With cities expanding and the ever increasing damage of light pollution, star gazers are having to travel longer distances to escape the light and see the night sky clearly in all its glory. So spare a thought for star gazers in Chile who will travel 24 hours on a bus through dusty roads to reach the Valle de la Luna, and some world class star gazing.
San Pedro is the main settlement nearby the Valle de la Luna, and numerous observatories will offer nightly tours to various observatories, and some will simply take a telescope with them for you to view the night sky. Either way its not something to miss!
There are other benefits to visiting San Pedro de Atacama, in particular the impressive Valle de la Luna offers incredibly landscapes and vistas, and quite often a spectacular sunset to go with it. Tours leave daily from San Pedro, and again these are highly recommended!
Not only will you feel like you are on another planet, but you also can lay claim to have visited the same place that NASA used to test its Mars rover, due to the similarities in the landscape. And yes, even after this they still call it the Moon Valley!
You've also got the added bonus of being able to hire a jeep and driver who will take you to the world famous Salar de Uyuni in neighbouring Bolivia, and vast white expanse of dried salt that has to be seen to be believed. Nothing will prepare you as your driver takes you onto the salt flat for the first time, and you zoom across a white landscape just as other worldly as the Valle de la Luna.
From the salt flats you can either return to the Valle de la Luna in Chile, or continue on for another hour to reach Uyuni, the town on the edge of the salt flats and a place to spend perhaps a night or two, but nothing more before heading up to Potosi or Sucre in central Bolivia.
With so many interesting things to see in this area, a star gazing trip to the Valle de la Luna can quickly turn into a full on adventure as you travel north from San Pedro de Atacama, into Bolivia and onto the world famous Salar de Uyuni, a sight not to be missed for the aspiring traveller! And if you have more time, you can head north through Bolivia to Lake Titicaca for some much needed restbite at Copacabana!
Barry runs the travel photography and videography website Worldly Nomads and writes about the South America Salar de Uyuni (Bolivian salt flats) (http://www.worldlynomads.com/index.php/salt-flats-bolivia/) and is an expert on South American travel, including in particular the Valle de la Luna in Chile. You can view some incredible photos of the valley on his website ( http://www.worldlynomads.com/index.php/valle-de-la-luna-chile/) and a more indepth review of the experience of the Valle de la Luna!
Article Source: Barry_Best
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