Salar de Uyuni, amid the Andes in southwest Bolivia, is the world’s largest salt flat. It’s the legacy of a prehistoric lake that went dry, leaving behind a desertlike, 10,582 square kilometer (4,086 sq mi) landscape of bright-white salt, rock formations and cacti-studded islands. It is roughly 100 times the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States.
Before exploring the salt flats, we first went to play in a train graveyard. During the 1940's the local mining industry collapsed, and dozens trains were abandoned outside Uyuni, forming this mass train cemetery. The train, many of them dating back to the early 20th century, are now rusted and eroded by the salt winds blowing over Uyuni.
Afterwards, it was time to explore the salt flats. We hopped into our 4x4 Toyota's and entered the flats on the east side from the town of Uyuni. Headed west, you could drive 100km per hour and drive for several hours before reaching the other side of the flats.
We ended up at an "island" in the middle of the flats for a bit of hiking and photo ops. There's not much else to say that photos couldn't say better, so I'll leave you to it.
The flats are so vast, while facing certain directions, you literally can't see anything in the horizon!
Seeing this in person was mind blowing. It's hard to believe such a place exists.
During the wet season, the flats are covered in water up to several feet deep. We were late in the season, so most of the flats were dry, but there was still one section that had some water. During sunset, the water sits perfectly still, and you find yourself looking out onto a mirror as far as the eye can see. Unbelievable.
