This Is What Happens When the Driest Place on Earth Gets Its First Rainfall in Seven Years

Photo + Video + Film
by Morgane Croissant Oct 28, 2015

WHAT USUALLY LOOK LIKE AN ARID, INHOSPITABLE landscape has now turned in a beautiful carpet of pink mallow flowers, as well as 200 other native plants.

The Atacama desert, one of the driest places on this planet, experienced historic rainfalls last March, which led to the sprouting of dormant seeds that had been under the dusty ground for years.

“The intensity of blooms this year has no precedent,” Daniel Diaz, National Tourism Service director in Atacama, told Spanish news agency EFE.

Atacama desert in bloom

More than 20,000 tourists are expected to visit the desert to see the unusual bloom. The phenomenon should continue through November.

Atacama desert in bloom

Atacama desert in bloom

H/t: Mashable.

All photos by Mario Ruiz/EPA

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