If you come to Bolivia and don’t visit the Salar de Uyuni and surrounding area, you fucked up. You can’t find a more otherworldly place without actually boarding a spacecraft and traveling to a far away planet. From the endless salt flats and colorful poisonous lagoons to the surprising diversity of wildlife, this is, without risk of hyperbole, one of the most amazing natural places on Earth.
Almost everyone visits this area on a jeep tour. I guess you could rent a 4×4 and do it yourself, but navigating an area of about 40,000 sq kilometers with no real roads would be quite an adventure in itself. Additionally, an all inclusive trip is not very expensive. We did a 4 day/3 night trip from Tupiza to Uyuni, although you can also start tours in Uyuni (most for three days with one full day of back tracking). Tupiza itself is much more beautiful than Uyuni, and there are lots of day hikes and horseback riding tours available. We booked with Tupiza Tours (recommended by multiple travelers) and it cost us 1320 Bolivianos ($188) each. We paid a 200B premium for having 4 passengers in the jeep instead of 5 and 120B more for an English guide. Our guide was excellent, the food was solid, and the accommodation surpassed our expectations. You cover a lot of ground in these tours, so be prepared for 6am wake ups and 12 hour days in the jeep, but there are so many beautiful things to see it’s worth every bouncing minute.
I’ll shut up with the boring logistics now…let’s get to the pictures.
(Click to Enlarge)
Nothing like a cute baby llama to kick off a trip19-Jan-2011 11:19, Canon Canon PowerShot S90, 4.9, 22.5mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 80 |
Flamingos actually exist outside Florida lawns… and these live at 4000m/13,200ft20-Jan-2011 08:39, Canon Canon PowerShot S90, 6.3, 22.5mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 80 |
Chilling in a hotsprings on the edge of Salar de Chalviri… not too bad20-Jan-2011 09:59, Canon Canon PowerShot S90, 5.6, 6.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 80 |
Laguana Verde and Volcan Licancabur20-Jan-2011 11:35, Canon Canon PowerShot S90, 7.1, 6.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 80 |
And they stink! Huele Feo!20-Jan-2011 14:20, Canon Canon PowerShot S90, 7.1, 6.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 80 |
Compulisary pic with the Piedra del Arbol21-Jan-2011 08:32, Canon Canon PowerShot S90, 4.5, 9.636mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 80 |
Some reflect-y lagoon21-Jan-2011 10:43, Canon Canon PowerShot S90, 8.0, 6.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 80 |
Kim is a master climber!21-Jan-2011 08:46, Canon Canon PowerShot S90, 5.6, 7.493mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 80 |
The mummified baby llama says "No Smoking!" Seriously, there are flamable gasses everywhere.21-Jan-2011 11:19, Canon Canon PowerShot S90, 7.1, 6.0mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 100 |
Flamingos shot number 23721-Jan-2011 11:09, Canon Canon PowerShot S90, 7.1, 22.5mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 80 |
Hello desert fox21-Jan-2011 11:41, Canon Canon PowerShot S90, 4.9, 22.5mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 80 |
Sitting on a lava field checking out the volcano21-Jan-2011 13:33, Canon Canon PowerShot S90, 8.0, 12.845mm, 0.002 sec, ISO 100 |
The Salar Uyuni at sunrise… wow22-Jan-2011 05:58, Canon Canon PowerShot S90, 3.2, 6.0mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 200 |
Kim performing a balancing act22-Jan-2011 14:43, Canon Canon EOS 1000D, 16.0, 25.0mm, 0.003 sec, ISO 200 |
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Looks truly amazing. Can’t wait to flip through the pics. Do they sell salt? Did you lick any anywhere? This salt-freak must know!
Those photos are incredible… I’ve never heard of a place like this… you should definitely submit those to any contest you can!
We harvested somesalt from the ground ourselves and hope it makes it all the way back to SF. Lots of licking the ground happening too 🙂