
At the foot of the Andes Mountains, 3663 m above sea level you will find the world’s largest salt pan, Salar de Uyuni which is 10582 km² (that’s bigger than Corsica). The salt flats have approximately 35 islands, and the most famous is Inca Huasi Island which is speckled with cacti that are hundreds of years old. It is believed to contain between 10 to 11 billion tons of salt. Rather ironic considering that salt was once used as a form of payment and Bolivia is a very poor country, but maybe that is about to change. Recently the government of Bolivia has found massive reserves of Lithium under the salt pans, the new “gold” in our technologically driven world, so much so that Bolivia now produces 17% of the world’s lithium.
The Salt Pans are also a major tourist attraction, due to the vastness of the pan there is a lack of depth perception, this creates a myriad of creative and crazy photo opportunities, but nothing more beautiful than in the rainy season (December to April) when the pan turns into a lake albeit only a few inches deep, creating the world’s largest natural reflective mirror….. where Heaven meets Earth!
