Salar de Uyuni and Mt. Tunupa
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Covering an area of 4,680 square miles (12,121 sq km), Salar de Uyuni is the world's largest salt flat. At an elevation of 11,970 feet (3,650 meters) it is filled with an estimated 10 billion tons of salt. Contemporary maps usually name the salt flats Salar de Uyuni, for near their south-eastern border is the small town of Uyuni. Local people however, whose ancestors have lived nearby for hundreds of years, say its true name is linked not to Uyuni but to the sacred mountain of Tunupa. Rising like a mirage from the northern extremes of the Salar, the long extinct volcano of Tunupa is 17,700 feet high (5400 meters). There are no roads across the vast salt flats, only tracks left by the occasional jeeps which take travelers to view the other worldly place. In the middle of the Salar, piercing the blazing white, is the small island of Isla Inkahuasi. Also called Isla de Pescadores, its sharp crags of volcanic rock are as black as ink. The only evidence of island life are a profusion of tall, green cacti and dozens of shy rabbits with long, cartoon-like ears. Every November Salar de Uyuni is also the breeding grounds for three breeds of South American flamingos. There is something inexplicably magical about this unique place and simply by being there one experiences a state of inner peace. No effort must be made to reach this state, for the environment gives it to you.
Photos: Salar de Uyuni and Mt. Tunupa More from Sacred Sites about Salar de Uyuni
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Review by expert member ‘End of a Pilgrim's Trail’Churches, mosques, temples, pyramids, stone tors, everyone needs a place for quiet reflection and somewhere to pay homage to the divine or higher powers, a juncture of the spiritual and physical worlds. Visiting these places is a worthy pilgrimage. (Travel article) Read more » ‘Salar de Uyuni & Lagunas Colorado & Verde’Salar de Uyuni, the world's largest salt flat is a pale, bare, bleached landscape. The desert of dried salt indicates there was once a large body of water ... Read more »
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Photo by Photography: Martin Gray
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