Cycling the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia
by Kamran Ali
Title
Cycling the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia
Artist
Kamran Ali
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photograph
Description
During the past two days, I cycled 130 km through Salar de Uyuni in Boliva. Salar de Uyuni is the world’s largest salt flat (12,106 square km) and is situated at over 3600 m elevation. The Salar is the result of the transformation of several prehistoric lakes. Riding a bicycle through the Salar is a surreal experience as there is nothing except a pure white surface reaching far beyond the horizon and the blue sky. With no reference point in sight, you lose the sense of perspective. The islands in the salt flat appear deceptively close yet may take hours to reach by bike.
The Salar is so large and so perfectly flat that the satellite around the Earth use it to calibrate their altimeters.
But don’t judge the Salar the Uyuni by its surface only. Underneath the thick salt crust is a lake of brine, which contains over 50% of the world’s lithium deposits, a mineral which is used to make batteries. Many analysts say that Bolivia has the potential to become the Saudi Arabia of lithium. However, this potential has not be exploited so far as Bolivia does not have the technology to extract the lithium quickly and because Bolivian government is reluctant to sell mining contracts to international mining companies.
Uploaded
January 31st, 2019
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