World’s Most Dangerous Salt Desert… INDIAN 🇮🇳 Cyclist Akela Fas Gaya 😨 | Bolivia 🇧🇴 Ep.43

They beat me badly and now my knee is hurting. They surrounded me completely. I fell so hard. The good thing is they only took the phone and didn’t take anything else.

There is a different kind of feeling when you have a flag with you. And this hut and house here are completely made of salt, brother. This place is called a cemetery – Train Cemetery.

So hello friends, I have reached my dream place. Namaskar, Salaam, Sat Sri Akal, Ram Ram ji — welcome back to my channel.

Right now, I am in Bolivia, in a town called Uyuni. This area is called Salar de Uyuni, which comes under the Potosí region. You can say Potosí is like a state here.

Me and my bike (Dhanno) have come out for a ride. First of all, I want to apologise. For the last one week, my health was very bad. I am still not fully fine. I stayed in my room the whole week, ordering food there. My oxygen level was around 65–70%, while normally it is 90–95%. That’s because I am at an altitude of 3700 metres above sea level.

For the last two days, I have started eating a little. Today, I will explore the city and the nearby Salar area. I will ride about 50–60 km, show you everything, and come back. This ride is just for you so that I can show you Salar de Uyuni.

Dhanno is ready, so I am leaving now. This hostel was costing me $15 per day (around ₹1300–1400). It is cheaper compared to Chile, and people here are very helpful.

There is even a sign written in Hindi here — “Welcome to Uyuni Salar”. It is written in many languages. The salt flats are 45 km away, so we will go and return from there.

It is 8 in the morning. I have taken all my luggage. Let’s see how the day goes.

This area is full of tourist offices and travel agencies. It is like the city centre. I will show you the full city later while returning.

Now I have reached the first place — the Train Cemetery.

So what happened here? In the 1800s, mining used to happen here. Nearby, there is a place called Potosí where silver was found in a mountain. Because of this, people from all over Europe came here. It became a mining city.

In 1880–90, they brought trains here. These trains used to run from Potosí all the way to Chile (Iquique). They transported aluminium, minerals, zinc, copper, etc.

But over time, resources reduced, and the foreigners left. Local people did not maintain the trains, so they turned into scrap. Now all these engines and coaches are collected here and placed in a line. That’s why it is called the Train Cemetery.

People come here for photography. It is a tourist place now. These are all old steam engines.

Now we will move towards the Salar (salt flats).

There is strong wind and a strange smell here. Tourists are everywhere. I have never seen so many tourists anywhere.

Let’s get something to eat and drink. After a little distance, the Salar will start, and we will eat there.

Here, salt is packed and sold. 50 kg of salt costs around $3 (₹300), which means ₹6 per kg.

Now I have entered the Salar. You must have heard about the Dakar Rally — it was held here between 2009–2012.

From the last 5 km, nothing was visible, and suddenly there are so many vehicles here. The land is so flat that you can even see the curve of the Earth.

There are flags of many countries here. I was searching for India’s flag but couldn’t find it. So I took out the small flags I had and placed one here.

This is an amazing feeling for me. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Placing our flag in such a beautiful place gives a different kind of feeling. It felt strange that flags of so many countries and clubs were there, but ours was missing. Now ours is there too. Thank you so much, God.

Brother, this entire building is made of salt. Earlier, this used to be a hotel, but the government closed it. Now they have turned it into a kind of museum.

Look at this — even the chair is made of salt. The table is also made of salt. Everything is made of salt, only the roof is made of tin. These are the hotel rooms. You can even stay here at night. The bed below is made completely of salt.

This is a photo from the time of the Dakar Rally. They are building something new here as well. All the bricks are made of salt. Just 10 metres below, the whole area is full of minerals. If you dig a little, you will find water.

They say there has been less rainfall this year, so it is not very wet right now. Otherwise, this place becomes quite wet.

Look at those flamingos — amazing! Stones have also been dug out from below along with salt bricks.

Now I have reached the middle of the desert, right inside the Salar. I honestly don’t know where I am roaming here. The land is so flat that you can even see the curve of the Earth — it looks unbelievable.

My condition is still not great, but I can see some support far away — maybe a vehicle. That gave me a bit of confidence. Otherwise, there is absolutely nothing visible here.

This area is spread over 11,000 square kilometres and is completely flat. You might see hexagon shapes everywhere — I will show you from above using the drone.

I am feeling breathless, but the drone view will look better.

Look at this — this poor creature looks frozen, turned into stone. This is the cactus island in the middle of Salar de Uyuni.

We started from Uyuni, came here घूमते-घूमते, and from here we will go back again. The total distance is huge — around 85 km one side, 200 km across. There are small islands in between, and there is also a big volcanic mountain nearby.

Cactus grows here. One cactus grows only about 5–7 cm in a year. That means these are thousands of years old.

This wood you see is actually cactus wood. People earlier used it to build roofs, but now cutting cactus is banned.

You can walk around on top as well. The entry ticket is 30 Bolivianos.

This place shows that there was once a sea here — these are old coral reef formations.

Earlier, people even made doors using cactus wood, but now it is banned.

The view from here is amazing. Look at the vehicles below… and the height of these cacti — unbelievable!

So finally, friends, I have reached my dream place. I wanted to see the reflection in the Salar — how my bike reflects on the water. I will make a video of that and show you.

There are a lot of people here, but in the video it might look empty. Many people are sitting near their vehicles.

I need to go back, but I don’t even know the exact distance — maybe 20–25 km. I don’t know how I will go back after sunset.

For now, I will fly the drone once more.

I have entered the water now — what an amazing feeling! I brought boots with me because my hostel owner advised me to. The whole feeling has changed completely.

Now I will have to wash all my clothes and bag because everything is covered in salt.

It’s 11 pm now. I have finally reached my room. My condition is really bad.

It’s a long story. Someone tried to snatch my phone. They actually took it. Then I went to the police station and shared my location. The police went there. The person was in a hotel. I got information that the phone is with them, and I might get it back by tomorrow.

Today was a very dangerous day. They even hit me, and my knee is hurting badly. They surrounded me and tried to snatch the phone forcefully. I refused at first, but it looked like they had something dangerous, so I let it go.

The good thing is they only took the phone and nothing else. It had just become dark, and vehicles were coming from behind, so maybe that saved me.

So this was today’s experience. Tomorrow I will go and collect my phone.

There is another big problem — elections are happening here on Sunday. Today is Tuesday, and during elections, travelling becomes difficult.

My advice is — whenever you travel to any country, avoid travelling 3–4 days before elections.

So I will stop travelling here for now. Tomorrow I will get my phone and then go directly to La Paz, the capital city.

First, I will wash my clothes and take a bath. My condition is really bad. I will try to arrange some food as well because the market is closed now.

Life shows different colours every day.

And when I fell earlier, my knee was already hurting a little, but after the fall, the pain has increased a lot. Tomorrow morning I will know how serious it is.