Bolivia is a landlocked South American country.

The world’s largest butterfly sanctuary, which spans 24 hectares, is in Bolivia. It is located 20 minutes from downtown Santa Cruz, and is open 365 days a year.

A variety of amenities are available inside the sanctuary for the visiting guests. There are restaurants, bars, tent-camping facilities, bungalows, a resort hotel, picnic and barbeque areas, a huge are’s playground, biolabs and much more. You can spend weeks — not just days — inside the sanctuary without running out of things to see.

The North Yungas Road, which is also known as the Road of Fate or Death Road, is in Bolivia. It is 56 kilometers long, and as per an estimate, nearly 200-300 people died from falling off the road every year until recent improvements were made to the road to avoid casualties. The road also has cross markings on the places where vehicles have fallen in the past to alert passing drivers.

Bolivia has the world’s largest salt flat, which covers 10,582 square kilometers (4,086 sq mi) of area and is 3,656 meters above sea level. It contains 50 to 70% of the world’s lithium reserves.

Note that the altimeters of Earth observation satellites are calibrated on the salt desert due to its large area, clear skies, and exceptional flatness.

Salt flat in Bolivia.
Interesting facts about Bolivia: Salt flat. Image source: http://petapixel.com/
Madidi National Park, with an area of 18,958 square kilometers, is part of one of the largest protected areas in the world. Scientists have identified more than 1,000 varieties of butterflies living in the park.

Tiwanaku, located in Bolivia, is among South America’s most intriguing archeological sites.

Bolivia also has Lake Titicaca, which is the world’s highest navigable lake at 12,507 feet above sea level. It has a surface area of 8,300 square kilometers. It is shared between Bolivia and Peru.

San Pedro prison in Bolivia is another tourist attraction. Unlike other prisons around the world, this special prison permits its inmates to live with their families, work, earn and even buy or rent their accommodations.

View of San Pedro prison, Bolivia.
Interesting Facts About Bolivia: View of San Pedro prison. Image credit: http://www.lapazlife.com/
A hotel in Bolivia­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­–The Hotel Luna Salad–is built entirely from salt blocks including the interior and the furniture.

For those who have a special interest in dinosaurs, it will be interesting to know that there are 5055 footprints from at least 8 different species of dinosaurs in Bolivia on Cal Orko, an imposing limestone slab 1.5 km long and more than 100 meters high. The marks are 68 million years old. And they are on a vertical wall.

Learn that tectonic plate activity pushed the flat ground at such an incredible angle that it became a famous tourist spot for visitors from all over the world. Mother Nature has her own ways of preserving and revealing things…

During the 18th century, Bolivia was known as Upper Peru. It got its name from Simon Bolivar, the military and political leader.

Bolivia became independent on August 6, 1825 (from Spain).

An estimated eight million Andean Indians died because of the mining of Cerro Rico (Rich Hill). The mine is 4,860 meters above sea level. Each day, approximately 3,000 tons of minerals are brought out of it by around 15,000 miners. The mine has provided these resources for the past 460 years.

Bolivia is home to the highest administrative capital city in the world, La Paz. It is roughly 11,975 ft above sea level. It has one airport, and has a population of 1.816 million. However, the official capital city of Bolivia is Sucre. Thus, it is one of the few countries in the world with more than one capital cities.