The Bolivian Amazon

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Rurre, as the locals call Rurrenabaque, is a small town of some 10,000people. The airport is in the town but the landing strip is 2km away. It appears to be an old settlement, on the banks of river Beni, one of the myriad of "small" tributeries of Amazon river. It is approx. 700m wide and fast flowing. The tour operator was waiting for me at the airport, but as the flight from La Paz was more than an hour late the tour had already left. He was very apologetic and was helpfull in rearranging my return flight and hotel accommodation so that I can still get my 2 days in the jungle trip.

The hotel was on the outskerts of the town but was very scenic and environmentally friendly. It was a resort style hotel with all rooms on the ground floor. The nets on the windows indicated there could be a problem with mosquitos. It had a dining room, outdoor swimming pool, and a panaramic vie of the river.

Now in the hotel I had more than half a day to kill. I took up a suggestion from the landlady to hire a motor bike and tour the town and surrounding areas. I had not driven a bike as far as I can remember except when at college, took my dad's bike when he was on a tour, after picking its lock. Unfortunately this bike had manual leg gears which needed some getting used to. Once that was mastered everything else was easier. I had a great 4 hours on the motorbike, went to places I could not get to otherwise. Like most other towns in South America the streets were laid out in perfect squares, no traffic lights, you just have to be mindful who is coming from the sides. The hotel had an outdoor pool but the place was almost deserted, being at the edge of town ?

"Mishaquipe" (our tour operator) collected me from the hotel at 0830 hrs, by 0900 hrs we had crossed the river by speedboat, purchased entry tickets to Madidi National Park and was on our way to Mishaquipe lodges in the protected area. I was with a British couple in their 30s touring South America for 6 months. Our guide Eloy who was from the indigenous tribes around the area (spoke fairly good English) informed us the tour plan. The trip up river was 3 hours. On the way we called to a riverside settlement. The settlements permitted under the natural preservation order normally consist of 8 to 12 families. They cultivate everything from rice, bananas, sugarcane, cocoa, oranges, lemon, coconuts etc, though each settlement specialised in one. The settlement we visited was specialising in sugarcane. There was a big 3 roll sugarcane squiser (made of hard wood) with pole to drive it normally by a donkey, but now the visitors took that part. We squished 4 sugarcanes to get approx. 5 litres of juice which was nice to drink but was delicious with half a lemon squashed in. The people had everything they need including a primary school within a km. The only things they had to get from outside was salt and paraffin for their boats. For this they traded their goods at the Sunday market in Rurre. The indiginous peoplemaint consisted of 3 groups, Takanas, Quechas and a blend of the two. In half an hour we were back on the river. By 1200hrs we were in the lodge.

The chalets were well made and luxurios for jungle conditions. We were also given a sumptuous lunch of chicken, rice, tomatos, lentils etc. We planned for the jungle walk starting at 1430 and a night walk around 2000hrs. The day walk was through tracks in dense jungle which lasted for 3 hours. We could not see any animals but Eloy kept informing us about the plants and their relevance to the indigenous culture. He was explaing why some trees were used for making certain articles as arrows, working parts, and sometimes even as cures for ailments especially in babies. He also showed the ants which only consumed mushrooms which they cultivated in their mount houses using high sugar leaf particles which they were constantly bringing to their mounts. We looked for Toucans but the dense lower vegitation made it almost impossible to spot.There were also verieties of palms including the "walking tree" and giant trees, called Almondrellas, almost as big as the one in "Avatar" which also held high significance to the indiginous people. The walk ended with coffee and banana chips which we took to the viewing platform for the Amazon. The platform gave a fantastic view of the river from above 200m with a lot of different birds in view. After dinner around 2000hrs there was an hour long night walk through the forest. It did not produce any animal sightings. There were giant Tarantulae, fireflies and bats. The forest seemed eerily quiet tonight. The nightfall did not bring any respite in sweating. After a quick shower we got into our net covered beds. Probably the walk, I was sleep soon. At night there were no lights as the generator shut off at around 2200hrs.

In morning again after a sumptuous breakfast we got back on the river went for an hour upstream into a tributory of Rio Beni, then we were in a second base camp. Another jungle trek of over 2 hours to the Macac view point, 200m high from the river bed, where you could see many of the birds flying always in pairs. These beautiful large blue birds with large red neck and head were a sight in flight. They were supposed to be paired for life and if the partner dies the other bird remain single for life. Soon th English couple had to leave for their jungle camp, I had to return to base camp to be ready for getting back to Rurre and my flight to La Paz in the evening. Return trip to Rurre took only one hour instead of the 3 hour trip up stream. At the base camp we had lunch and a small lie in before we started for Rurre. We were in Rurre in good time, went to Amazona's office to get the bus for airport.

Rurre was a surprise of the tour. Even though I did not see many animals, Amazon was enough for me. The boat rides through the raging river was exhilerating. If any body is prepared for the extream humid conditions one should not miss this side btrip. There are many tour agencies in Rurre, The one I got one of the best ones.

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Photos

Macac watch
Madidi reserve

To upper camp
Madidi reserve