Across the world’s largest salt-flat (Salar de Uyuni) into Bolivia

After our stay in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, we headed off on a 3-day tour that would take us out of Chile, and across the border into Bolivia, where we planned to spend the next month or so. On the way, we would visit the deserts, volcanoes, and lakes of the Bolivian Altiplano, and the largest salt flats in the world, the Salar de Uyuni. 

Leigh in a cold windy spot in front of the Licancabur Volcano on the border between Chile and Bolivia

The border is in the far north of Chile, and is marked by the presence of the active Licancabur Volcano, which stands proudly in the windy nether-regions between Chile and Bolivia.

Our tour across the border and beyond, was bought online from New Zealand, so it was a bit hit and miss. However, we visited the tour company, Cordillera Travel, while in San Pedro de Atacama, and they were very helpful. 

On tour day, Cordillera picked us up from our San Pedro hotel at 8 am, and drove us to Chilean customs where we were stamped out of Chile.

Us combating the strong desert winds while waiting at the Bolivian border

Driving another hour or so, took us to the Bolivian border where we were dropped in an extremely cold windy spot, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. We were told to join a queue lining up at a tiny, roughcast concrete box building, which turned out to be Bolivian Customs.

Eventually, we paid our Bolivianos and got a stamp in our passport that let us into Bolivia (no visas needed).

We were then joined by other people who were on the same tour, and split into groups to ride in three 4-wheel-drive vehicles (4WD). We shared our 4WD with three young German women; all university students. 

With our desert transport and driver/guide Izak, at Bolivian border control

Our driver/tour guide was Izak, a Bolivian who spoke no English. Luckily for us, our three German companions spoke Spanish with some English so were able to help us understand Izak's commentary.

Our luggage was put on the roof under a tarpaulin, alongside several big containers of petrol (no petrol stations in this remote part of the world), and we piled aboard to start our adventure.

Finally, we drove off in convoy into this most isolated of places. But it turned out that this was the last we would see of the other 4WDs until we joined them again at the overnight accommodation. We had the desert and the remoteness, all to ourselves.

Laguna Blanca (White Lake), Bolivian Altiplano

Before long, we arrived at Laguna Blanca (White Lake). The Laguna gets its name from the white look created by the high amount of minerals suspended in the water. It was hauntingly still and beautiful.

We were on the Bolivian Altiplano, the high plateau of the central Andes Mountains, that spreads across western Bolivia, northern Chile, northern Argentina, and southern Peru. It is a continuation of the same high altitude plateau as we'd been on a few days ago in the Atacama Desert in Chile. 

At an average of 3,750 metres above sea level, it's the second highest plateau in the world after Tibet. But we would be getting up to around 5,000 metres above sea level in some places, and that's as high as the Mt Everest base camp - very high! 

Marg at Laguna Verde, Bolivian Altiplano

The Altiplano is characterized by huge active volcanoes, many of which include lagunas (lakes) as part of the landscape, and so our next stop was at another lake called Laguna Verde (Green Lake). It sits at the base of the Licancabur Volcano, and is quite a stunner. 

This lake is also full of minerals, but of a different type to those in Laguna Blanca; these ones turn the water various shades of green.

Next, we were driving through the Dali Desert. Its name stems from its similarity to paintings by Salvador Dali. It seems that Dali himself never visited it, but you can see the resemblance in Dali's use of colour and desert sands in his works.

Vehicle travelling toward the beautiful mountains of the Dali Desert, Bolivian Altiplano

This desert is an amazing landscape of stony red sand, surrounded by bare hills, volcanoes, and giant volcanic rocks, all showing a stunning array of pastel colours. 

We stopped next at the Termas de Poloques, some thermal springs with very hot water. The folks we travelled with went for a dip in the hot water pool of the springs.

We chose not to have a dip - while it would have been lovely and warm in the water, the air out of it was absolutely freezing, and it would have felt even colder after a warm bath.

Vicuña at Termas de Poloques, Bolivian Altiplano

Instead, we took a walk around the many hot but shallow springs where we saw small herds of dainty vicuña. These are the animals from which historically, llamas and alpacas were originally bred.

Vicuña wool is very expensive because the animals have to be caught in the wild, and can only be shorn every three years. They were almost hunted to extinction in Victorian times so we felt privileged to see them.

