(Bolivia) - Salar de Uyuni: A Mirror That Reflects The Sky

Salar de Uyuni is with its 10,580 km² (4,084 square miles) the world's largest salt flat. It is an arid, windswept salt flat in southwestern Bolivia. It lies on the Altiplano, at 3656 m (11,995 f) above sea level. Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt of which less than 25,000 tons is extracted annually. The major minerals found in the salar are halite and gypsum. The salt is over 10 meters thick in the center. In the dry season, the salt planes are a completely flat expanse of dry salt giving it a appearance of frozen arctic sea, but in the wet season (November-April), it is covered with a thin sheet of water of varying depth. It is surrounded by volcanoes of which the Mt. Tumupa at the northern shore is the most dominating. There are also several so-called islands which provide spectacular scenery, two of the most famous ones are Fish Island (Isla Cujiri) and Fishermens Island (Isla Inkawasi).

Salar de Uyuni - Bolivia

It is a place where the salt flats reflect the sky. It is the world’s largest mirror created by more than 4,000 square miles in the “Potosí and Oruro departments in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes.”

And it is breathtaking. Salar de Uyuni is a place where nature rules majestically and reflects snow-covered mountains which reflect off the salt covered in water. During the dry season, salt lies the area but when the rains come, it is the gods’ mirror of exquisite and finite grace and elegance.

Salar de Uyuni - Bolivia

How to get there

Rail from Oruro, Bolivia

Bus (including a tourist bus) from Oruro, Potosi, or La Paz, Bolivia.

Salar de Uyuni - Bolivia

(Bolivia Experience, Stumbleupon and Wiki)