Every few years in spring, if there is above average rainfall, the southern part of Chile's Atacama Desert (the world's driest desert) bursts into flower, a natural phenomenon known locally as El Desierto Florido or El Desierto Floreciendo. Many of the flower and cacti species are endemic to the region and only flower when this event occurs. Llanos de Challe National Park (on the coast to the north of Huasco) is a good area to see this spectacle though it occurs across an extensive area roughly from Vallenar northwards through Copiapo / Caldera towards Chañaral; some years the blooms are more extensive than others. After a particularly large superbloom event in 2023 the Chilean government created a new Desierto Florido National Park in Copiapó Province to protect a larger area of land where flowering regularly occurs.