Las Vicunas National Reserve is a section of the Lauca Biosphere Reserve, located between Lauca National Park and Salar de Surire Natural Monument. 
Las Vicunas features large stretches of Andean steppe at heights well above 4000 meters.  

The reserve is named after the abundant population of wild Vicunas that roam the area and often graze together with domesticated camelids and sheep.
Active volcanoes dominate the landscape and shallow rivers and creeks crisscross the area, with the Rio Lauca and Rio Caullatire being the largest waterways.

Dirt roads like the A 235 from Putre provide 4WD access to this isolated reserve. 

There are a few pre-Columbian Aymara settlements like Ancuta and Guallatire, both sitting at the foothill of the conspicuously smoking Guallatire volcano.

Most houses here are uninhabited, the few locals that have not yet left for cities like Arica, carve out a living by breeding and herding llamas, alpacas and sheep.

We visited Las Vicunas on a cold but generally sunny September day in 2011.