How to tackle the Sala de Uni?
 

Hi All
I am going to the Sala De Uni in a coulple of days time. I am on my own, on a heavily loaded KLR650.
A friend told me it was really tricky and could be dangerous requiring maps and GPS etc and had to arrange fuel and food drop offs. This sounds a little extreme is there an easier way to see the sala?

Baz

salar de uyuni
 

have a look here:
Out for a spin: Salar de Uyuni

also, just search the HUBB. but spell the name right or you'll get nothing.
cheers,
andrew.

commonsense....
 

Hi there.
we traveled over the Salar a few years back. It was then quite obvious where to travel as there are many dark tracks left by the many landrovers and jeeps that 'bomb' around the Salt pans with tourists coming from La Paz etc.
If you stick to these you should be OK but it is also very wise to have a GPS and some ref points. These are all over the web (I would give you ours...but we lost this track log!) and probably here in HU too. One hazard to look out for are the Ojos del sal.....'salt eyes'....holes in the salt that can come up where you dont expect them - so just keep your eyes open!

You can get fuel easliy in San Juan - a small village just before the Salar de Uyuni - (usually you have to ask someone and they will point you in the right direction usually someones 'house' and he will then fill you up out of a fuel drum/cannister) there are a few hostels there - we ended up staying at 'Alojamiento Lipena'. hot showers too! . Contact details for ‘Alojamiento Lipeña’: tel -0261 37232. Cell – 72431289. GPS - S20 54.048 W67 45.990. They offer single, double and group rooms and have space for 30 people.


In Uyuni itself there are many places to stay and gas is easy to come by -we stayed at Hotel Avenida -they also had a courtyard area where we were allowed to place our bikes, right by our room…great! But in our opinion the town of Uyuni is a dissapointment.


there are a few different ways to approach the salar....one not so easy (which is the one we chose!) and another which a lot of the jeeps take so one of the main problems here are corrugations.

if you want to have a read of this part of our trip at:
2ridetheworld.com : diary

enjoy the Salar - its quite a amazing place - and dont worry, I rode across the salar with a fully laden (320kg) motorbike...and me a mere woman! so no -probs!

BTW - it is always a good idea to carry with you a good map of the country/area you are going through PLUS GPS!
Bottom line is - be prepared but it is not the extreme ride that perhaps your friend is suggesting.........

cheers

And...
 

...another thing to add to what Lisa has said above. Although I travelled throughout South America on my own, I didn't venture onto the Salar without other people. I found a couple of other riders in Uyuni town also looking out to cross the Salar.
If something does go wrong- it's basically a desert without many people or vehicles and can be a very unfriendly environment.

However, what a thrill it was to ride across that huge expanse of salt- white nothingness stretching out into the distance (and err, not a GPS between us!).

It is a unique experience and you will have a great time:mchappy:

For about $100 you can take a jeep tour.
They are alot of fun and it will allow you to see most of the route you would be taking.
The Salar and lagunas down to the Chilean border are not that big of an area, but the terrain and environment are harsh.
After the tour you can decide which route you want to take.
We took the Uyuni to Ollague to Calama(Chile) route and it turned out to be
just as hard or harder than the Lagunas route at the time.
No matter which way you go, it will be lots of fun(and cold too).
Suerte

might I add, that you don't want to ride the bike in the wet season there!

Wet season
 

When is the wet season?

was alone on the salar 2 weeks ago
 

..came from Chile Calama. If you do everything right, you have 430km without Gas station. I entered Bolivia via Ollague. I had GPS Garmin and a map from OpenStreetMap there you can find a complete south america map.
I met a guy in Ollague,coming from the salar, who had no GPS, not enough water and no food, he was very happy to survive...
It's not impossible but don't wait for big signs :nono:which guide you to uyuni...it's bolivia