followed by a welcome dinner. Overnight Hilton Garden Inn Santiago Airport.

DAY 2, Sept. 15, Wednesday: After breakfast we take a 2-hour morning flight to Calama where we are met by a local guide and driven about an hour to San Pedro de Atacama. This is the gateway city to the Atacama Desert. Late in the day, we drive to the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) for sunset photography. This surreal landscape really does look like an alien world, and in low angled sunlight it’s exquisite. Overnight Hotel La Casa de Don Tomas, San Pedro de Atacama.

DAY 3, Sept. 16, Thursday: Today we visit the Yerbas Buenas petroglyph field that has over 1000 well preserved petroglyphs dated to 10,000 years ago. These fascinating images that were cut into rocks present a window in time to cultures that thrived so long ago. Next we drive to Rainbow Valley, a stunning landscape of wildly colored mountains. This place is so beautiful you won't know where to start shooting! Millions of years of geological processes have produced a true work of natural art. At the end of the day we'll visit a tiny village called Rio Grande that is rustic, agricultural, and is known for its indigenous Atacameno petroglyphs. Overnight Hotel La Casa de Don Tomas, San Pedro de Atacama.

DAY 4, Sept. 17, Friday: This morning we visit two striking lagoons, Miscanti and Meniques. The deep blue water contrasts beautifully with the surrounding desert, and this is a great place to shoot the reflections of mountains in the water. In the afternoon, we drive to Salar de Talar (salt flats) where the beauty and surrealism of the landscapes goes up a few notches. The combination of color and the dynamic land forms make outstanding images. This is a great place to fly a drone for unparalleled aerial vantages and also to experiment with panoramas. Jim will show you how to use dynamic foregrounds for classic landscape photographs. Overnight Overnight Hotel La Casa de Don Tomas, San Pedro de Atacama.

DAY 5, Sept. 18, Saturday: Early this morning we visit the El Tatio geyser field. With the sun low in the sky, the backlighting on the steam is breathtaking. We then drive to the Vado de Putana, a high-altitude, peat-forming green wetland that acts as a crucial natural water sponge. It provides year-round grazing for livestock as well as the endemic fauna of the desert. Next, we drive to the Puritama River which is a stunning oasis in the desert. It is a geothermal water source that creates an unexpected hot springs offering a relaxing, therapeutic oasis surround by desert vegetation. In the late afternoon, we visit two more lagoons –Chaxa and Tebiquinche – that are famous for spectacular, otherworldly sunsets. Surrounding volcanoes and ancient microbial limestone mounts plus water birds like flamingos make this a wonderful destination for photography. Overnight Overnight Hotel La Casa de Don Tomas, San Pedro de Atacama.

DAY 6, Sept. 19, Sunday: This is a travel day. After breakfast, we return to Calama to catch a flight to Santiago and then to Balmaceda. We transfer to our hotel. Overnight at the Hotel Dreams, Coyaique.

DAY 7, Sept. 20, Monday: After breakfast we drive to Puerto Tranquilo. The road passes through rugged mountains, lakes, and bays and we will stop several times to photography them. When we arrive in Puerto Tranquilo, we check into Hotel & Cabana Valle Exploradores and overnight.

DAY 8, Sept. 21, Tuesday: After breakfast we explore by boat the Marble Caves, the most stunning and dramatic water caves in the world. In shades of blue, cyan and mint green, the natural marble walls composed of calcium carbonate form the most beautiful shapes and contours imaginable. This is simply art in nature.

You’ve never seen anything like it. Later in the day we visit the Exploradores Valley. Dramatic jagged peaks are the backdrop for this isolated river valley. Overnight Hotel & Cabanas Valle Exploradores, Puerto Tranquilo.

Day 9, Sept. 22, Wednesday: In the early morning we drive to Cerro Castillo National Park to capture dramatic peaks still covered in snow. Beautiful azure lakes dot the countryside forming wonderful foregrounds for photography. We then catch a flight to Punta Arenas, a photogenic town in the far south of Chile. Colorful murals, seascapes, and old, rotting boats are subjects for your camera here. Overnight in Hotel Almasur, Punta Arenas.

Day 10 Sept. 23, Thursday: This is a day of bird photography. In the nearby Straits of Magellan we will see dozens of species that

may include the Magellanic woodpecker, the Patagonian Sierra-finch, the Austral parrot, flamingos, black-browed albatross, great-tufted grebes, southern caracaras and white-throated treerunners. In the afternoon we visit a private ranch to photograph Andean condors in flight. We'll be able to shoot them at eye level as well as with a downward angle for unusual perspectives for birds in flight. Overnight Hotel Almasur, Punta Arenas.

DAY 11, Sept. 24, Friday: This morning we transfer to the airport for our flight back to Santiago to catch our connection to our international flight home, knowing we've seen and photographed truly outstanding images of nature.

Tour cost: $8750. Includes all lodging based on double occupancy, all meals beginning with dinner on day 2 through lunch on day 10, guides services of an English speaker, private ground transportation throughout the tour, round-trip airport transfers between Calama and San Pedro de Atacama; a private boat trip to the marble caves; and all park entrance fees.

Single supplement: $575

Not included: Domestic flights, tips, travel insurance, à la carte dishes, alcoholic drinks, laundry, phone calls, and other personal expenses.

PLEASE NOTE:

The elevation of the Atacama Desert is high. In some places it goes up to 14,000 feet above sea level. Most of the places we visit in the desert are approximately between 8,000 and 10,000 feet. If you have breathing difficulties or are concerned about dealing with this, please contact Jim and discuss it. He plans on bringing supplemental canisters of oxygen should anyone need to use them.