Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia – salt flats… the most otherworldly awe-inspiring place on earth

I’ve never seen anything like it. I read about it, saw photos & it was number 1 on my list of things to see in South America. It still blew me away. Sorting through my photos for this post was difficult. Go now. There’s already 100 tourists a day doing the same 3-day tour of Uyuni & its surroundings but believe me, it’s just going to increase. I will go again. I must. And next time I’d do a week-long tailor made tour. It’s that special of a place.
Now what is it? Uyuni is this tiny town in the bleak altiplano of SW Bolivia. To reach it, we took an overnight bus from La Paz, got into town around 5am, booked a 3-day tour of the surrounding area & left by 10am. Efficient. You go to Uyuni as a jumping off point to visit the spectacular Salar de Uyuni, 9000 sq kms of by far the largest salt lake in the world. During the wet season with a couple inches of rain, the surface turns into a massive mirror creating bizarre reflections as the horizon disappears. As if that’s not enough, you also visit Uyuni to see the Reserva de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa, a 7000 sq km wildlife reserve ranging in altitude from 4000 to 6000m & featuring a massive contrast in scenery including desolate desert landscapes, glacial salt lakes stained bright red or green & massive snowcapped volcanic peaks. Both are otherworldly. Prior to visiting, I was positive the salt flats, toured on the first day, would be the standout. And then the reserve blew my mind. Both are worthy of their own post primarily bc there’s no chance I could cram all photos into one.

Sunset video bc this one deserves it