Puritama Conservation Reserve

As philanthropy often fades in the long run, we start a venture that joins the virtues of business enterprise and non-profit commitment. The design enables us to expand and accelerate conservation as well as project it in perpetuity.

The reserves’ territory retains 95% of its area only to exploration and conservation, while the remaining 5% is subject to developments that include tourism, real state, research, and education.

Serving its millenary role as an oasis for both animals and humans, Puritama’s Reserve offers a unique area to explore and relax. The river gently runs down through the fertile canyon, forming terraces of hot springs, where travelers and visitors can indulge themselves after hiking. The Reserve will host a Conservation Center designed to be a meeting point for park rangers, guides, volunteers, owners, travelers, and researchers. It is ment to be a living space where visitors can
learn about nature, history, and conservation projects -and their results-, in close contact with local communities and the testimonies of their old way of life.

A wide range of explorations will be available: both led by our guides with their distinctive training and knowledge, along with self-guided trails with exploration and conservation content supported by technology.

We welcome you all to explore and conserve the world unique. We invite you to join our Reserves, where you can participate as an owner, traveler, researcher, visitor, volunteer, or intern. We welcome you all, to explore and conserve the world unique.

We invite you to learn more about this project here.

The Puritama Conservation Reserve is located approximately 60 km north of the town of San Pedro de Atacama between the Altiplano and the Atacama Desert of the Antofagasta Region.

It is an oasis in one of the world’s aridest regions, where water could be extremely scarce and the land received one of the sun’s highest radiations recorded on earth.
Almost in their entirety, the Puritama and Puripica ravines are part of the intermediate gorges of the rhyolitic plateau ecozone. In Puritama, however, the narrow route connecting to the Jorquencal ravine establishes a direct connection with the high puna.
The Puritama River originates from a geothermal source near the center of the reserve, feeding into the Puritama hot springs. The area also includes part of the Puripica River, which converges with the Puritama River near Guatín. The area has a marginal, high altitude climate with low relative humidity and wide-ranging temperatures from day to night. Between July and August, the rivers freeze at night and thaw during the day. They swell from tropical rains during the austral summer months, mainly between January and March. Also, strong southwest winds can reach 100 km/h. The winds, which are especially strong between September and November, carry fine sediment and are a significant force of erosion.

The geographical conditions serve as a biological advantage, giving life to many species of the Andean Region.

Flora: The geographical conditions serve as a biological advantage, giving life to many species of the Andean Region. The Reserve locates at an altitude ranging from 3,700 to 4,200 meters above sea level, affecting oxygen availability and solar radiation, which influences photosynthesis and plant growth. Within the Reserve, and specifically in the ravines, plants depend on the availability of water, minerals and solar energy for their development and growth. Puritama Conservation Reserve distinct conditions of topography, altitude, substrate type, and macro and microclimate influence the development, physiological and morphological adaptations of the flora. First, topography is heterogeneous, with as many flat areas as gentle hillsides and steep slopes from deep ravines. For example, in a single canyon, the directional exposure of a hill can create substantial differences in vegetation—the northern slope (in the southern hemisphere) is more likely to be drier due to receiving a higher amount of solar radiation. Therefore, the species inhabiting northern slopes, such as cacti, are better adapted to extreme dryness. Second, different types of substrates affect the availability of nutrients and, consequently, root development.

They photosynthesize more efficiently. To reduce excessive water loss, they have a smaller leaf surface and modified leaf structure—in some cases, leaves are entirely absent or replaced by spines, with photosynthesis occurring in the stem. Other species may develop a thick cuticle or scales on their leaves and stems to create a microclimate around the plant tissue and avoid desiccation. Others close their stomata during the day, keeping them open only at night. Seeds can develop a hard covering or contain substances that impede germination in adverse conditions. The arrival of rain is a signal to germinate and complete the plant’s biological cycle.

Fauna: The fauna of the Altiplano ecoregion is among the richest and most varied in the country. The Puritama Conservation Reserve is a faithful example of this richness, containing a high diversity of species, well-adapted to the extreme conditions of temperature and aridity in the area, making this Reserve a unique place. Because of its diverse environments, is home to many birds, with about the same number of diurnal species as nocturnal. Recent surveys detected nearly 30 species from 10 orders and 15 families. The order most represented is Passeriformes (songbirds) and its families of Thraupidae (yellow finches and sierra finches) with seven species, and Furnariidae (earth readers, tit-spinetail, etc.) with five species.
Also, amphibians and reptiles can be spotted mainly in the river and hot spring areas. The presence of lizards such as the Liolaemus constanzae is now joint by new species that we have temporarily given the name of Lioalemus puritamensis.
The Puritama study also identified many mammals, some of them thriving in this rich and diverse ecosystem. Many species of common rodents are present, as well as some signature animals of the region like the guanaco (Lama guanicoe,) zorro culpeo (Lycalopex culpaeus) and vizcacha ( Lagidium viscacia). Within the feline family, there’s a strong presence of puma (Puma Concolor) and, of course, the “sacred feline” Andean cat (Leopardus jacobita), one of the most important and recognizable endangered species of South America

The study area belongs to Chile’s “Norte Grande” (Far North). Formed by diverse ecozones located at different altitudes, it has a different set of natural resources that complement each other. Indeed, the economic necessity to supplement available resources has been a driving force behind the human displacement and migration in this region. Therefore, understanding past and present populations require considering each ecozone by itself and concerning the others. In the high puna, the low temperatures offset higher precipitation to inhibit vegetation growth during winter, making plant resources available only during the summer months. Together these conditions have helped shape a pattern of human settlement in which populations concentrate in the intermediate rhyolitic plateau; the foothill oases and the vegas (wet meadows) found at the edges of the Salar de Atacama, and seasonally in more extreme ecozone levels.

For the Atacama people—or likan-antai—the Kimal, Lascar, Licancabur and Juriques mountains are sacred; the volcanoes are men and the mountains are women.

Thousands of years ago, Licancabur fell in love with Kimal, and they married. However, Juriques—Licancabur’s younger brother—also fell in love with Kimal. He courted and pursued her for so long that Kimal finally surrendered to his charm. Betraying Licancabur, she loved Juriques in secret. Lascar, the father of both volcanoes and “great lord of the mountains”, discovered what was happening and punished Juriques for his betrayal by making his peak explode with a ball of fire, leaving him in his present form with a plateau for a top. Kimal received punishment by exile, confined over 100 km southward in the other extreme of Atacama’s salt flat. Today, is easy to see from San Pedro the upright Licancabur and the headless Juriques by his side, separated by a vast, barren flatland where Kimal should be. Instead, she is on the other side of the salt flat, crowning the Domeyko range with her majestic height.
However, every winter solstice, on June 29 in the early morning, Licancabur’s shadow stretches out more than 100 km and his cone touches Kimal’s peak, demonstrating his everlasting love despite the years and distance that separate them. This story of Lincancabur and Kimal —one of the most important myths of the region— is thought to be responsible for the fertility of the Atacama salt flat. The winter solstice also coincides with the celebration (since colonial times) of San Pedro, the patron saint of the town, as the end of one agricultural cycle and the beginning of a new one.