Laguna Colorada lies at about 4,300 metres on the Bolivian Altiplano, inside the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve, and it is one of the strangest sights in South America. The water is a deep rust red, stained by algae and sediments, and it is dotted with white islands of borax and salt, with thousands of flamingos wading in the shallows. Three species, the Andean, the Chilean and James's flamingo, feed here, and the contrast of pink birds, red water and white crust against a backdrop of brown volcanic peaks is almost too much.
The altitude is the main fact of life. The air carries less than two thirds of the oxygen at sea level, engines lose power and riders feel it, with headaches, breathlessness and slow thinking. Acclimatise for several days in Uyuni or at similar heights before coming, drink water, avoid alcohol and be ready to turn back. Nights are bitterly cold, often well below freezing, and the wind is strong and constant, so dress for winter even in summer.
The route here from Uyuni is a track of sand, gravel and corrugated ripio, crossing salt flats and open desert, and it is a serious undertaking on two wheels. Road bikes will struggle, and even adventure bikes need skill, as soft sand and washboard surfaces are tiring, and river crossings can be deep. Many travellers go by four-wheel drive with a driver, and riders should be self-sufficient, with spare fuel, water, tools and a satellite communicator.
The reserve charges an entry fee, payable in cash, and the basic refugios, simple hostels with shared rooms and bare food, are the main accommodation. A few kilometres on lie the Sol de Mañana geyser field, a steaming landscape of boiling mud at nearly five thousand metres, and the Laguna Verde, a green lake beneath the Licancabur volcano on the Chilean border.
Come in the dry season, from roughly May to October, when roads are firm. The silence, the colour and the flamingos at sunrise, with the lake blushing in the early light, are the memory you take away.