Exportadora de Sal

Exportadora de Sal operates the world's largest salt evaporation works, covering an enormous area of tidal flat south of town. The process is simple in principle: seawater is pumped into a series of shallow ponds, where solar evaporation concentrates the brine through successive stages until salt crystals form and are harvested by machines. The result, seen from the road, is a surreal landscape of flat white geometric ponds stretching to the horizon, occasionally pink or orange where the most saline pools support dense colonies of brine shrimp and halophilic algae.

Tours of the salt works can be arranged through the company or through local tour operators — the machinery that harvests and washes the salt is genuinely impressive in scale. The salt ponds also attract large concentrations of shorebirds and wading species, making them worth visiting for birdwatchers even without a full tour.

things to do sight
A story
The salt operation at Guerrero Negro is the largest in the world by volume. The town itself was founded in 1954 to serve the salt works, which are jointly owned by the Mexican government and the Japanese company Mitsubishi. More than 7 million tonnes of salt are exported annually, primarily to Japan and the United States. The salt evaporation ponds, seen from above, create a series of pink and white geometric patterns across the desert landscape — the colour comes from halophilic bacteria and algae that thrive in the most concentrated brine.