Laguna Chaxa
The route continues south on the Ruta 23, then cuts west on the B-39 into the Soncor sector of the Los Flamencos National Reserve. Laguna Chaxa is the reserve's most accessible flamingo site, managed jointly by CONAF and the Atacameño community of Toconao since the reserve's establishment in 1990. At 2,300 metres elevation and set within a mosaic of interconnected salt pools, Chaxa is one of the few places in the world where all three Chilean flamingo species — the Chilean, the Andean, and James's — can be observed in one place. The Andean flamingo, despite being globally rare, is the most numerous here; Chaxa is its most significant nesting site in Chile. A marked loop trail of roughly 400 metres winds along the lagoon edge, offering close views without disturbing the birds. The salt crust underfoot glistens; the volcanoes sit behind; the flamingos move through the shallows with the unhurried deliberateness of birds that have nowhere else to be. Allow an hour.