11/9/2023 0 Comments Reflection lake bolivia![]() ![]() ![]() Riddle me this: how do you fit an average-sized human on the end of a spoon? Simple – go to Salar de Uyuni (it’s a lot easier than finding a giant spoon).Photo by Jess Kraft, Shutterstock Photo tips Food and water is provided with a tour, but it’s always a good idea to have a little something extra to nibble on. Some tours don’t include entrance to the national parks or islands in their price, either, so make sure you’ve got enough Bolivianos with you A little cash, in case you want to use the bathrooms in Colchani or buy a salty llama statue.Torch (or ‘flashlight’, for our North American friends).Bathers and towel, in case you stop by some hot springs for a dip.Warm sleeping bag (you can usually rent one with your tour).At night, it gets cold, especially from May through November Flip flops, or an extra pair of shoes you don’t mind getting wet.Sunglasses and hat, to keep off the glare lip balm to protect from windburn.Due to the high altitude, the air is clear and UV can be high.A camera (obviously), as well as extra batteries.If you can, plan to spend a few days in La Paz to acclimatize beforehand. When planning a trip to the salt flats, it’s important to remember that as they sit at over 3,650 metres above sea level, some people can suffer from altitude sickness. Unlike most tour companies, some of our trips visit the Coquesa Caves at the foot of the Tunupa Volcano, which are home to ancient ceramics and a mysterious family of millennia-old mummies. Intrepid offer a range of trips across the salt flats, both as short, dedicated tours and as part of our greater Bolivia and South America adventures. Keep an eye – and your camera – out for llamas, flamingos, vicunas and foxes. Over the next few days you’ll head into the Andean Desert to see coral-like rock formations, geysers, hot springs and milky mineral lakes. You’ll spend most of the first day on the vast Salar, passing salt-mines and visiting Isla Wasi, a rocky, cactus-covered island erupting from the endless expanse of salt crust like a hallucination. RELATED: BEYOND SALAR DE UYUNI – 5 GREAT THINGS TO DO IN BOLIVIA What’s covered?įor tours departing from Uyuni, your first stop is usually the ‘train cemetery’, where families of geriatric locomotives rust slowly in the sun. And while it may seem obvious, double check that they’ll be speaking a language you understand! Make sure you know what is and isn’t included, that your vehicle is equipped with seatbelts, emergency radio transmitters and a first aid kit, and that your guide and driver have the proper qualifications. There are heaps of tours to choose from, especially in Uyuni (where you’ll be swamped on arrival by touts), but some are safer and run more efficiently than others. Another way to experience it is to start in the backpacker hamlet of San Pedro de Atacama in Chile – great if you’re travelling north, rather than south – but you’ll pay more for pretty much the same itinerary. The starting point for most tours is the dusty Bolivian town of Uyuni, but you can also leave out of Tupiza (although expect an extra day of travel if you go for this option). Avoid tours that spend a night in a ‘salt hotel’ (yep, hotels made of salt), as these run off the water grid and pollute the local environment. The price should include a driver, guide and cook (often combined into one very talented human), food, transport and basic dormitory-style accommodation. While it’s possible to do day tours across the salt flats, most trips run for three or four days and head deeper into the Altiplano. One of the best ways to truly experience the Salar is on a guided 4WD tour with six or seven other people. RELATED: 10 REASONS WHY BOLIVIA NEEDS TO BE ON YOUR BUCKET LIST What’s the best way to see it? The surreal, sparsely populated landscapes of the region have become one of Bolivia’s biggest draw cards, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. Surrounding the Salar are other natural wonders of the Altiplano – belching volcanoes, steaming hot springs and snow-capped mountains. ![]() Beneath the thick salt crust are huge reserves of lithium-rich brine in fact, around 70 per cent of the world’s lithium is mined here. It was formed when Lago Minchin – a prehistoric lake once covering the majority of southwest Bolivia – dried up. Taking up an area of over 10,000 square kilometres, and heaving with around 11 billion tonnes of salt, Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat. Photo by Rachael Christie Soooo, what is it? ![]()
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