If water is life, then you’ll find the absence of both in the lip-chapping dry area of Salar de Uyuni. The famous salt flats nearby Uyuni were created when a prehistoric lake dried up and left a very salty crust behind. With its 10,582 square kilometers (4,085 square miles) it’s also the largest salt flat in the world.
When it rains, the sceneries become even more spectacular as the salty crust becomes a giant mirror. As we were at the end of the raining season (end of April), we experienced that a bit during sunset.
For many adventure lovers, the Salar de Uyuni is the sole reason for planning a trip to Bolivia. I guess everyone over there wants to take those funny pictures on the salt flats. But many, including myself, may be surprised that apart from the salty, white crusty terrain, the desert to stretches all the way to Chile in the west and south has so much more to offer. The diversity and the colours just keep on changing, and once you’ve left the white plains, amazingly enough you can even find a lot of nature and wildlife.
Take Isla Incahausi for example, a rock-filled hilly island in the middle of the salt flats, dotted with with gigantic cacti that are hundreds of years old. Or wander around the Uyuni Train Cemetery, a forsaken train station that was once the bustling distribution hub for minerals to Chile. Drive through the surreal Salvador Dalí desert, famous for its unlikely shaped rocks. Or visit the Laguna Colorado, where the redness of the lake is caused by algae and changes as the wind blows. Be stunned in between by the flamboyance (a group of flamingo’s – great word isn’t it :)), the small ostriches running on the plains (when you think you’ve seen it all), and the occasional wild Andean desert fox or cute chinchilla.
After our 3-day tour my shoes and bag were covered in bleaching salty crusts – but it was all so worth it. The solitude one find in these vast kind of desert spaces just has a humbling effect. To attest that, have a look below!
