Aside from having world’s largest deposits of lithium and being home to world’s largest salt flat, Bolivia boast another prime that attracts adventurers and adrenaline junkies from across the globe – The Most Dangerous Road in the World. The Road of Death or as it goes in Bolivia’s native Spanish: El Camino de la Muerte is well deserving of the “most dangerous road in the world” title and upon seeing the photos or experiencing the Road to Death in person, you will wholeheartedly agree.
El Camino de la Muerte stretches for almost 69 kilometers as a single lane road in poor condition and with no guardrails along the eastern slopes of The Andes which are notorious for extremely steep and endless drop-offs. To top it all up, the area gets often engulfed in fog with zero visibility and the road gets covered in mud with zero traction during rainy season.
History of Bolivian Road of Death
El Camino de la Muerte was built in the 1930′s – during Chaco War by the prisoners of war from by Paraguay as the only road connecting Bolivian capital La Paz with Amazon rainforest in North Bolivia. Given its location on steep slopes of The Andes, El Camino de la Muerte has been claiming lives ever since it was open for use. Due to its legendary dangers, El Camino de la Muerte was given a label of “the world’s most dangerous road” by the Inter-American Development Bank in 1995.
As the death toll kept rising, Bolivian government with aid from international sources initiated the construction of replacement route in late 1980′s. At present time there is a replacement route in place for one of the most dangerous parts of the 56 km (35 miles) long North Yungas Road (the one connecting La Paz with Coroico). The section between Chusquipata and Yolosa now contains a re-route to the north, which is paved according to international standards and meets safety requirements (quality asphalt, drains to keep water off the surface, solid bridges, guardrails along the plunges and multiple lanes for safer navigation).
Bolivian capital city Lapaz is the highest capital city in the world. El Camino de la Muerte is one of the main roads out of La Paz and as if cities altitude was not enough, when leaving the city by El Camino de la Muerte, you will be going higher and higher. Once you get to the altitude of almost 5 km above sea level, that’s when El Camino de la Muerte begins to descend in a series of narrow curves and half mile long drop-off near-misses until you are 3,600 meters lower than you were when you reached the top of the road of death.
