Satellite
Show on map
  • Day 90

    Rurrenabaque

    May 3, 2017 in Bolivia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    The Pampas Tour was incredible, maybe even one of my favourite things so far.

    Dad and I got up at 5am to get to El Alto airport for our flight to Rurrenabaque. It was funny because we by random coincidence got the plane with some people I had met in Patagonia (small world eh). The plane was the tiniest plane I've ever been on - it could fit about 20 people and you could see into the cockpit from where you were seated. Once in Rurrenabaque we met our tour group (2 Belgian guys, 2 girls from Holland and a South African woman) and drove 3 hours until we reached the Yucuma river.

    We then got onto canoe boats and had a 2 hour boat ride to our jungle lodges. The boat ride was incredible because we stopped and got to see all sorts of different wildlife - pink dolphins, cappuccino monkeys, eagle, turtles and loads more. I really liked the lodges we were staying in, they were built on the water and have caymans beneath us named Pepe and Santa 😂. Dad and I got a twin room which was good because the others had to share a dorm.

    We went to watch the sunset and when it got dark we went looking for caymans. This was difficult because you can only really notice them from the light reflecting off their eyes. We did see some but the best bit was the stars because there was no light pollution so you could see the whole Milky Way so clearly. That's only thing we really do miss out on in England, especially in London.

    The next day we went looking for anacondas in the swamps. This was made more difficult because it was the rainy season and so there was more places to look. We had to get waist-deep and wade through the water, and we only found one snake at the end and it was really small. After we went swimming with pink dolphins which was fun. Once we got back in the boat and started to leave we saw a green mamba coming towards our boat like it was about to attack our boat. This was pretty scary because we had just got out of the water and it was really close to where we had been swimming. Our guide said that if a green mamba snake bit you you'd only have 30 minutes to live.

    We went back for lunch and then had a siesta in the hammocks. After we went piranha fishing which (I never had myself down as someone who would enjoy fishing) but it was actually really fun. I kept nearly catching the fish but you have to pull the line out of the water really quickly and the fish had escaped by the time I pulled it out. In the evening we played cards and pool.

    The last day of the tour we got up early in order to watch the sunrise. We also did more swimming with the dolphins and then headed back to Rurrenabaque for our flight back to La Paz. The airport is also a one man and his dog kind of place but it was nice because we sat outside and drank beers until we had to get on the flight.

    We had such a great time in the Amazon, made even better by a fun tour group and a really good guide. The wildlife there was incredible - some of the best I've seen in South America so far. I'm so glad I can tick the Amazon off my bucket list and I got to do it with my Dad.
    Read more