Chile Highlights CHILE VIDEO COMPILATION VIDEO CHILE PART 1 to PART GENERAL INFORMATION CHILE PART 1 FAR SOUTH & CARRETERA AUSTRAL CHILE PART 2 CARRETERA AUSTRAL to FUTALEUFU CHILE PART 3 Sur Chico Region CHILE PART 4 Crossing the Andes to Santiago & Central Chile CHILE PART 5 Central Chile Atacama desert & Tatio Geysers CHILE PART 6 Atacama Desert To Laguna Chaxal CHILE PART 7 San Pedro to Argentina Border CHILE PART 8 Chile Far North (Bolivia Border to Peru border) For more details, blogs and pictures click here; https://www.doubledutchworldsafari.au/our-journey/americas/south-america/chile/ General Information Official name is the Republic of Chile. In 1973 a coup overthrew Salvador Allende with a military dictatorship that left more than 3000 people dead or missing. The regime, headed by Augusto Pinochet, ended in 1990 after it lost during the referendum in 1988 and was succeeded by a centre left coalition which ruled through four presidencies until 2010. The modern Chile is among South America’s most economically and socially stable and prosperous nations with good income and high living standards. Chile is a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes Mountains in the East and the Pacific Ocean in the West. The arid Atacama Desert in northern Chile contains great mineral wealth, principally copper and lithium. The relatively small central area dominates in terms of population and agricultural resources and is the cultural and political centre. Southern Chile is rich in forests and grazing lands and features a string of (active) volcanoes and lakes. The southern coast is a labyrinth of fjords, inlets, canals twisting peninsulas and islands. North to South Chile extends around 4350km but it only measures on average around 180Km in width. Chile’s relief is for the most part mountainous, with the Andes range dominating the landscape. Because of the country’s extreme length, it has a wide variety of climates, from the coastal desert beginning in the tropical north to the cold subantarctic southern tip. Chile is also a land of extreme natural events: volcanic eruptions, violent earthquakes and tsunamis originating along major faults of the ocean floor periodically beset the country. Fierce winter storms and flash floods alternate with severe summer droughts. Chile is the longest and thinnest country in the world, consisting from the high Andes, untouched areas in the south, driest deserts in the north, fjords, glaciers and modern cities in the central parts. Chile recently launched a massive scenic route for tourism in hopes of encouraging development based on conservation. The Route of Parks covers 2500km. Chile is also called the Land of Extremes. For us it was amazing to see this country and the great wilderness so intact/untouched and pristine.