Salar
de Uyuni
A
tour of the Uyuni salt desert is one of the most amazing
things you will ever do. Depending on how much time you
have you could choose to go for a day trip, or the full
3 day circuit traveling in 4 x 4 vehicles. You can also
end the tour by crossing the border into Chile or go South
into Argentina via the Bolvian town of Tupiza.
Day
trip
You
will spend the day exploring the pans, driving across the
Salt Desert to visit a salt works, where villagers have
sent piles of salt to be ground and iodised before being
sold. The landscape is surreal in the extreme, the bright
blue of the skies contrasting sharply with the blinding
white salt crust. Flamingos live along the shoreline and
subterranean rivers flowing underneath the Salar form breathing
holes, whilst the snow-capped peak of Volcan Tunupa (5400m)
looms far in the distance.
You
will visit the Fish Island, so called because of its shape.
Here we see how nature has adapted to this harsh environment,with
strangely shaped cacti growing defiantly amongst the barren
landscape, living beside a stranded colony of vizcachas,
long-tailed rabbitlike rodents related to chinchillas.
Three
day journey
Day
1. After a morning pick up from your hotel in Uyuni, and the
short visit to the train graveyard, which is essentially an
open air museum, you will drive to Colchani, a small community
of families dedicated to extracting salt. Then after a fast
a smooth eighty kilometer drive across this great white desert
we will reach the Isla Pescado (fish island, see above). You
can climb to the top of the island for a 360 degree view of
a huge expanse of hexagonal white salt tiles and in the distance
the Thunupa volcano. The view is amazing.
After
lunch you continue South, guided only by the ring of mountains,
until you arrive in the small town of San Juan where you will
spend the night in simple and basic accommodation
Day
2. After breakfast and continue by jeep to the South to the
Eduardo Avaroa National Park, one of the most isolated regions
of Bolivia with lagoons, volcanoes and unusual topography.
Later we will arrive at the Laguna Colorada, a red lake with
mineral deposits on its shores. The red color lake is beautiful
and an ideal habitat for the pink flamingo. The night will
be spent in basic and simple hostels.
Day
3. An early start today for the drive to Sol de Mañana
at 4850 meters over the sea level, the highest point of our
trip where a geyser bursts upwards producing sulfurous air.
Continuing past high mountains you arrive at some natural
hot springs into which you may jump and enjoy a breakfast.
Later you will continue the drive to Laguna Verde, in this
magical lagoon the wind stirs up minerals and the sun makes
the lake change to a green shade. We also visit the Dali Valley
en route where there are surreal rock formations (see below).
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