Valeria Heindl

Valeria Heindl is a naturalist, birding guide and conservationist based in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Born in Salta, Argentina, she has lived in the Atacama Desert for more than eleven years. Her guiding connects desert oases and canyons with the Atacama Salt Flat and high Altiplano wetlands. She offers private full-day and half-day birding outings for two to three participants, as well as itineraries tailored to individual birding interests. Her fieldwork includes flamingo and shorebird surveys, Diademed Sandpiper-Plover surveys, a Horned Coot census with CONAF and raptor monitoring in Moon Valley. She has undertaken training in bird physiology, pelagic birds, shorebird conservation, raptor identification and wildlife photography. Alongside birds, her interests include desert geology, endemic plants, astronomy and photography. She has also developed tourism education modules for local high-school students.