Gateway to the world's largest salt flat — a 10,582 km² mirror at 3,650m
Uyuni is a small, windswept town on the Bolivian altiplano whose sole purpose is launching travellers into the Salar de Uyuni — the world's largest salt flat at 10,582 km², formed from the evaporation of a prehistoric lake. In the dry season its pure white crust of salt hexagons creates mind-bending perspective tricks; after rains a thin layer of water turns it into the world's largest natural mirror, reflecting the sky and clouds in an image indistinguishable from the real thing. Three-day jeep tours continue south through an otherworldly landscape of rust-red lagoons, pink flamingos, geyser…
The Salar de Uyuni was created when the prehistoric Lago Minchín dried up around 40,000 years ago, leaving a 10,000 km² crust of salt up to 10m deep containing an estimated 50–70% of the world's known lithium reserves. The Incas crossed the salt flat on trade routes between the highlands and coast; the modern town of Uyuni was founded in 1890 as a railway junction for the silver and tin mining industry. Bolivia has resisted large-scale lithium extraction amid political debate over resource sovereignty.