At this stage, the desert wind was making our eyes stream and noses run, and the high altitude meant that our lungs were heaving every time we walked anywhere, so we headed back to the 4WD ready to move on.

Geyser at Sol de Mañana, 4,900m above sea level, Bolivian Altiplano

Not far from the thermal pools, we stopped at Sol de Mañana, an active geothermal field sitting at a high 4,900 metres above sea level and extending over 10 sq km. There is plenty of volcanic activity here, with many geysers, sulphur springs, mud lakes, boiling mud, and steam pools. 

Then, after a day of fantastic sights, we came across one that became a highlight for us – Laguna Colorado (Red Lake). This is a shallow salt lake (less than 1 metre deep), coloured by red algae, and scattered with mounds of white borax. 

At Laguna Colorado with flamingos, Bolivian Altiplano 

Sitting at 4,370 metres above sea level, this lagoon is the main nesting place for more than 30,000 flamingos of 3 different species. They were a stunning sight, wading through the coloured water as they fed.

Their colours were quite beautiful in different shades of pink. As with the flamingos we saw in the Atacama Desert last week, they get their pink colour from eating the red algae and plankton in the water.

But it was bitterly cold and windy. We were snug inside our 4WD, however, every time we stopped to view a sight, we emerged wrapped in puffer jackets, scarfs, hats, and gloves, looking like the tubby Michelin tyre man.

Llamas at Laguna Colorado, Bolivian Altiplano 

However, the scenery more than made up for the cold. It was spectacular; with soft red and brown in the mountains, and deep red, white and flamingo-pink in the lake, all surrounded by a stunningly blue sky, and a grey alpaca-studded beach.

Most of the desert floor is sand and scoria, and the mountains are volcanoes, many still active. We passed at least one spouting steam. It’s a tough terrain and tough going, but oh so beautiful – like nothing else we have ever seen.

At the end of our first day, we were taken to a hostel in the middle of nowhere. We were quite tired by now so staggered into our room, which we shared with our 3 travelling companions.

Our hostel at the end of Day One

We met up with the others in our tour group over a meal in a very cold dining room. We enjoyed some good conversation with them - all in different languages - but because it was too cold to stay up, we were all in bed by 8 pm.

We were able to hire sleeping bags, thank goodness, as it was bitterly cold at -26 degrees C outside and a frosty -10 with no heating inside. We also had 3 blankets each on the bed, and kept most of our clothes on, and it was still frigid. There were no showers in the morning to warm us up, but that was ok as it was too cold to take any clothes off. 

However, we had lots of fun because it was so different for us, and we looked forward to the sights of day two.

Leigh and the Árbol de Piedra in the Siloli Desert, Bolivian Altiplano

Off we went the next morning, into the beautiful Siloli Desert. We soon came across Árbol de Piedra or Stone Tree, an amazing rock formation standing at around 7 metres high, that had been formed over millennia by the windy and frigid weather.

While there, we saw a very cute animal called a viscacha. These are rodents that look like a cross between a rabbit and a wallaby. 

After several hours of driving across the desert, we came across a cluster of coloured lakes: Lagunas Honda, Chiarcota, Cañapa and Hedionda.

Flamingos in Laguna Hedionda, Bolivian Altiplano

Laguna Hedionda (Stinking Lake) was interesting. It is a salt lake sitting at an altitude of 4,121 meters where we saw another wonderful collection of graceful pink and white flamingos. We also saw more vicuñas.

Nearby is Laguna Honda (Deep Lake), which gives the impression of being a deep lake. However, it is actually only around 10 cm deep, which provides good reflections of the surrounding volcanoes.

Laguna Cañapa is also surrounded by volcanoes and has more flamingos, and Laguna Chiarkota also has volcanoes but with some gentle hills, and more flamingos. The whole area was beautiful.

The village of San Juan, deep in the Bolivian Altiplano

Leaving the lagunas, we drove across the Chiguana salt flat to San Juan town. Here we had our second nights’ accommodation, this time, in a salt hostel. 

The salt hostel is made of…..well…..salt. Its whole structure, outside and in, is comprised of blocks of salt – the walls, bedframe (no mattress), furniture etc are all blocks of, or carved out of salt that looks like large blocks of rough greyish concrete. It sounds interesting, and it was; but not pretty, and not comfortable. 

