24th November 2015. Atacama Desert, Northern Chile.

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There was a very early rise this morning for the 90 minute trip from San Pedro de Atacama to the El Tatio geyser fields so that we could arrive before dawn.

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El Tatio is said to be the highest geyser field in the world and the largest in the southern hemisphere.

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The sky is bright but it’s still before dawn because there are no shadows,

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Now we have shadows so the sun is up.

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A large fumarole.

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This is probably the largest geyser.

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The sun is starting to rise behind it.

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And now it’s peeking through

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… leaving reflections in the surface water.

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It’s remarkable how the geysers manage to throw out lines of differently coloured rocks just at the point where it becomes unsafe to walk.

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There is a ruined building on the site but it’s not ancient.  It was probably associated with sulphur extraction many decades ago.

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Silhouettes in the steam.

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Darkness and light.

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The field once included 67 geysers and 300 hot springs.

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Geysers once reached 10 metres in height whereas now they are up to a metre.  Individual geysers are larger in New Zealand, Iceland and the US.

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Drilling for a hydrothermal energy project in 2009 caused a steam blowout 60 metres high that was not capped for a month.  The subsequent outcry led to the banning of such projects.

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In 2010, El Tatio was declared a protected area.

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