The Salar de Uyuni is the largest continuous and high salt desert in the world, with an area of 10 582 km² (or 4085 square miles). It is located at about 3650 msnm in southwest Bolivia, in the province of Daniel Campos, in The department of Potosí, within the high plateau region of the Andes. The Uyuni salt is the largest lithium reserve in the world with 50-70% of the world's lithium, and also has significant amounts of potassium, boron and magnesium.
Like 40,000 years ago, the air was part of Lake Minchin, a gigantic prehistoric lake. When the lake dried up, it left as its remains two lakes, Poopó and Uru Uru, and two great saline deserts, Salar de Coipasa and the greater Uyuni. Uyuni is about 25 times larger than the Bonneville Salt Flat in the United States of America.
It is estimated that the Salar de Uyuni contains 10 billion tons of which less than 25,000 tons are extracted annually.
Each November, the Salar de Uyuni is breeding ground for three species of South American flamingos - Chilean, James and Andean.
In the middle of this sea of salt there is a desert oasis. Isla Pescado, named for its fish form, covered with giant cactuses. It is the only sign of life for miles.
The Lagoon Verde, the Laguna Colorada and the thermal waters can also be visited during the tour to the salar, when we enter the Eduardo Avaroa National Reserve. The Lagoon Verde is a beautiful lagoon with waters of green hue located towards the limit with Chile and at the foot of the volcano Licancabur to a height of 4,300 msnm (14,000 feet). Its coloration is due to mineral deposits of copper. The Laguna Colorada is a lagoon with waters of carmine color, also due to the mineral resentment in its waters. In these lagoons live flamenco (flamencos living at that height and those low temperatures!) Creating a unique scene of spectacular beauty!
Walk in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes on a pale and endless floor, sometimes on the clouds. The infinite white under my feet is only interrupted when it strikes against the blue of the sky, in the distance of an endless and continuous horizon. Among so much immensity, the solitude is absolute and the silence, total. A seagull flies over my head and then I realize that I am on a thin layer of water that reflects all around. Way above the clouds.
The geological history of this site places it twice under brackish water: one 40,000 years ago, covered by Lake Minchin - about 36,000 square kilometers - and the other 12,000 years ago, when the glacial melt formed the waters Of Lake Tauka. After thousands of years, both bodies of water evaporated due to the lack of tributaries and to the heat by the volcanic activity, leaving the Uyuni salar - as well as the one of Coipasa and the lakes Poopó and Uru Uru - as a record of its existence.
In addition to having about 10 million tons of salt, the Salar de Uyuni is also the world's largest lithium reserve, a mineral essential in many technological devices, such as mobile phones and laptops.
Thanks to its incredibly large surface, the clarity of the skies and its extraordinary plain, the Salar de Uyuni is used to calibrate the altimeters of Earth observation satellites.
