Bolivia: Valle de los Cardones

About half way on the road from Potosi to Uyuni, past the village of Pelica, the landscape opens in the broad lunar landscape of a valley packed with forests of upright cactuses as far as the eye can see. This species is the Oreocereus celsianus or locally called simply cardon, it’s the iconic cactus of high elevation semi-desert, covering the slopes of arid hills at above 3,800 m in elevation. The cactus is quite spectacular and distinct – tall, columnar stems up to 3–5m, with dense covering of long, silky-white or golden hairs that almost hide the stem. Deep magenta flowers emerge directly from the area near the stem tips. There are several other species of cacti lower at the ground level – barrel cactus and chollla.