Another early night here, as everyone was too cold to sit and talk much. Unfortunately, there were no sleeping bags. We can categorically tell you that salt does not retain heat when you sit or sleep on it! 

Sunrise on the Salar de Uyuni (UNESCO), Bolivian Altiplano 

But not to worry, the next morning we were going to see the main event - the Salar de Uyuni (Uyuni salt flats). We were up at 4 am, heading off to see the sun rise over the Salar and it really was worth the early start to see the beautiful colours and the rising sun reflecting on the white salt.

The Sala de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat, covering more than 10,000 sq. km. It is part of the Bolivian Altiplano, and sits at 3,656 meters above sea level - it is such a big expanse of white, that it can be seen from outer space.

Marg and our tour car on the interesting hexagonal-shaped salt crust of the huge and remote, Salar de Uyuni (UNESCO)

It seemed to go on forever, just white and more white – broken only by the hexagonal shapes that can be seen in the salt crust, and the very distant extinct volcanic islands.

The Salar was formed through changes in several prehistoric lakes which have resulted in a salt crust that is very thick (up to several metres in places). Beneath the crust, are huge quantities of lithium – in fact the Salar provides almost 70% of the world’s lithium. 

Fun photo on the Salar de Uyuni (UNESCO)

It is also the flattest place on earth. It is so flat that it's used for calibrating the distancing measurement equipment of satellites. This also makes it great for a fun photo. 

It really is a truly amazing place, and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Our next stop was Incahuasi Island, located in the middle of the Salar. This is believed to be an old volcano that was not quite covered by the salt but which is now covered in hundreds of 1,000-year-old cacti, many of them up to 9 or 10 metres tall.

1,000-year-old Cacti on Incahuasi Island, Salar de Uyuni (UNESCO), Bolivian Altiplano

After walking around the island, we had a great breakfast prepared by Izak. After that, we left the Salar, and drove on to the small, 600-people village of Colchani.

This village may only have a handful of residents but it contains Bolivia's largest salt producing cooperative, producing 25,000 tonnes of salt annually. 

Marg on a salt heap in the wee town of Colchani, Bolivia

While there, we took a tour of the salt factory, seeing how the locals extract and refine the salt. We could also see little piles of salt in the streets.

We visited a salt museum there, and wandered around this small town admiring the many traditional items handmade from salt, cactus wood, and llama and alpaca wool.

Moving on, our last stop was the train graveyard in the town of Uyuni. Unfortunately, the ground around was littered with masses of rubbish which made the area look quite forlorn.

Leigh on one of the derelict steam trains in the train graveyard, Uyuni, Bolivia

The train graveyard is full of derelict steam trains that had been used for carrying salt and workers. They all looked a bit sad, broken and rusted by the high salt content in the air.

This stop completed our tour. We were dropped off at the tour office and said our farewells to our fantastic driver Izak, and our three travelling companions.

We then walked to find our hotel, but after quite some time, we couldn’t find it. We must have looked really tired and confused, because a family in a car stopped to help and said we had walked right past it (we were too tired to notice). These lovely people loaded our bags in their car and drove us back there. Such kind and friendly people, and a lovely introduction to Bolivians.

The mall near the bus station in Uyuni, Bolivia

Later, we went out to find the bus station so we could book seats to Potosi for the next day.

It wasn't hard. We heard women shouting "Potosiiiiii, Potosiiiiiii" as well as other destinations, at the tops of their voices to get you to buy a ticket. An amazing combination of vaguely melodic sounds. 

We found the Trans Diana bus company. It looked ok, so we booked our seats for the next morning, happy to know we had our next transport sorted.

Uyuni town at night 

Our trip across the deserts and salt flats had been absolutely amazing. While we found the freezing cold, and at times the altitude quite hard, we made it; and with some amazing memories to take home with us.

The sights throughout the trip were stunning, and more than made up for the more difficult windy and cold patches. There is nowhere in our travels to date, that compares with the scenery and natural beauty that we had seen here.

Let’s see what else Bolivia can deliver - our next stop is the very high altitude city of Potosi.

This is part of a blog series about our un-escorted travels through the north-eastern countries of South America. The first blog in this series is called “In and around Santiago”