Chili: The driest desert in the world in full bloom.

Posted on October 29, 2015 by bill

Chili : le désert le plus aride du monde est en fleurs

Le désert de l’Atacama a pris des couleurs après d’intenses précipitations dans la région.                                                               The Atacama desert is full of colour after intense rain in the region.

Il est connu pour être le désert le plus aride de la planète. Pourtant, des centaines de milliers de fleurs roses ont poussé dans le désert de l’Atacama, au Chili, mercredi 28 octobre. Un phénomène qui survient seulement tous les cinq ou sept ans dans cette zone située à 750 km au nord de Santiago, la capitale chilienne. Surtout, il s’avère que la floraison en cours est la plus spectaculaire depuis 18 ans.

It is known as perhaps the most arid desert in the world. Yet, hundreds of millions of pink flowers have pushed up into the Atacama desert on 28 October. This phenomenon comes about every five to seven years in this area situated some 750 kms north of Santiago, the capital of Chili. Above all, it is proving that this floral burst is the most spectacular for 18 years. 

Ces fleurs sont apparues après des précipitations intenses. Et les médias locaux rapportent que quelque 200 espèces de fleurs spécifiques à la région sont visibles. Des fleurs avaient déjà refait leur apparition, en mai, après plusieurs jours de pluies diluviennes. Sauf que le paysage était verdoyant, les fleurs majoritairement blanches et non pas roses, et que le recouvrement était bien moindre.

These flowers appeared after intense precipitation. And local media reported that some 200 species of flowers specific to the region are visible. Flowers have already appeared in May, after several days of torrential rain. Except that the countryside was verdant with mainly white flowers and not pink coloured, and the coverage was much less.

Massive downpours in March gave parts of the desert its first taste of rain in almost seven years. Some areas got as much as seven years’ worth of rain in just 12 hours.

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About bill

Worked in the technical / engineering area as a Science Laboratory Technician and as an Aeronautics Engineer. The artistic side involves writing under the nom de plume of Billy Olsenn, his recently written play 'A Case of Wine' was staged by the players group Straight Make-Up at the 2012 Birr one act drama festival. It's next staging was in the one act circuit is in Cavan, at Maudebawn on Sat 10 Nov 2012. Then it was performed in the Bray, Co.Wicklow at the very popular one act festival in January 2013. Next play is FEAR. A dark tale about revenge on the cruel death of two pensioners by young thugs. Neighbours hatch a devious and dangerous plan to exact old-style revenge. Bill is a member of the Drama League of Ireland and his plays have been critically vetted and certified as original pieces of work by the DLI. Another literary project is that of commemoration of an aircraft crash on Djouce mountain in Wicklow in 1946. Bill wrote articles for the 50th, 60th and most recently the 70th anniversary, (12 Aug 2016) all were published in the Wicklow Times and ensured the survivors of the crash, all French Girl Guides, were not forgotten. Articles reproduced on this website. But mostly this site gives a more general European and specific French slant on popular and not so popular articles of French news, translated to English by the author. Each article is translated on a paragraph by paragraph basis so easy to read in either language and even possible to improve either language by comparison of the short English and French paragraphs. Amusez vous bien. The author is currently writing an easy to read technical aviation book centered around the Fokker 50. Another interest is that dealt with in another of Bill's websites www.realnamara.net, a Statue of the mother of God, Mary. It was erected in 1972 in Dublin, at the end of the Bull Wall near Clontarf, and my grandfather William Nelson, was the main instigator of that project. I give talks on the history of the statue and my grandfather's adventurous and dangerous life at sea. Technical assistance with each website is by J O'N.
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