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Our jungle trip started with a 40 minute flight from La Paz to Rurrenbaque; sounds straightforward but this was on a tiny 19 seater plane that first had to fly through the mountains surrounding La Paz and then land on a dirt runway in the middle of the jungle, all of which was done with all passengers having a full view of the cockpit and the pilots! But we survived and had a pretty smooth journey (it certainly beat the 18-24 hours bus alternative).
After a very bumpy jeep transfer into town we checked ourselves into a hostel and then just had to prepare for our trip into the rainforest the next day. It turns out Rurrenbaque is nothing but a tourist town so once you´ve booked your trip and bought some second hand jungle clothes there´s very little to do but sit in a bar, eat pizza and drink!
Our excursion was with a company called Madidi Travel who have won various awards for ecotourism and have been covered in National Geographic for their conservation work. They have their own reserve just outside the national park where most other tour groups go. We ended up paying around three times more than a lot of other companies but were completely swayed by the promise of no other tourist groups, great food and accommodation, top guides and the opportunity to see wildlife in a natural setting rather than being chased down and molested by big groups of tourists which is what seems to happen on some of the cheaper tours.
It´s fair to say we weren´t disappointed. After a couple of hours floating down the river Beni and a short walk through the rainforest we arrived at our beautiful cabin, situated in the middle of the jungle with only four simple beds, a flushing toilet and cold shower and mosquito nets as walls allowing us to fall asleep and wake up to the sounds of the jungle every morning. Even more spectacular was the four tiered wooden casa grande on the bank of the main lake where we ate amazing food and juices thanks to Wilson the chef, mingled with the few other tourists that were staying and spent plenty of time chilling out in the hammocks watching and listening to the jungle go by.
One of the perks of the trip was that the four of us had our own highly knowledgeable guide, Choco, who allowed us to choose the activities we wanted to do and tried his best to find the animals we most wanted to see. Thanks to Choco we spent four incredible days rowing around the lakes, fishing for piranhas (and eating our catch) and walking through the jungle looking for animals during the day and night. It seemed we had luck on our side as we saw all five monkey species that live in the park, caiman, deer, macaws, tarantulas and all manner of other birds and insects. The highlight of the four days was undoubtedly heading deep into the rainforest following the sound of the howler monkeys until we arrived at the tree they were sitting in and spent 15 minutes looking up as a group of around 10 howler monkeys sat watching us.
Unfortunately after four unforgettable days in the jungle we had to say goodbye to Choco, Wilson and everyone else who lived and worked at the ecolodge who made our stay so amazing and head back to La Paz.
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