The Altiplano (the high plain), located in west-central South America, where the Andes are at their widest, is the most extensive area of high plateau on Earth outside of Tibet. Its bulk lies within Bolivian and Peruvian territory while its southern parts lie in Chile and Argentina. Dominated by massive active volcanoes of the Central Volcanic Zone to the west, and the Cordillera Real in the north east, it has a height averages about 3,750m. The part which belongs to Chile and Argentina, arid and bleak, is known as the Puna de Atacama. The Central Andean dry puna, part of the Puna grassland, has a cold desert climate, its flora being dominated by species of the genera Stipa and Festuca.
Read more »