best viewed at original size

Parque Nacional Lauca is one of those extra-special places and one I’d make a bee-line for again if I had a chance.
My photos can’t convey how special it is – had just a few hours fatigued by altitude sickness and with a travel companion who was badly affected – a magical roof-of-the-world place of lakes, volcanoes, snow, arid tussock-grasslands and alpine springs, of giant waterfowl that only occur at very high elevation, of flamingos, finches and viscachas.
The latter are chinchillids – large rodents – that live in rock piles and were remarkably approachable.