“Almost landed on a crocodile” - 3 days in the Bolivian Amazon

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Following a crazy day at the Oruro Carneval (will blog about this later – great day) I decided that I couldn't pass up the opportunity of taking a short flight from La Paz to Rurrenabaque to spend a few days in the Bolivian Amazon. Its easy to get to, much cheaper to see in Bolivia than Brazil and also unlike Peru and Brazil its malaria free (just as well given the number of mosquito bites I received).



Departing late from El Alto airport in La Paz we jumped in the small propeller-driven Amaszonas plane for the 40 minute trip to the small airstrip in the jungle outside Rurrenabaque. The 3 day Pampas excursion didn't get off to the smoothest start, arriving at the airport our driver for the 3 hour transfer to the Pampas hadn't turned up. This meant having to go to the office in town and argue with the tour operators about why it wasn't possible to just wait an entire day for the driver to come back! Fortunately there was a Spanish guy with me who was suitably angry and fluent in Spanish that eventually they arranged alternate transport for the long 'road' to Santa Rosa. I say 'road' in the loosest sense – this was a wide, muddy trail riddled with large rocks, potholes, flood waters, animals.....to be honest I think even World Rally Cars would struggle down it! Half way through the back breaking, bum numbing journey the 4x4 we were in lost its exhaust on a particularly large pothole making us the most popular car on the road as we travelled through the various villages with shotgun like noises firing out of the back of the car.



Arriving in the Pampas we took our Bolivian narrow boat which was to be our transport for the next few days to 'the lodge'. Again I say 'lodge' in the loosest sense as ours appeared to be more at the basic end of the spectrum – a dodgy generator that repeatedly cut out, rooms with netting that didn't even keep toads out let along insects and worst of all NO BEER! To be honest though after the first night we just got used to it and it became quite funny to laugh about. On the first afternoon after dropping our bags off we went on a trip to Sunset Point stopping repeatedly en route to see the differing flora & fauna. The animals are really noticeable when its sunny in the Pampas with monkeys, turtles, snakes birds and the like coming out in their droves. En route we saw various types of monkey, parrots, eagles and other birds and insects. Arriving at the shack called Sunset Point we were greeted by a pleasant sunset but also a torrential downpour which cut the viewing short. Unfortunately in typical James 1^st day excursion style I also managed to cut my finger open when launching the narrow boat to head back to the lodge which meant swimming in the bacteria riddled waters with the dolphins the next day was off the cards. Although this was to prove pointless in hindsight! After a nice if somewhat rationed meal we dodged the huge Toads on the gangway in the lodge to retire for the evening.



Day 2 began with the heaviest rains I think I have ever seen, although I guess this is probably to be expected when visiting a rain forest in the rainy season! Undetered we departed in the narrow boat to see the famous Pink Dolphins of the Amazon up close. These really are amazing creatures – very inquisitive but also very illusive. Unfortunately I don't think the dolphins like the rain and although they were curious the sunny period during the afternoon proved much better for getting a closer look. Unfortunately following another rainy spell the other Bolivian tourists who were good fun decided they were fed up of the damp and left – meaning I was Billy no mates for the afternoon. Having come this far however I didn't want to leave and fortunately the weather did improve considerably for the afternoon and the following day. In the afternoon we again went in search of wildlife in the boat and were able to get as really close to the dolphins and also some crocodiles. These were pretty big and looked pretty scary but I was assured they were nothing compared to the fearsome Cayman crocodiles that also lived in the area.



With it being the rainy season the grassy areas under the raised lodges are flooded – the crocodiles absolutely love these areas as it provides them with the perfect 3 feet or so of water that they can sit still in and remain hidden from prey – such as unwitting English tourists that fall in the water. Taking close up photos of the crocodiles and watching the guide feed them pieces of chicken earlier in the day I remember thinking that it would be pretty terrifying to be near one at the same level. Unfortunately this was exactly what happened later in the day when we went Piranha fishing. Piranhas tend to also unfortunately inhabit the same areas as crocodiles and so we ventured to a nearby lodge to do some fishing from one of the raised wooden walk ways. Spotting the rather large and vicious looking croc below I thought to myself “be careful James you don't want to fall in and get eaten by a crocodile”. I started thinking about what kind of random speech someone would have to write for the funeral – you'd never be able to live that one down. So steadying myself using the hand rail I threw my line with my chicken bait into the water to catch me some Piranha. The problem wasn't so much that the heavy wooden hand rail was loose as much as it was barely attached to the bloody post at all! It was just resting there! So flying into the water next to the crocodile landed the hand rail along with myself. I have never jumped back out of 3 feet of water so quickly in my life....! Fortunately I think the crocodile was more terrified of the almighty splash than I was and bolted to the other side of the flooded area. Standing there soaking wet my flustered guide came running over frantically asking if I was okay. Soaking wet and laughing I think he thought I was slightly unhinged...



The final day in the Pampas was really hot and sunny and so we made the trip to Anaconda island to try and spot one of these huge snakes. Sure enough we did manage to see an Anaconda but it was a baby and looked pretty similar to the slow worms you used to often see in the UK as a kid. A more impressive sight on the island however was a rattlesnake, not so impressive were some of the exceptionally dumb Dutch tourists who were trying to get decent photographs ridiculously close to the snake given their iphones had limited zooms. I'd had my close encounter with the local wildlife so kept my distance. The afternoon was really sunny and proved to be the best day for spotting wildlife – it seemed that pretty much everything had come out to enjoy the sunshine and we saw lots of turtles, porcupines, dolphins, monkeys, birds and other creatures before heading back to Rurrenabaque via 'the road' for a restful evening prior to the flight back to La Paz.



Unfortunately due to a delayed flight back to La Paz I missed the nightbus to Uyuni, fortunately however I managed to get a discounted ticket through the airline to fly there first thing in the morning so I'm still on schedule to see the Salt flats, flamingos and other sites before crossing the border into Chile! Ciao!

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