Spread over 4,085 square miles, Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the world. This desert is located in Bolivia's southwest region and forms the largest mirror in the world when covered with water. There is an estimated 10 billion tons of salt here. Some of the places worth seeing are the antique train cemetery and the unique hotels built entirely out of salt blocks. Pink South American flamingos, the only wildlife here, can be seen in November during their breeding time. The desert is also filled with geothermal springs, geological formations and brine lakes. The desert also has a waterless oasis, the La Isla del Pescado, meaning the Island of Fish. It is so named because, from a distance, it resembles the shape of a fish. The green lagoon, the Laguna Verde, is a salt lake near the Chile border and gets its color and name from the mineral sediments on the lake bed. Similarly, Laguna Colorada, the red-colored lake, is also a salt lake with an abundance of minerals.
The Siloli desert is the home of the famous "Stone-tree" rock formation. Believed to have been formed when the Andes rose, the protrusions in the rock resemble the branches of a tree. The altitude of the Siloli desert makes it the highest desert in the world.
Altiplano is the cold desert region of Bolivia. With only three months of wet season, water is in dire scarcity here. In this mountainous desert is the town of Potosi. At an altitude of 4,090 meters, Potosi is the world's highest capital city. The major attractions of this town are the National Mint, which was the only place where coins were once minted by the Spanish.
