Atacama desert

                 
The Atacama Desert in northern Chile, one of the driest regions in the world, has returned to being wrapped in a rug of flowers dominated by violet and yellow with the beginning of southern spring in mid-September. 'Pata de Guanaco' and 'Yellow Ananuka' are among the 200 species that can bloom in an inhospitable environment with an average of only 0.01 cm of rain per year, and years can go by in some parts of the desert without seeing rain. 

Flowers sprouting from the dry ground at the Atacama.

The secret of this irregular phenomenon is related to the "latent" seeds buried under the sand, which can live for decades while waiting for a minimum amount of water to germinate and then bloom. It takes as little as 15 cubic millimetres of rain for the flowers to germinate. This phenomenon occurs every 5 to 7 years, and when it does, similar photos can be treasured by anyone who is close to Copiaco in Northern Chile.