The Atacama Desert in Chile is covered in flowers after unusual rainfall.
Why it is true
The Atacama is one of the driest deserts in the world. In years with exceptional rainfall, more than 200 species of annual plants and geophytes germinate, covering the arid soil with a blanket of colourful flowers. This phenomenon depends on the amount and timing of the rain.
Source: National Geographic
Would you rather be asked first?
This is the reading side of the site, so the answer is in the sentence above — that is the whole point of it. Test yourself works the other way round: the question comes on its own, and the fact and the explanation only appear once you have answered.
Related facts
The Darvaza gas crater, known as the 'Door to Hell', has been burning for over 50 years.
Welwitschia mirabilis, from the Namib Desert, can live more than a thousand years with just two leaves.
The Tree of Ténéré, in Niger, was the most isolated tree in the world until it was knocked down by a lorry in 1973.
A saguaro cactus can live more than 150 years and grow 12 metres tall.
