Blogs from Madidi, Beni Department, Bolivia, South America
March 6th 2012
So, it had just turned 4.30am and the four of us (Donna, Helen, Troy and I) were waiting in the reception of the hostel in order to jump in our cab to the airport. I was still a little delicate, but felt OK to travel, so this was good news being that I wouldn’t have to miss out on any of the action! On arrival at the airport, check-in and customs all went very smoothly, and before we knew it, we were in the departure gate 45 minutes away from our flight. Half an hour later and in true Bolivian style, we were told that the flight was delayed an hour due to bad weather in the jungle and so we waited. An hour later, we got the same message and so another hour passed. This ... read more
Snakes, Spiders and Salmon - The Bolivian Jungle
Published: September 18th 2011South America » Bolivia » Beni Department » Madidi
August 11th 2011
The jungle was my personal challenge. Doing a trip into the jungle of South America is probably the most obvious trip for a tourist to do whilst in the continent. The prospect of spending time in an environment that contains giant spiders, snakes and every other creature that lurks in the nightmares, I couldn't wait to get there. The pampas tour is an easy animal spotting tour. The jungle was my personal challenge. We emptied our backpacks of all our possessions except for a couple of toiletries and a change of clothes before heading to Mogli's office and being loaded up with what felt like several tonnes of gear. Included in this heavy was a sleeping bag, a mosquito net and a bag of what we were told was food but felt like bricks. Joining Ciaran ... read more
A Recipe for Amazon Jungle Lemon-Aid
Published: August 28th 2011South America » Bolivia » Beni Department » Madidi
July 8th 2011
First, you have to get yourself to the Amazon. Which means, in the case of the Bolivian Amazon Jungle, either flying in from La Paz by bush plane, or taking a 15 hour bumpy bus down a path that includes the stretch of road dubbed “The World’s Most Dangerous Road” by an international banking community. I’m not sure why banks are in the business of finding the most dangerous roads. Anyhow, it was named this because of the percentage of deaths per year on it, including plunges of autos straight down cliffs. After reading this, I decided to take the plane. Even taking the plane is not ordinary. First of all, to fly into or out of La Paz, the capital city, takes extra precautions for the larger planes. La Paz has the world’s highest international ... read more
Jungle Doctor and a Place Called Mashaquipe
Published: August 28th 2011South America » Bolivia » Beni Department » Madidi
July 8th 2011
I had been sick in Bolivia for five days. REALLY sick. Lying in bed and moaning sick. Almost sick and scared enough to go to a Third World hospital. I won’t go into details, let’s just say the toilet had to be really, really near by. I honestly don’t know, other than by my sheer traveling might, how I caught a bus and a plane to the jungle, but I did it. I should have probably been hooked up to an I-V. I met some great guys from a place called Mashaquipe, which is a cooperative jungle camp organized by indigenous people of the Tuichi River area. When I signed up with them to go to their camp, I told them how sick I was and that I might have to cancel. They told me not ... read more
June 26th 2011
After an unfortunate episode of illness on finishing in the Pampas (thank goodness for the fully stocked pharmacy we brought with us!), diagnosing malaria, cholera and aemobiasis (with no matching symptoms) we got ready for the jungle. We´d decided to go for the pricy jungle trip...then decided it was too expensive for not looking fancy enough (Chalalan Lodge) and went for the off-shoot Baraco del Madidi. Definitely the right decision as it was incredible! In additional to the unfortunate episode, the weather had also changed. Whilst these two incidents together saved us a good few pennies as we refrained from checking into the ´luxury´ Hotel Safari with its river side pool (and I´m sure fabulous cocktails), it did unfortunately mean that we were rather cold for our trip up the river. Jungle = cold was a ... read more
October 21st 2010
We wanted to have a few days in the 'Amazon' which from what we´d heard was best and cheapest in Bolivia, north of La Paz. It isn´t really the Amazon proper, actually Madidi on the river Beni which flows into the Amazon. The only problem is that it is either a 20 hour rough bus ride or a flight away on a little plane. From the horror stories we´d heard of grown men crying through fear of the bus tumbling off a cliff and of 20 hour journeys on rubbish buses turning into epics with breakdowns and landslides we decided the better option of taking the plane, which is substantially more expensive but only takes 40 mins. So we set off for La Paz airport at 5am to get our flight an hour later and join ... read more
In the jungle, the mighty jungle!
Published: July 29th 2010South America » Bolivia » Beni Department » Madidi
July 28th 2010
Woke up at the crack of dawn to go to the Amazon jungle today. Naturally I went mad on the DEET, and after a breakfast of Oreo’s and crackers, yep they sell Oreos in Bolivia, pretty much everywhere...we set off via boat. I joined a group of married couples, similar age to me....see life doesn’t end after marriage... I still think it’s too young to get married though. The tour guide, Antonio is 28, no wife or kids, and has never left Bolivia. On my travel blog I entered all the countries I’ve visited and it was only 8%, which I thought was pretty poor, but compared to Antonio I’ve been to lots of countries. I should stop moaning really. After the boat ride, we were trekking off the beaten track...they were no tracks, we had ... read more
May 7th 2010
This blog is about our recent trip into the heart of the Bolivian Amazon We decided to visit the Madidi National park because it has the highest biodiviersity of anywhere on the planet and it is situated on the Rio Beni which flows into the main amazon river. Our starting point was the town of Rurrenabaque deep into the jungle. Because of the terrible roads in Bolivia and its remotness the town is only reachable by plane or via a 3 day boat journey so we decided to fly in. We flew in a tiny propellar plane that had 18 seats and into a grass airstrip just outside of town, as soon as we got off the plane the heat and humidity hit us and we knew we were in the jungle. We booked a 4 ... read more
Madidi Nationalpark im bolivianischen Urwald
Published: May 6th 2010South America » Bolivia » Beni Department » Madidi
May 6th 2010
Das Staedtchen Rurrenabaque noerdlich von La Paz ist ein guter Ausgangspunkt, um den bolivianischen Urwald zu entdecken. Da die Anreise mit dem Bus langwierig und nicht ganz ungefaehrlich ist, goennen wir uns zum ersten Mal auf dieser Reise einen Inlandflug. Der Anflug mit dem 19-plaetzigen Propellerflugzeug ist ungewohnt, aber aeusserst interessant, da wir direkten Blick ins offene Cockpit haben. Die Hitze bei der Ankunft erschlaegt uns fast und wir brauchen einige Zeit, bis wir uns an das tropische Klima gewoehnt haben. Nach rund 2h Bootsfahrt flussaufwaerts auf dem Rio Beni erreicht man den Madidi Nationalpark, welcher fuer seine Biodiversitaet bekannt ist. Wir verbringen insgesamt vier Tage im Park, wobei wir waehrend zwei Tagen ein Trekking mit Campieren im Urwald machen. Begleitet werden wir von einem einheimischen Fuehrer und einer Koechin. Die restlichen zwei Tage verbringen wir ... read more
November 14th 2009
Making our way up the rio Beni it felt like we were embarking upon a real adventure. The jungle you read about as a child, those tales of mysterious Africa, felt real as we headed up to our jungle lodge deep in the Amazon basin. This definitely felt different to our jungle trip in Peru. There was just something about it that made you feel like you were venturing into the unknown. This was the jungle that I had signed up for. A gruelling seven hour boat ride from Rurrenabaque and we arrived at the river bank ready for a half hour walk to the lodge itself. Already at the end of that half hour, sweat pouring down my face and back. We were to get used to this. The idea of the jungle is very ... read more
