Salar de Uyuni, The World’s Largest Natural Mirror

This is the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flats in the world, covering an area of 10,582 kilometers at once mirrors the natural world. Located between Potosi and Oruro, near the crest of the Andes, Bolivia. The salt flats are formed by several prehistoric lakes, which change shape about 30,000 to 42,000 years ago. Its surface is covered with a layer of salt several feet, making these plains remained dry throughout the year.

According to Gizmodo, several times a year, the plains are located in southwest Bolivia are getting a rain shut thin layer of water. At that moment, Salar de Uyuni transformed into the largest natural mirror on earth. Its surface is perfectly flat and clear, reflecting the sky and clouds reflection on it, producing an awesome site for anyone who witnessed it.

Despite of the picture looks very hot, the actual temperature in the Salar de Uyuni is warm enough, only ranged from 13 degrees to 21 degrees Celsius. Every year, tourists flock to the Salar de Uyuni to witness the phenomenon of giant mirrors. In addition to the mirror there, Salar de Uyuni visitors also had the opportunity to watch the flocks of pink flamingos that make the region’s salt flats as their habitat.

According to Wikipedia, in Spanish, “Salar” means the salt flats. While Uyuni word taken from the Aymara language means a pen or overlays. Uyuni is also the name of a city that became a haven for tourists who want to visit the salt flats are. So, Salar de Uyuni can be defined as “the salt plains that spread” or “salt flats of Uyuni City”.

Because the structure of the surface is flat and very wide area location, the terrain was used as the main route of transportation to the highlands of Bolivia. Salar de Uyuni is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt. The resulting salt also has great commercial potential. According to a recent report from the IS Geological Survey, Salar de Uyuni contains 9 million tons of lithium could make Bolivia as the world’s largest lithium producer.