Inside 'highest city on the planet' where people refuse to leave 'suicide homes'

Homes in Bolivia that are hanging onto the edge of a cliff by a thread are bizarrely still inhabited, despite those inside being just feet away from mortal danger.

The row of makeshift properties in El Alto have earned the nickname 'suicide homes' as the placement of them is that perilous, but the people who live there don't share the same concerns.

Instead, the locals who reside in the city that is situated around 13,615ft above sea level insist that the pads sit on 'solid ground' - even though experts say otherwise.

Aerial images of the suicide homes are enough to make most people queasy, given the drastic drop which is just a few metres away from them.

These colourful shacks sit on the mountain range around La Paz and are mostly inhabited by aymara shamans, who are also known as amautas or yatiris.

Experts have repeatedly issued warnings about the erosion of the cliff the homes sit on (AIZAR RALDES/AFP via Getty Images)

According to the Press Association, the area is considered sacred to the Aymara Indigenous people and the dwellings are typically used by them to perform rituals, as well as to rest their head for the night.

Other reports also claim that the rickety houses are often used as bases to make offerings to the Pachamama, or 'Earth Mother'.

Aymara shamans are said to believe that praying to the Andean gods will protect them from the degradation of the cliffside, despite warnings from experts and Bolivian officials.

One shaman named Tiburcio Condori defiantly told PA in 2024: "This is solid ground; it will not fall. That is what the coca leaf and Pachamama tell us."

Another, named Ana Chinahuanca, said of the cautions issued to those who live there: "They are giving bad information. This place is safe."

Condori also previously told Reuters: "It's like clay. It's not going to go down. The rain washes it away a little bit as always, but going down completely? That's not going to happen."

Those who inhabit the pads in El Alto insist they are 'safe' despite the perilous location (AIZAR RALDES/AFP via Getty Images)

But this row of teetering properties didn't earn a nickname like 'suicide homes' for nothing.

There is a drop which will take anyone who loses their footing hundreds of feet below into a rocky landscape - and officials have previously warned that the cliffside has been crumbling.

Due to global warming and increasingly volatile weather conditions, it has eroded significantly.

Gabriel Pari, the secretary of water and sanitation in El Alto, previously told the publication: "The precipice in this valley is 90 degrees. Above 60 is considered high risk.

"That is precisely why we want them to leave this place, if they do not want to leave we are going to have to use force."

Pari said that although he 'respects the rituals' carried out by aymara shamans, he simply cannot ignore the evident danger they are in.

A deadly drop sits just feet away from their doorsteps (AIZAR RALDES/AFP via Getty Images)

Authorities in El Alto have previously stated that people will be forced to evacuate if necessary - but two years on from these interviews, the inhabitants remain there.

Discussing the deadly drop on their doorstep and the erosion of the cliffside, the shamans vowed that they were staying put in 2024.

Manuel Mamani told Reuters: "We are not going to move from this place, because this is our daily work place.

"But we are going to take care of the soil, especially the rainwater - we are going to channel it so that the water goes somewhere else."

Gabriel Lopez Chiva also chimed in saying: "We can do an offering ceremony, we do it as a payment and in this way the land will never move because Pachamama needs an offering. It is like giving food and this way this place will not move. On the contrary, it will stabilise."

Here's to hoping that the Andean gods answer their prayers.