Incredible Location: Tourists Appear to Walk on Water in These Stunning Photos
In Bolivia, the Salar de Uyuni, known as the world's largest and highest prehistoric salt flat, offers an extraordinary sight that seems to defy reality.
Usually dry, it periodically becomes covered by a few centimeters of water, creating a perfect opportunity for tourists to capture astonishing photographs that give the illusion of walking on water.
Spanning an area of 10,582 square kilometers (roughly 18 times the size of Lake Balaton) and situated at an elevation of 3,656 meters above sea level, the Salar de Uyuni is nestled in a basin between the mountain ranges of the Andes in the southwestern part of Bolivia. It can be described as both a salt marsh and a salt desert, characterized by its generally dry conditions, which are periodically interrupted by a thin layer of water.
The surface we see today was once the bottom of the prehistoric Ballivián Lake, which, during the Pleistocene epoch, covered the entirety of the area now known as the Bolivian Altiplano. This lake eventually dried up around 40,000 years ago, leading to the formation of Lake Titicaca and the prehistoric Lake Minchin. The further shrinking of Lake Minchin resulted in the creation of two modern-day saline lakes, Poopó and Uru-uru, as well as two salt flats, Uyuni and Coipasa, that are occasionally covered by a thin layer of water.
The climate of the area is very dry and windy, with daytime temperatures sometimes reaching 40°C and the ground temperatures going up to 60°C. However, at night, temperatures can drop to as low as -10°C. The ground is covered in 11 layers of salt, some places being up to 120 meters thick, and is also home to gypsum deposits. It is estimated that approximately 64 billion tonnes of salt are accumulated in Uyuni, from which about 25,000 tonnes are mined annually. This area also contains one of the world’s largest reserves of lithium.
Salar de Uyuni: A Popular Tourist Destination
Salar de Uyuni is among South America’s most spectacular sights. Photographers flock daily to capture the stunning landscapes created by unique geological formations, geothermal springs, and saltwater lakes. During the dry season, the salt flats are vast expanses of dry salt, but the wet season brings an overflow from the neighboring Poopó Lake, inundating both the Salar De Coipasa and Salar de Uyuni with a thin layer of water. This seasonal transformation offers particularly captivating imagery. The reflection of the sky on the water creates an illusion of infinite space, making it appear as though people and vehicles in the photos are floating on air.