Advertisement
Published: October 21st 2005
Edit Blog Post
The jeeps
After a hair raising 3 hour drive through 3 foot deep mud and the jeeps going sideways we finally stop for lunch. We have finally made it into the Amazon Basin. After spending nearly 3 months up in the Andean mountains we decided it was time for a change. We booked a flight to a small town called Rurrenabaque and a trip to 2 different areas of jungle exploration.
The Pampas
Is a vast area of Bolivia that is very flat and very wet. It is considered the easiest place to see wildlife in all its glory. After a 5 am start in La Paz we arrive and had another 3 hours in a jeep along a very muddy road, then another 3 hours in a boat to reach the camp. As soon as we are out of the jeep we start to notice 100s of species of very colourful small birds in all directions, as well as larger fishing birds, this continues to be the case for the next 4 days. We pack up the boat and after just 5 minutes we began to notice that there were little beady eyes staring at us from the waterline. At first we assumed they were just turtles that you could see lining up along anything that sticks out of the water, very
cute but then suddenly you notice that maybe the turtles are out of the water because, there you are feet away from large Alligators and Caimans. There are a lot of them, it feels like every 5 feet you see another, just barely visible above the waterline, pair of eye staring at you. A further 10 minutes brings us to a complete family of Capybaras, for those who do not know they are the largest rodents in the world, who are just chillin´ on the banks of the river. I believe they are very rare to see in the wild as they are very timid but here they are. For the next 3 hours you are confronted with a cacophony of wildlife in all directions you look. Turtles, Alligators, Caimans, Capybaras and more birds then I could ever name. And suddenly you come to almost everyone’s favorites the monkeys, and these guys are so cute. They look a little like Squirrel Monkey and are very playful. They come right down onto the boat, unfortunately probably for food, but still great fun to have them run all over you. Eventually we reach the camp only to find a family of Howler
Monkeys in the trees just above the camp to listen too, and they do make a lot of noise. That night we did the old hunt the Alligator in the dark trip, you simply shine a flashlight down the river and staring straight back at you is a set of very shiny eyes, very similar to cat’s eyes in the dark. Well that was it for day 1, apart from a big celebration the camp owners were having for completion of there new sleeping quarters. And yes we partied till the wee hours.
Thus Day 2 started a little heavy headed, especially as the Howler Monkeys were in action at 5:30, and as it was at least 30 Celsius in the shade, and since we had been in the mountains for nearly 3 months, this was a little hard for both of us. It was all worth it as the guide did manage to hunt down an Anaconda for us. It took him only about 20 mins of wading through thigh high water to find one, so I should imagine there must be thousands out there! After a few hours in the sun it was back to the camp
to chill in the hammocks until it was time to swim with the fresh water pink dolphins. Create to be close to them, but of course a little scary as there are pretty big Alligator and Piranha in the waters. But this is great way to cool down.
Day 3 started a little better and this is a simple day were we get to go Piranha fishing. This is very easy to do, just stick some cow meat on a hook, throw it in the water and bang, or more snap, you have fish. Quite veracious things they are. The rest of the day was spent travelling back to the city.
The Jungle
This area is more like your standard rainforest jungle. The wildlife started even at the park office, we saw a baby Anteater, its mother had been killed by poachers and the park is hoping to raise it to send it back into the wild. After a 4.5 hour boat drive, we arrived at the camp where you immediately see a big difference to the pampas as you cannot see more then 10 feet into the trees. This is obviously going to make for hard
wildlife watching. You can hear it all, but no way can you see it without a very well trained ear and eye. The first afternoon is spent checking out medicinal plants, of which there is a huge variety. They reckon there are plants to cure liver disorders, diabetes, asthma, rheumatism, skin disorders and any number of other ailments. It is reckoned that we only know ¼ of the plants that could be beneficial to medicine. As we were checking out the plants we managed to catch glimpses of wild pigs, more monkeys, and birds. That evening we all went for a night walk to try and see some of the night insects and creatures. Saw a bunch of frogs with really sticky suckers and night birds with huge reflective eyes, but not many insects as it was full moon, apparently they do not like full moon. The next day was the same with a bunch of time spent walking in the jungles and then chilling out in the afternoon as it was at least 100000000 degrees in the shade! We then got to make some rings from small coconuts. The next day was spent returning to the city and then
flying back to La Paz.
We had an incredible time here and we are looking forward to spending a little more time in some of the other parks of Bolivia.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.358s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 60; dbt: 0.1194s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb