Chañaral                                      

www.Copiapoa.dk
Foto:  Finn Larsen
About 1000 kilometres north of Santiago you will find a small town with only 13.000 inhabitants named Chañaral. Today the  the old houses are an evidence of more wealthy industrial days in the past, when the town exported cupper and minerals to Europe. Chañaral names itself as "The gate to the desert of the Atacama" and is a good place to start 'hunting' Copiapoas. Actually it is possible to ride a bicycle or even walk from Chañaral to the closest plants even though it's  more comfortable to hail a local taxi or drive with Sr. José Luis who brings tourists around in the area. If he's not busy you may find José Luis in the morning when he will be around near the hotels to gather costumers or you may find him at the café just behind Pullmans bus-station.
When the cold Humboldt-current from the Antarctic passes the coast of northern Chile heavy dunes of daily fog (camanchaca) is created. The west wind brings daily fog dunes to the shore of the northern parts of Chile all the year round. The fog brings some humidity to the areas near the coast but not enough to measure it as rain. Rain  may occur rarely - with years' interval under  influence of the El Niño effect.

The shown species of Copiapoas are all found north of Chañaral on the mountain plateau and along the road to the national park  'Pan de Azúcar.







Copiapoa cinerascens Copiapoa cinerascens Copiapoa cinerascens Copiapoa cinerascens Copiapoa cinerascens
  Copiapoa cinerascens   Copiapoa cinerascens  Copiapoa
cinerascens
Copiapoa cinerascens
Copiapoa cinerascens
Copiapoa cinerascens Copiapoa cinerascens Copiapoa serpentisulcata Copiapoa serpentisulcata Copiapoa serpentisulcata
Copiapoa cinerascens  Copiapoa cinerascens Copiapoa serpentisulcata Copiapoa serpentisulcata Copiapoa serpentisulcata 
Copiapoa serpentisulcata Copiapoa serpentisulcata Copiapoa bridgesii Copiapoa bridgesii Copiapoa bridgesii
Copiapoa serpentisulcata    Copiapoa serpentisulcata
 Copiapoa
bridgesii

Copiapoa
bridgesii

Copiapoa
bridgesii




Copiapoa bridgesii
Map of Chile
 

Copiapoa
bridgesii
 Map of Chile

This Copiapoa page is valid HTML 4.0 Transitional