Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the world, covering more than 10,000 kilometres. Located in south-west Bolivia, it lies 3,656 metres above sea level and is covered by a few metres of salt crust. Incredibly, the area is so flat that the altitude fluctuation across the entire area is less than one metre.
Due to its large size, smooth surface and high surface reflectivity when covered with shallow water, it is often described as one of the largest mirrors in the world. This also makes it perfectly suited for the testing and calibration of remote sensing instruments on orbiting satellites used to study the Earth. In fact, its said that the surface of Salar de Uyuni works five times better for this than the surface of the ocean because the skies above are so clear and the air so dry.
The area is popular with tourists and many of the nearby hotels are built almost entirely – even the walls, roof, furniture, etc. – are built with salt blocks cut from the Salar.
Paul Johnson is Editor of A Luxury Travel Blog and has worked in the travel industry for more than 30 years. He is Winner of the Innovations in Travel ‘Best Travel Influencer’ Award from WIRED magazine. In addition to other awards, the blog has also been voted “one of the world’s best travel blogs” and “best for luxury” by The Telegraph.
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3 Comments
I bet this looks amazing from the air! Really interesting that they use this to calibrate instruments! The hotels sound fascinating too.
Wow… amazing… if only there were some way to freeze it all just for the day… the worlds largest ice rink :-)
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I bet this looks amazing from the air! Really interesting that they use this to calibrate instruments! The hotels sound fascinating too.
Wow… amazing… if only there were some way to freeze it all just for the day… the worlds largest ice rink :-)