Current situation of Salar the Uyuni
 

Hi all,

If anyone is heading for Salar the Uyuni to make a tour, take your time.

The goverment of Bolivia have suspended all Tours to the Salar the Uyuni for a undetermine time. To much water and too much jeep stuck with tourists. It started today when I went to shop for a tour. A day ago and I would have been ok!

Also the road from Potosi to Uyuni was very bad. In many sections, some part of the road were gone and replace by river of few hundred meters. I cross them all alone but that was not safe. In some rivers, if you would stop walking, you would sink. That was a bit scary. You can not make a mistake or you may loose your bike.

Tomorrow I'm going south of Uyuni towards Laguna Verde. I hope it's going to be better.

Patrick

Hi Patrick
Good info. I am currently in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile and was thinking about crossing into Bolivia but I met some cyclists who had given up on the Salar because it was too wet and ssid that coming east out of bolivia was bad as well, They got a bus !

I hope the Lagunas are ok for you. Very sandy route i hear, and no fuel.

Good luck

Dave

hello out there,

i think the described conditions are usual for this time of year. but i suggest you should never decide for a southwest tour while taking the salar de uyuni situation as an indicator.
that's because if the uyuni is ok, it does not mean that the much more difficult salar de chiguana is passable! this salt lake can turn into a mud hell very quickly.

if you're in doubt, better go via san christobal and alota to the lakes.

good luck to everyone

From Uyuni they are building a new road that will save all the trouble with the thick mud suggested by Desert Soul. This can be terrible depending on the time of year. Just 6 weeks ago when everything was drier the old roads were too muddy for me on my Africa Twin. The new road is not on most of the maps but is a consolidated gravel based road. I reckon this might help you get across to the border post at Ollague or certainly speed up the route south to the lakes. I posted a better description a few weeks ago if you care to check that out.

Good luck!

Matt