Blogs from Madidi, Beni Department, Bolivia, South America

Puisque nous sommes à l'orée de la forêt amazonienne, pourquoi ne pas aller faire un petit tour au coeur du sujet, pour y découvrir d'un peu plus près la flore et la faune qui s'y trouve ?! Le parque Nacional Madidi, au coeur de la Bolivie, s'étend sur 1,8 millions d'hectares. Il préserve l'écosystème de la forêt tropicale, qui représente une grande partie des espèces animales présentes sur la planète et une inombrable variété d'espèces végétales. C'est un endroit protégé, surveillé (autant que faire se peut), où la dégradation des espèces est strictement interdites, ce qui sous-entend la chasse, la pêche, l'abattage des végétaux, etc. Des communautés indigènes vivent encore au sein du parc, et de nombreux projets communautaires y voient le jour. La selva, ou forêt amazonienne, représente la grande majorité de la superficie du ... read more

After La Paz we spent a few nights in the beautiful valley town of Coroico, surrounded by colourful flowers and luscious greenery, even though it rained it was a pretty blissful spot. We stayed at a hostel up on the hillside, with hammocks, spectacular views and morning yoga classes. We walked to some waterfalls, although the scenery en route was more impressive than the falls themselves, as we walked passed coca fields, orange and banana trees and had great views across the valley. From nearby Yolosita we embarked on night bus to Rurrenabaque, the bumbiest bus ride I have ever experienced! The roads out of the valley were narrow, windy and on the cliff edge and for the rest of the way completely unsealed. At one point my bum left the seat so much my head ... read more

The next morning, we got up early to get our taxi to La Paz airport. We ordered our breakfast for 8am (it cost a bit extra) but it didn´t come till 8.15. We rushed out to our taxi, after gulping down our breakfast and the owner of the hostel came out and gave us our money back! We got our taxi to the airport and checked in. When it was time to board the plane we headed out onto the tarmac."Plane" is an overstatement. It was like a toy plane with propellers and held about 20 people. You couldn´t stand up straight in it! You could also see right into the cockpit- I still don´t know if that´s a good thing or a bad thing. The flight started off bumpy, but once we levelled out we ... read more

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

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