The Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia is the largest salt flat in the world, covering an area of over 10,000 square kilometers (3,900 square miles). Located in the southwest of Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes at an altitude of about 3,656 meters (11,995 feet) above sea level, it was formed from the drying up of prehistoric lakes, primarily Lake Minchin, thousands of years ago. During the dry season, Salar de Uyuni becomes a vast, blinding-white expanse of hexagonally patterned salt crusts that stre