RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The starting point to get to know the great Adunado Desert is the town of Villa Nihuil, 80 kilometers from San Rafael (Mendoza), which has some basic services to take care of you. The journey begins there after crossing the imposing Garganta del Diablo (Devil’s Mouth), where the water flowing through the rocks has formed canyons that mark the beauty of a void.
In the next kilometers, the aridity increases and slopes with irregularities appear, announcing a unique geography: the Nihuil Dunes, a landscape composed of several layers of volcanic sand that extends over 30,000 hectares. The hills are so steep that they reach a height of 200 meters; from there you can see the volcanic peaks of La Payunia, El Nihuil dam and El Nevado volcano.
Read also: Check out our coverage on Argentina
These elevations are hidden in a desert of 30,000 hectares, which is not so easy to reach on your own: it is essential to do it in suitable vehicles and accompanied by guides who know the area.
To enter this desert, it is necessary to hire expert guides who are familiar with its sharp edges and rounded corners, as well as its volatility. Only with four-wheel drive trucks, dirt bikes or ATVs prepared for driving on sand – the tires must be deflated to find grip and hold – is it possible to surf the high ridges of the dunes, as the Dakar Rally drivers did in one of their editions. It also avoids damage to a particularly fragile ecosystem. Since we are in a wind corridor, the track is blurred and the environment is reshaped every day.
The wind is constantly shaping the surface and you can perceive subtle changes that give the feeling of being in a hallucination.
With an engine speed of 3,500 rpm and a top speed of 60 km/h that feels like 220 km/h, the vehicle climbs, descends and glides in a dizzying sequence that creates a sweet sensation of vertigo. There is also the possibility to test the balance in direct contact with the sand with sleds and sandboards.
With information from La Nacion