Bolivian Salt Flats, Salar de Uyuni-entrancing! (Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia))

Member Name: llamass

Product:	Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia)
Date:	22/05/09 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: stunning scenery

Disadvantages: arranged tours mean little personal choice, many hours of driving in a jeep between sites

Salar de Uyuni, the salt flats of Uyuni is some of the most impressive and unusual scenery I have seen in a long time travelling. It is virtually impossible to see the salar without joining a tour, unless you have your own transport, equipment and possibly backup team too, so most people join a tour group in Uyuni. Many tours leave every day from the town and it is cheaper to book on the spot rather than in advance from La Paz or abroad. The most common tour is for 2 nights, 3 days and cover the salt flats and the lagoons and geisers of south-east Bolivia although since the salt flats are only visited for one day it is also possible to see them on a simpler one day tour. It seems a little pointless to come all the way here without seeing all the sites available though so doing the full 3 days is recommended.

Starting from Uyuni most jeeps wind through a few minor sites such as the train cemetery before arriving out to the salt. This is the main attraction of the trip and it doesn't fail to amaze-seemingsly endless kilometres of flat crystal salt with it's characteristic hexagonal pattern stretching out in every direction. Personally the tour during the wet season (december to april) was for me even more impressive because the salt is covered with a layer of water that reflects the sky-never before or since have I felt like I was just floating in a white sky as the sky and land are indistinguishable.

On the second and third days the tours go past many coloured lakes, volcanos and spectacular lunar scenery up to the hot springs and geisers on the last morning. Whilst fascinating, I have to admit nothing could match up to the first day on the salt flats for me although the whole trip takes in unusual views and is well worth going for.

A few things to bear in mind if going on this trip; firstly, it gets really cold at night so bring warm clothing. Secondly, the altitude ranges from about 3500 up to almost 5000 metres so try to acclimitize for a few days before starting out or you may spend the trip fighting with altitude sickness. Even being used to altitude it is still breathless especially near 5000 metres. The food provided is usually edible but basic and there are a lot of hours of driving between the sites where biscuits, chocolate and other snacks are appreciated so bring some from Uyuni. Finally, sunglasses for the salt flats are important as the sun, high altitude and white salt reflecting the light mean that snow blindness is a real danger.

Summary: well worth the trip