The World's Largest Salt Flat

The Salar de Uyuni, a sea of salt, a salt desert, was once an inland sea, or giantsalt water lake, but the water vanished into the thin dry air of Andean altitude. All that remains is the salt, tens of meters thick, lying stark beneath bright sky: a sun-bleached skeleton of a dead sea.

The 4085 square mile salt flat looks like a scene from another planet. The endless sea of white salt is paired with small islands, which are small rocky hills of earth cluttered with odd plants such as cacti. The flats were once part of a large lake more than 40,000 years ago.

























Most tourists that visit the site will go on a jeep tour that lasts 2-4 days and often combines trips to colored lakes, rare rock formations, and other unusual stops. The town Uyuni, where most of the tour operators and jeep tour activity are based, is built up solely for trips into this barren wasteland. At the end of the tour many are left of at the Chilean or Argentine borders to continue a long journey, or return they spend an extra day to return to Uyuni.

Breathtaking Aerial Photography by George Steinmetz

George Steinmetz's aerial photography is nothing short of astounding, especially when you realize that they're taken from his paraglider.

Steinmetz, 51, has spent much of the last 12 years motoring above the African landscape in a gas-powered paraglider, engine and propeller strapped to his back, camera in both hands. His aerial images are deeply saturated with color, richly detailed, and struck with a perspective that you can only imagine as you stand on the ground and stare up at the birds. In dozens of stories for National Geographic and GEO and now in a gorgeous new book called African Air, Steinmetz has captured a view of the world that’s both documentary and art, with the rare ability to surprise and impress you at every turn of the page.