Highlights of a Bolivia Salt Flats Tour (Tupiza to Uyuni 4 Day Tour)
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one among many important superb highlights of all my time in South America was my Bolivia salt flats tour. in exact actuality, it’s nonetheless one among my all-time prime journey recollections virtually 5 years later. I took a Tupiza to Uyuni tour by way of the Eduardo Avaroa nationwide Reserve, and had basically the most superb time!
It was a go to which took us to heights of 5000 metres above sea stage at instances. This was all by way of might, which is the start of Bolivia’s dry winter season. which means VERY chilly climate. Nighttime temperatures plummeted to -thirteen°C, and my hair actually froze after a dip in a thermal bathtub! briefly, this was one critically ice chilly journey. under, I’ve listed 5 of my favourite frosty highlights from the journey…
biggest Time to go to Uyuni Salt Flats
might to October is the winter dry season in Bolivia. which means no rain, however chilly temperatures – particularly at extreme altitudes. It additionally means the Uyuni salt flats shall be dry. This time of 12 months is superb for these humorous perspective photographs people want to take, and also you get an exact appreciation for the sheer dimension of the salt flats.
January to April is the moist season. this might disrupt journey plans and imply pretty miserable climate for the the rest of the tour! however that is the time of 12 months when the Bolivia salt flats look their most magical. When the plain of salt is moist, it turns into an preferrred mirror of the sky. superb for pictures for an solely utterly different purpose.
So basically the easiest time to go to Uyuni salt flats solely relies upon on what you’ll possibly want to see everytime you get there. It additionally relies upon on what kind of expertise you’ll like for the the rest of the tour. inside the event you’re solely there to see the flats, a little bit of rain obtained’t hassle you – and also you get to see the moist salt flats reflecting the sky. finally, there’s no proper or improper time to go to the Bolivia salt flats. they current the impression of being superb all 12 months spherical!
Highlights of a Bolivia Salt Flats Tour
I took the 4 day Tupiza to Uyuni tour (be taught the extra in-depth submit with reference to the journey right here). It was an prolonged different than the Bolivua salt flats excursions that start and finish in Uyuni. You additionally get to see simply a few extra issues alongside the biggest method – notably inside the Eduardo Avaroa nationwide Reserve. listed right here are simply a few of my highlights from this epic icy journey…
Crossing Ice Rivers
Winter in Bolivia means enterprise. particularly at altitude! there have been snowstorms, there was wind like I’ve by no means felt earlier than, and there was ice. Oh, there was a terribly important deal of ice. huge frozen puddles creaked and cracked under our 4 wheel drive as we climbed into the mountains. In areas the avenue disappeared under rivers of ice, which we’d cross, tentatively, with the underside snapping beneath our wheels.
It was scary, it was dangerous, and it was very fulfilling. there have been instances when the roads have been so unhealthy that we virtually didn’t make it throughout. we wished to get out and watch our driver dig on the ice with a shovel to free the jeep. it would then skid throughout the slippery roads like an huge metallic Bambi, struggling to the various facet. We’d welcome him throughout with cheers – although these principally acquired here from our pleasure to get again into the automotive and out of the chilly. however each time we made it throughout one other seemingly impassable avenue, it felt like an infinite achievement – and a terribly important journey!
Pueblo Fantasmo
The “ghost metropolis” of the mountains, the Pueblo Fantasma had virtually disappeared as quickly as we arrived. The swirling white storm of wind and snow merged proper into a blanket of grey clouds so low we might virtually contact them. It was by way of that blurred mist that we caught a glimpse of an deserted metropolis of roofless stone homes, huddled shivering on the foot of a darkish hill. We have been the one people for miles, the wind was howling and bitter, and the snow underfoot was deliciously unbroken, crunching under my boots. We stood inside the brownish scab of a forgotten metropolis surrounded by a whirl of hideous, freezing storm, and felt simply like the final people left on this planet.
Frozen Lakes – collectively with the dreaded Sulpur Lake (duhn duhn duhn….)
inside the Parque Eduardo Alvaroa, all of the lakes and lagoons have been frozen over. Laguna Colorada (coloured or pink lake) nonetheless retained considerably of it’s husky pink glow, however lots of the colour inside the ice white scene acquired here from the huddles of shivering flamingoes perched on spindly legs inside the patches of unfrozen water.
The frozen Laguna Kollpa, a lake full of a pure detergant, was the whitest factor I’d ever seen, reflecting the dazzling daylight on it’s icy floor and skirted throughout the perimeters by a scum of vibrant white cleansing soap. And on the sulphur lake, Hedionda Lagoon, which had additionally frozen, my then-boyfriend Sam fell by way of the ice. His waste deep submersion proper into a brown sludge of sulphur left his garments ruined and his strolling boots frozen regular for three days!
It seems unusual for that second to be a spotlight of mine, however now that the disaster is nothing elevated than a shaggy dog story, it’s flip into one among our favourite humorous tales – and the sight of Sam shivering naked inside the white snow behind our jeep is a terribly amusing reminiscence.
scorching Springs
one among many lakes inside the park is fed by a thermal spring. That has been tapped to feed a small pool of bathlike water, surrounded by snowy mountain peaks and sheets of ice. as quickly as we arrived, it was so chilly that the taps inside the customer centre relaxation room have been dripping thick, lethal icicles. Sam’s garments – which we washed inside the pool to maintain away from losing them from the sulphur – froze regular, turning into snappable second objects. Sitting in a pool of gorgeously scorching water, surrounded by all that snow and ice was a blissfully particular expertise. even when my hair did freeze afterwards.
daybreak over the Salt Flats
lastly, in spite of every thing these icy adventures (and disasters) on our Bolivia salt flats tour, we made it to Uyuni. We wakened earlier than daybreak and raced throughout the gaping, darkish vacancy of the salt desert to an ‘island’ of rock. There, we watched the daybreak over that bizarre, white, alien panorama. It was freezing. The wind was ice on our ears and that i wished to cease taking photographs as a end result of my fingers might barely maintain the digital camera.
daybreak acquired here, weak gold and pink, dazzling on a world of glittering minerals and crusty hexagons of salt. nonetheless it’s distant warmth might barely penetrate the unbelievable ice chilly of the air. And we didn’t thoughts! It was horrendously chilly, we have been exhausted, and your full journey had been marred by dozens of disasters… nonetheless it was an exact journey! one among many true highlights of my 5 month journey.
have you ever taken a Bolivia salt flats tour? What was the climate like for you?
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