Atacama desert is in Chile, climate is comparable to Southern California but it is even drier.
Typical for here is: high UV index, hot temperatures, only tiny amounts of rain (a few minutes of drizzle each 5 years or less is typical), and for this reason the lack of almost all lifeforms.
Attached are photos from where I took parts of the sand, and a bit of the overall landscape.
Lifeforms here basically concentrate at the coast (plenty; Humboldt current makes ocean life and what depends on it like sea birds abundant), and are almost missing in the desert - only some microbes can be found, but rarely (for this reason they are studied very much, as examples of hidden lifeforms surviving in harsh conditions, seen as model organisms of what might be found on other planets), and there are grey seagulls who nest 40 - 100 km away from the shore in the desert (eggs and chicks left alone during day, hidden behind stones to be kept in the shadow as far as possible; they do it as they benefit from the nonexistence of predators out there).
Desert landscapes can for sure be fascinating. But as I come from a place with plenty of forests, I really miss all the forest-and-plant things as here there is really nothing out in the desert, not even cacti (but those can be found at some higher elevation where there are then also a few animal species, such as reptiles, a few insects, and some mammal species similar to rabbits and llamas).
I finally went with this !
