Heavy rains awaken a hidden world beneath Chile’s Atacama Desert : NPR

COPIAPÓ, Chile — A vast swathe of Chile’s Atacama Desert is now a patchwork of pinks, yellows, lilacs and purples stretching across the craggy desert floor as far as the eye can see.

This winter, heavy rains brought by the El Niño super cycle caused flash floods in the Atacama Desert, with some areas receiving the heaviest rainfall since records began in the 1950s.

Floodwaters in July and August destroyed or damaged dozens of homes, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate.

A field of wildflowers blooms across Chile’s Atacama Desert during the rare flowering phenomenon known as Desierto Florido, or Desert Bloom, triggered by unusually heavy rainfall that awakens dormant seeds. The brief blooms transform the world’s driest nonpolar desert into a landscape of pink, purple, yellow and white. Huasco, Chile, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026.

Tamara Merino for NPR

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But the floral bloom that followed has been the largest and most colorful in 30 years — and perhaps ever.

The rainwater penetrated deeper into the parched ground than it has in decades, allowing millions of seeds, bulbs and tubers to sprout above the surface. Many had lain dormant for decades under the sand.

More than 200 species are in flower. A month ago, the first plants to emerge created a pale-yellow haze. This was followed by a soft purple hue as other bulbs germinated. Now, almost every indentation and crevice in the desert is streaked with color.

Scientists studying the phenomenon say there are patches of desert in bloom where flowers have never previously been recorded, suggesting that bulbs have remained dormant there since before the phenomenon was first studied in detail in 1997.

Moisés Grimberg has served as the administrator of Llanos de Challe National Park for the past three years and has worked in protected area management for 18 years. His work focuses on protecting the flora, fauna, and fragile ecosystems of the coastal desert near Huasco, Chile, while also managing the influx of tourists during the rare flowering desert phenomenon, known locally as the Desierto Florido. Huasco, Chile, on Monday October 19, 2026. Tamara Merino for NPR.

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“This is a natural seed bank, a dormant archive that becomes a living one with the rains,” says Moisés Grimberg, the administrator of Llanos de Challe National Park.

“But it’s a race against time — this brief biological window allows these species to complete their life cycle, which lasts roughly two to three months.”

Llanos de Challe is a 113,000-acre national park along the arid coastline, where waves lap at pristine white sand beaches.

Grimberg says the park normally receives about 10,000 visitors a year. But with the desert in bloom, 15,000 tourists have visited over the last few weeks alone.

Across the desert, the roads are lined with tourists’ cars. According to Chile’s national tourism board, the region is expected to see around 300,000 overnight trips during the two months the desert is in bloom.

Among the star attractions are the nectar-filled, crimson flowers of the garra de león, with their long tails of flame-like green leaves. This endemic flower is coaxed out of dormancy by the rains and grows along just a few miles of this stretch of coastline in the Atacama Desert — nowhere else in the world.

A Garra de León flower blooms in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile during the rare flowering desert phenomenon, known locally as the Desierto Florido. This striking native flower is known for its vibrant red petals and is one of the region’s rare and emblematic desert species. Canto del Agua, Chile, on Tuesday October 20, 2026. Tamara Merino for NPR.

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This bloom occurs every few years in what is the driest nonpolar desert on Earth. But scientists say the phenomenon is becoming more frequent as changes in the climate bring unseasonal rains.