Bolivia Salt Flats Tour
Background
Salar De Uyuni Bolivia’s Salt flats, what can I say! This is one of the most remarkable places
on earth and I had no idea until I had such a surreal experience myself.
Few facts:
- Stretching more than 4000 square miles, it is the largest salt flat in the world
- Salt build up and left behind by evaporated lakes long ago
- 3,656 meters (11,995 ft) above sea level
- 2 seasons to see the salt flats in, wet season (Dec – Apr) where you get brilliant mirror images or Dry Season (May – Nov) where the ground is harder and creates the iconic heptagon shapes.
- 2 types of tours available (1-day tour or 3-day tour)
Routes & Different Tours
When planning your trip to Bolivia’s Salt Flats investigate
the different routes from which you can travel to and from. For my partner and
I we had a short amount of time and chose to go from Uyuni on a 1-day tour.
If you choose to do a trip that is longer than a day see
where the route ends as I don’t believe you end up in the same place you
started.
Outfits & What to take with you
It is known to be very very cold at night and can get warm (20 degrees ish) but not extremely hot.
What I wore for the day trip:
- Nike Huarache Trainers (I did carry my hiking boots in the car just in case it was wet)
- Jeans
- T-Shirt
- Jumper (Purchased in Peru)
- Jacket
On the 1-day tour you don’t need to take much, we left our
main suitcases (23KG X2) at the main office as we knew we were coming back
there before setting of to our next destination. Here is a list of the basic
items my partner and I took with us:
Cash – Definitely take cash with you as you are in the
middle of nowhere with no ATM’s. Also, you may be asked (sometimes included in
the price) for an extra 150 BOB to enter the National Park (Fish Island).
- Hand sanitiser – for hygiene before eating and after eating
- Toilet paper – there are toilets at 2 of the sites that you stop at, there maybe or may not be any toilet paper so its always good take some with you.
- Water – Always carry a couple of 2Liter bottles with you.
- Snacks – if you think you are going to get hungry, there is lunch provided. The sites that you stop at don’t have much to offer and as this is a full day tour you may want to bring along snacks.
- Props – take props with you for great photos! Your tour guide should know all the tips and tricks on taking the photos for you so don’t worry about getting the right shots.
- Flags – take a Flag with you to tie on Flag Square. You can purchase in the souvenir shop, but these are limited in what they have so if you want to take a flag from home then that’s a great idea
All these items you can always leave in the 4x4 Jeep while you are exploring the sites.
The 1 Day Tour:
Firstly, make sure you book a reputable company with an
English-speaking guide. No point if you can’t communicate.
The tours usually start around 10am and you will be back
around 7pm.
- First Stop: Train Cemetery
Now this place is really cool! I had no idea that it was
part of the tour and so glad that it was.
How did the trains get
here? Due to the collapse of the mining industry during the 1940s many trains
were abandoned here; your guide will definitely go into more detail and its is
very interesting to understand the history.
When visiting you will get
a short amount of time (20 mins), make sure you take loads of pictures! It will
probably be difficult to get a picture with no one in it but it’s not
impossible.
- Second Stop: Cochani
When you arrive in this
location depending on how your tour operator plans the tour you could stop at
this location for lunch and a toilet break.
This is after visiting the
families that show you how the salt is mined and packaged up.
This small town has many
souvenir stalls along with a Salt museum, which has been built from Salt which I
didn’t get to visit.
- Third Stop: The Salt Flats - Salar De Uyuni
Now is the exciting part, you get to have an out of this
word view of driving on to the salt flats with nothing in the distance. There
are a couple of stops on the Salt Flats themselves:
- Dakar Rally Monument – This is a monument built out of salt and is there to represent a Rally that takes place.
- Flag Square – another stop off, now if you have brought a flag from either the souvenir stalls (like me) or back home then you can tie your flag here. If you didn’t bring a flag you obviously still take some great pictures.
- Middle of nowhere – now you drive for 30 mins or so and end up in the middle of the Salt Flats, here you get to spend some time taking picturesque photos. Your tour guide will also give you a hand in showing you how to take the photos with the props (he does this everyday o he will be good).
- Forth Stop: Fish Island
Firstly, if you need a toilet break, then here’s the
location. This is where you will need to pay for your entry fee if it’s not
already included in your package price.
Driving all this way and coming around this corner
is one hell of a surprise; I had no idea that this little island would appear
in front of me and never have I ever even heard or seen of it which made this
very exciting.
This island was full of Cactus and a lot of them,
once you arrive at this destination you can go on a self-guided tour up on to
the hills, I only made It half way up the hills and not all the way round, I
guess you get very tired due to the altitude.
- Fifth and Final Stop: Sunset
On your way back to the town where you started you get to
stop off and have 10 minutes to view the sunset and is it amazing, probably one
of the most amazing I have seen! Definitely worth it and you have to be quick
to take any picture as the sun does go down quickly.
Think depending on the day and time of day the salt flats
look slightly different, like during the day I didn’t see the heptagon shapes
but at sunset they were defiantly visible.
That wraps up my
takeaways on the Uyuni Salt Flats tour, If you have any questions please feel
free to drop them in the comments box below.
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