Additional goals: Wildlife viewing, Andean Pre-history
- 14 nights in hotels and lodges
- 8 days biking
- 3 nights camping
- Average daily bike ride: 6 hours
Remains of disappeared oceans, the red deserts of Sajama, Uyuni and Lipez and the salt flats of Coipasa and Uyuni, all are witnesses to the giant tectonic crush between the Pacific block and the high Andes. Numerous active volcanoes rise above colourful deserts, geysers and salt fields in the southwest of Bolivia, where the flights of the pink flamingos complete an incredible natural landscape. The natural beauty and the culture of Chipayas and Carangas make this unmissable trip into a kind of “austral Tibet”. The Uyuni Salt flat has a compact, crystallized 10m salt crust that stretches more than 10500 square kilometres. Coipasa is smaller than Uyuni but equally breathtaking. The Sajama National Park is home to a rare range of wildlife including pumas, huemules, viscachas, vicuñas, guanacos, rheas and tattoos. The microclimates produce endemic polylepis trees and lepidophyllum bushes that form the highest forest in the world. We take a transfer from La Paz towards the Sajama deserts. We bike along an abandoned miner’s road, on tracks and sometimes completely off road to traverse through dunes and lava flows. Before setting off on the bike ride, we acclimatize beside the fabulous Lake Titikaka and hike on the Isla del Sol.
