Salar de Uyuni Salt Flats

Bolivia’s giant 10,000 sq km salt pan, the largest in the world, is a landscape of stark and dazzling beauty. It’s as close as anything on the planet to a landscape resembling the moon – a pure white, crystalline surface stretching into the distance and set against the deep blue Andean sky.

It was formed when several prehistoric lakes dried up around forty thousand years ago, leaving a salt crust several metres thick. It’s remarkably flat – the elevation varies by less than a metre.

Though inhospitable to most life forms and largely devoid of wildlife, it is home to vast flocks of flamingos. Three different species live on the fiery-red waters of Laguna Colorada.