BOLIVIA

SALAR DE UYUNI

SOUTH AMERICA, BOLIVIA, ALTIPLANO, POTOSI

Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat, located in Bolivia. Photographers flock here to capture the unique landscape. It is often visited as part of a 3 or 4 day tour to South West Bolivia.

Salar de Uyuni comprises over 10,000 square km in the Potosi region. It is located in the Potosi and Oruro departments in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes and is at an elevation of 3,656 meters (11,995 ft) above mean sea level. The salt is over 10 meters thick in the centre. In the dry season, the salt plains are a completely flat expanse of dry salt, but in the wet season, it is covered with a thin sheet of water that is still drivable.

The Salar was formed as a result of transformation between several prehistoric lakes. It is covered by a few meters of salt crust, which has an extraordinary flatness with the average altitude variations within one meter over the entire area of the Salar. The crust serves as a source of salt and covers a pool of brine, which is exceptionally rich in lithium. It contains 50 to 70% of the world's lithium reserves, which is in the process of being extracted. The large area, clear skies, and the exceptional flatness of the surface make the Salar an ideal object for calibrating the altimeters of Earth observation satellites.

The Salar serves as the major transport route across the Bolivian Altiplano and is a major breeding ground for several species of pink flamingos. Salar de Uyuni is also a climatological transitional zone since the towering tropical cumulus congestus and cumulus incus clouds that form in the eastern part of the salt flat during the summer cannot permeate beyond its dries western edges, near the Chilean border and the Atacama Desert.

The standard tour heads south toward the southwest corner of Bolivia, by many fluorescent-coloured lakes that are created from a collection of different minerals from runoff from the surrounding mountains.

TOUR BACKGROUND

The tour is conducted in 4x4 vehicles (usually Toyota Landcruisers) with 6 or 7 people, with the driver often times cooking. Most 3 and 4 day tours have the same itinerary for the first 1 1/2 days, a day on the salt plains, then heading south to the southwest corner of Bolivia, and then splitting off from there. The specific sites that are seen can be dependent on the tour, but group input can define which sites are visited and how much time will be spent at each.

Accommodation is usually provided in basic refuges and the weather can be very cold, but it is well worth it for the amazing scenery. Avoid tours that offer a night in one of the salt hotels- they are illegal as, not being part of the water grid, they pollute the environment.

TOURISM AT SALAR DE UYUNI

Salar de Uyuni attracts tourists from around the world. As it is located far from the cities, a number of hotels have been built in the area.

One major tourist attraction is an antique train cemetery. It is 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) outside Uyuni and is connected to it by the old train tracks. The town served in the past as a distribution hub for the trains carrying minerals en route to Pacific Ocean ports. The rails lines were build by British engineers arriving near the end of the 19th century and formed a sizeable community in Uyuni. 

ACTIVITIES AT SALAR DE UYUNI

1. Colchani, Bloques de Sal is a village 7 kilometers north of Uyuni that survives off of the processing of salt. Salt souvenirs are available, a salt museum that has carvings of animals created with salt and some examples of furniture and home-building technique using salt.

2. Salt- Mining Area is an area where salt is dug from the plane into piles weighing a ton each, and left to dry in the sun before transport to a refinery.

3. Laguna Hedionda and Laguna Colorada is a lagoon full of flamingos and a popular spot for lunch for the tourist. Laguna Colorada is a lake coloured red by the algae that live in it.

4. Solar de Manana geyser basin is a collection of bubbling sulfur pools and a geyser, normally visited just as the sun is rising. There are no railings here, the ground can be slippery and cave in, and the water looks hot.

5. Termas de Polques hot springs is an adjacent to Salar de Chalviri that bring something to swim in if you want to enjoy the hot springs. This spot is popular for breakfast among the tourist.