Coipasa Salt Flat

salt flat, Bolivia

Also known as: Coipasa Flat, Salar de Coipasa

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Spanish:: Salar de Coipasa

See all related content

Coipasa Salt Flat, salt flat, in the arid but colourful Altiplano of Bolivia, about 100 miles (160 km) southwest of the city of Oruro, near the Chilean border. At an elevation of 12,073 feet (3,680 metres), the flat, Bolivia’s second largest (after Uyuni Salt Flat), occupies 856 square miles (2,218 square km). Lake Coipasa directly to the north receives the intermittently flowing Lauca River from the northwest and is connected to Poopó Lake to the east by the Lacajahuira River. The Chipaya people live at the edge of the salt flat, where they hunt for birds and fish. Thousands of flamingos have settled on the shores of Lake Coipasa.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Maren Goldberg.