One of Bolivia’s biggest tourism drawcards is the Salt Flats or Salar de Uyuni, and after visiting it’s easy to see why.
Salar de Uyuni is the biggest salt flat in the world, at a size of more than 10,500km², which means you’ll never be able to see all the edges from one viewpoint.
In fact, in the few hours we were there I’m pretty sure we only saw a small corner of the area.
Being in the salt flats is like walking in the clouds
Bolivians mine the salt, but interestingly this isn’t the biggest mineral taken from Salar de Uyuni – the salt flats actually hold between 50-70% of the world’s lithium.
Once again, like what we discovered during the mining tour in Potosi, is that Bolivia is rich in resources. This is ultimately confusing because the country is poor. It’s no wonder Bolivia has been described as ‘a pauper laying on a bed of gold’.
We were lucky enough to visit Salar de Uyuni in the rainy season (end of January) which meant there was a thin layer of water on the salt, creating a mirrored effect.
Thanks to the water on the salt flats it was hard to see where the sky ended and the land began
But don’t be mistaken – it hardly rains in the salt flats. The vast sky is shockingly blue and the pure white of the salt creates a blinding light that makes you feel as though you’re walking in the clouds.
And of course, the best part about the salt being so flat and the sky being so blue is that it can create some brilliant perspectives for photographs…
Photo essay: The salt flats of Uyuni, Bolivia
We played about for a good hour, taking funny perspective photos.
We had lunch in the salt hotel where everything is made from salt, including the tables and chairs.
Even though it was busy with quite a bit of traffic, it was still peaceful to be out on the salt flats.
The last photo we took was a re-enactment of our wedding photo. What do you think?
Have you been to the Salt Flats? What crazy photos did you take?
Pingback: What we’ve learnt from a year of travel - Double Barrelled Travel