The world's largest salt flat sits at a lofty 3653m (11,985ft) and blankets an amazing 12,000 sq km (4633 sq miles). It was part of a prehistoric salt lake, Lago Minchín, which once covered most of southwest Bolivia. When it dried up, it left a couple of seasonal puddles and several salt pans, including Salar de Uyuni. The savage beauty of this vast salt desert makes it one of South America's most awe-inspiring spectacles.

The world's largest salt flat sits at a lofty 3653m (11,985ft) and blankets an amazing 12,000 sq km (4633 sq miles). It was part of a prehistoric salt lake, Lago Minchín, which once covered most of southwest Bolivia. When it dried up, it left a couple of seasonal puddles and several salt pans, including Salar de Uyuni. The savage beauty of this vast salt desert makes it one of South America's most awe-inspiring spectacles.

Colchani is considered one of the most important communities in the Uyuni area for having one of the largest salt factories in the country, whose estimated extraction capacity is 20,000 tons of salt per year of which 90% are for human consumption

The island is actually the remnant of an ancient volcano that was submerged when the area was a giant prehistoric lake, Lake Minchin, millions of years ago. Its base is composed of fossilized corals and volcanic rock, proof of the ancient lake.