There is no traveler present who, in his/her list does not have a voyage to visit the world’s largest tropical rainforest. Amazon Rainforest is known as lungs of the earth as they convert 20% of carbon dioxide into oxygen. The Amazon basin envelopes nine South American countries, this clearly means that one does not have to take an expensive trip to Brazil to see forest. Bolivia provides an amazing trip to the basin and that too in a ready-to-travel-budget. Not only is it cheaper but, is also less crowded with other tourists and biologically diverse as Brazil as well.
The base camp for trip to the Bolivian Amazon is the Rurrenabaque town. There are two ways to see the Amazon from here:
- The Pampas
- The Jungle
The Pampas
The Pampas tours are the cheapest option to where you’ll reach the most wildlife such as alligators, the giant rodent capybara and squirrel monkeys. The Pampas are a wetland savannah on the periphery of the Amazon basin rather than deep in the jungle. The lack of trees shall fix your meeting with the amazing wildlife in the very beginning.
After a rough three hour ride to the jungle, to continue and hike the adventure level, now you have to move to a motorized canoe and have to take another travel of three hours in the river. This river trip let you have a close meeting to an amazing set of wildlife, which includes hundreds of alligators swimming with your boat, turtles sunbathing on wooden logs, complete families of capybara and trees occupied by tiny yellow squirrel monkeys. Also, you’ll find the nests of birds such as egrets, roseate spoonbills, herons, blue kingfisher, hoatzin and eagles all your way.
The waterside camp shall provide you mesmerizing experience in the middle of the trees with plenty of wildlife hovering around you every now and then. There are wooden huts on for accommodation and the wakeup call is given by the hoarse sound of howler monkeys. You can take feel the serenity of watching from the forest in the river bank.
The Jungle
For a more exemplary Amazon experience go for a jungle tour, this tour shall serve you the night where you can see the radiant red eyes of caiman, treks in the jungle (day and night), piranha fishing and you can take your creativity from Amazon home by making jewelry from nuts and seeds. Jungle treks are bit tiring in the heat but still it was exciting to see multicolored spiders and huge bugs. Above all this jungle is full of plants which are medically acclaimed. In general you will just enjoy the tranquility of being in the jungle, but conditions in the jungle are inflexible so don’t take this trek lightly.
Some Bolivian Amazon Travel Tips
- The best time to visit the Bolivian Amazon from May to October (dry season) when there is more wildlife attracted to the rivers and fortunately less mosquitoes. Pack a small mosquito net and anti-mosquito lotion too.
- There is no ATM in Rurrenabaque so bring plenty of cash.
- The Amazon is just not about wildlife, there are plethora of human cultures also which are extremely fascinating.
- Be patient and calm with wildlife, they are neither friends nor enemies. Be grateful that you are blessed with an opportunity to witness them. (Carry binocular for bird watching).
Complete the travel kit with sunscreen, rainproof gear, auto filtration water bottle and a hand sanitizer.
