Often mistakenly cited as the driest place on Earth, Chile's Atacama Desert isn't far off it. One of the world's strangest landscapes, its 40,000-square-mile-large expanse is defined by salt basins, red rocks, sand and soil so lifeless that NASA can carry out its Mars ground tests here. Although Atacama is very sparsely populated and living conditions aren't ideal, many species have made it home, including the Andean flamingos, living in the high-altitude salt flats.

Now check out the most mysterious places on Earth

These are the last unspoiled places on Earth