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Published: August 13th 2006
Pampas trip1
This is the plane we flew in. Yes mum, i am still alive..After looking at a couple of the tour deals in La Paz we decided to fly to Rurrenabaque and book a Pampas tour directly from there. We booked a 3 day Pampas tour and set off the next day in a 4 wheel drive with the driver, our Chilean guide, "Nikos", and a few other tourists.
Oh yeah, the night before we went to the Moskitto Bar, which is full of gringos. Was privilaged to hear one Irishman´s account of his extra long jungle trip in which some freak weather occurred which eventually led to the death by drowning of an 18 year old guide in front of his eyes. The matter-of-fact way in which he related this tragedy to us, all the while enjoying his steak and ships, was kind of sick. Thought i would stick to the pampas tour and give the jungle a miss....
The pampas tours all seem fairly similar. Activities included spotting various wildlife such as capybara (a semi-amphibious rodent), caimans, monkeys and heaps of birdlife while meandering down the river in a motorised canoe.
After the piranha fishing expedition, any fish caught were cooked up for lunch. I managed to catch a
Pampas trip2
Capybaras on the side of the river catfish but, as he had been traumatised enough, he was set free.
Also did a trek in the pampas and swamp where we searched for anacondas - well mostly the guide searched with a stick once we´d given up. Finally he shouted "anaconda" and emerged with one poor, frightened snake in hand. Not the gigantic, fearsome beast I had imagined out of the b-grade movie "Anaconda II", but lucky we found one at all.
By the way, when booking a tour ensure that you´re given gumboots - we were given patheric, thin, canvas runners in which to slosh through the muck. Needless to say I might as well have been barefoot.
The swimming with pink dolphins activity was a bit of a con. The canoe was moored in a muddy area of the river which was swarming with caimen. There were a couple of "pink" dolphins in the area but they looked more grey to me and they kept their distance from those swimmers brave/silly? enough to hop in.
Another activity involved being woken up at 5:30am in order to ride down the river with torches in hand and view the wildlife activities. Well wildlife was
Pampas trip3
Our illustrious guide spotting the wildlife for us while canoeing down the river just before sunrise... not so stupid as to be up at this time and our illustrious guide wasn´t able to spot any for us anyway, as he was too busy snoozing in the canoe. Yeah, don´t expect anything from your guide, especially if you´re hoping for an English translation. Even if they do speak a little English, they´ll mostly forget you exist and just continue with Spanish.
The accommodation doesn´t seem to differ much between companies. All in together in a big shelter, beds had thin-as-a-board mattresses, NO PILLOW, and individual mozzy nets. No showers and smelly, bucket flush toilet. OK well I guess it IS the jungle...
The food provided was 3 meals a day. Lunch and dinner were 2 courses and very adequate - like a soup followed by rice and chicken or some salads.
Pampas trip is quite different to the jungle trips, and you definately see more wildlife but watch out who you book with and how much you pay is probably a good indication of what you´ll get.
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