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Published: April 29th 2010
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Well guys having survived the "worlds most dangerous road", where they obviously place more importance on "walkie talkies" than sign posts and ambulances (as they are still on the pending list), it was time for more adventure this time in the Amazon basin.
Shortly into our 45min flight (alternative option was a 21 hr bus trip!) all 18 passengers were feeling this could be the most dangerous part of the next 5 days. A less than smooth landing on a less than convincing mud runway then followed, and we had landed in Rurrenabaque, the gateway to the Amazon.
This trip was destined to be a more than difficult few days than it needed to be. Upon arrival into the tin pot airport, tour companies are collecting their clients, loading them into 4x4´s then onto the jungle. One minor detail, between the tour companies and the agency we had booked it through there was no record of us! It started to look pretty bleak for us, however with Will´s spanish and James and my angry faces they put us in with another group that actually turned out to be really good. The next 3hrs in the 4x4 on yet another terrible road,
were not really what I needed with an extremely dodgy stomach. I got through it by taking over the passenger seat, relieving the guide and cook to the back with the others and passing out into a deep sleep!
As bad as I felt the Amazon was something I had wanted to do for many years, it was time, we had arrived at our boats so it was all about nature from here on in.
Ronny our guide has lived on this river since a child and was therefore the right man for the job. Within the 1st 10 minutes we had seen crocodiles pink dolphins, turtles, and an abundance of various species of birds including; stalk, kingfisher, heron, and there version of a pheasant, as well as what looked like a pig with an otters head on the river banks called an Capybara.
It was so hot, the river looked beautiful, sun in full blaze this was it I was cruising down a river in the Amazon. With wildlife everywhere my stomach decided to play up again, as we still had a while to go before our lodge I once again fell asleep only to be interrupted by a
Proud Piranha catch
excuse the appearance, sick note!! tree full of monkeys.
Day 2 and feeling full of enthusiasm and hunger pains I was ready and excited for a day that involved going down the river to see the animals at sunrise. Followed by breakfast, then it was into a walk in the searing heat to find Anaconda´s, or even just an Anaconda. We had our wellies on and we trekked into swamp lands, guides pushing and poking sticks around to try and find some movement, but nothing.
Until an hour later when Will stood 2ft to my left and 1 ft behind me in a foot of swamp water, unknowingly kicked something and it moved very quickly away. Hearing him swear I looked around and we thought we had an anaconda, "Ronny quickly we think we have found an anaconda, it went over there", Ronny prodding with his stick then...................splash, a crocodile spins and splashes as Ronny touched it with his stick, "stay still everyone, it´s a crocodile"! We kept looking for an anaconda but to no avail, it was still a very exciting couple of hours though.
The afternoon was no time to relax as we were out fishing for Piranhas. Armed with just a
simple line and hook, some beef and Ronny´s know how, up river we went. I managed to catch a Piranha and a sardine with the technique of as soon as you feel the bite whip the line into the boat, unfortunately for Will and James this meant into them! As the piranha came in they nearly went out, I had the photo of me with my catch then put him back in. Our other guide who got the nickname "Mick Dundee" some how caught a big turtle, apparently they must like beef.
Before bed there was enough time to go on the river armed only with touches and go crocodile eye spotting, which meant looking for small red dots lurking above the water.
Day 3 was our last day but no less exciting. After breakfast it was time to go swimming in the same river we had just spent 2 days looking at crocodiles in. We were assured that it was safe as long as the pink dolphins were around. When we saw 4 dolphins in we got, it was brilliant although slightly nervy, then a few boats turned up and started acting like it was sea world and
surprisingly the dolphins left as did we. Then we spotted only 20m away a croc silently slip into the river! We cruised further up river seeing some of the negative parts of tourism, with some tour groups and guides being intrusive to the animals.
It was time to head back for lunch pick up our bags and make our way back. I lost count but we must have seen well over 35 croc´s just sat on the river banks oxygenating themselves ready for a nights hunting.
The 3 days we had on the river were amazing seeing so much nature and wildlife. The diversity of Bolivia is incredible.
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Rene
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brilliant
absolutely brill Tom keep em coming but I see only for the next month, well I expect Mum and Dad will be glad to have you home Cheers all the best Aunt Rene