The pampas and jungle tours are based from Rurrenabaque (or "Rurre" as it's known), an hour north of La Paz by plane, or 20 hours on a bus. I'd spoken to someone who went by bus, sharing their tiny bench seat with a family and their crate of chickens. As interesting and authentic as that experience would have been, the novelty would have worn off well inside 20 hours so I opted for a flight. Transport in and out of Rurre was tricky when I went. The flight I did book was delayed by a day due to the airstrip at the other end being too wet, and when we did arrive we found the town busy with people who'd done their tours but were still waiting to get out.
The thing was, apparently there'd been a factory planned for construction near Rurre, but the location was changed not long before construction was due to commence. The locals, unhappy that more jobs wouldn't be coming after all, did what Bolivians do best (next to striking) and blockaded the roads in and out of the area. This had been going on for 2 weeks before we got there, and they spiced things up by setting off dynamite on the roads to boot. All of which meant no buses were getting in or out, leaving hundreds of gringos to compete for the limited number of spaces on flights, on the days they were going. (I should make it clear here I have no problem with the Bolivians' appetite for civil disruption: it's good to see people exercising their voice instead of rolling over and accepting corruption and broken promises as just another thing to endure)
Another consequence of the blockades was a shortage of fuel, which made it harder to find an agency offering the tour we were after. In Rurre you choose between a jungle tour, which is said to be better for plants and insects, or the pampas tour, through more open terrain, which is said to feature more (larger) animals. Nothing against bees or trees, but it was the pink dolphins we were after. The agency we wanted had no gas for the pampas tour, but we found another which did and which was just starting up pampas tours, having in the past specialised in the jungle. Most of the agencies doing pampas go to the same part of the river, but this agency was going to a different part, and offered horse riding as part of the tour. We fancied something different so we chose them, and were the 2nd group they'd ever taken.
On one part of the river we had to stop and clear some trees that had fallen and were blocking the river, which involved hacking with machete and pulling all the roots and branches out. With alligators in the area and it being difficult to see below the surface, this was something of an added adrenaline rush.
It's amazing how your perception of an experience can change over time. The tour was great, and we had a good group, but at first I was a little underwhelmed at the wildlife. Maybe after the Galapagos I'd subconsciously expected there to be hundreds of pink dolphins waving us in with their flippers, and was almost disappointed to find just a few solitary ones occasionally breaking the surface, and certainly not hanging around to swim with us. No Flipper the Dolphin here.
But looking back on it, there were huge birds of paradise swooping through the air, we saw more alligators than I could count, the occasional capybara (a rodent the size of a pig), and of course monkeys, and some turtles too. So while it wasn't quite evidence of that concentration of biodiversity I'd heard about, it was still pretty bloody amazing. Back in Rurre afterwards, the roads were by now open again, but we were still stuck for a couple of days waiting for the backlog to clear. We had fun there and I could happily have been stuck there for longer, it was such a great little spot.
The thing was, apparently there'd been a factory planned for construction near Rurre, but the location was changed not long before construction was due to commence. The locals, unhappy that more jobs wouldn't be coming after all, did what Bolivians do best (next to striking) and blockaded the roads in and out of the area. This had been going on for 2 weeks before we got there, and they spiced things up by setting off dynamite on the roads to boot. All of which meant no buses were getting in or out, leaving hundreds of gringos to compete for the limited number of spaces on flights, on the days they were going. (I should make it clear here I have no problem with the Bolivians' appetite for civil disruption: it's good to see people exercising their voice instead of rolling over and accepting corruption and broken promises as just another thing to endure)
Another consequence of the blockades was a shortage of fuel, which made it harder to find an agency offering the tour we were after. In Rurre you choose between a jungle tour, which is said to be better for plants and insects, or the pampas tour, through more open terrain, which is said to feature more (larger) animals. Nothing against bees or trees, but it was the pink dolphins we were after. The agency we wanted had no gas for the pampas tour, but we found another which did and which was just starting up pampas tours, having in the past specialised in the jungle. Most of the agencies doing pampas go to the same part of the river, but this agency was going to a different part, and offered horse riding as part of the tour. We fancied something different so we chose them, and were the 2nd group they'd ever taken.
On one part of the river we had to stop and clear some trees that had fallen and were blocking the river, which involved hacking with machete and pulling all the roots and branches out. With alligators in the area and it being difficult to see below the surface, this was something of an added adrenaline rush.
It's amazing how your perception of an experience can change over time. The tour was great, and we had a good group, but at first I was a little underwhelmed at the wildlife. Maybe after the Galapagos I'd subconsciously expected there to be hundreds of pink dolphins waving us in with their flippers, and was almost disappointed to find just a few solitary ones occasionally breaking the surface, and certainly not hanging around to swim with us. No Flipper the Dolphin here.
But looking back on it, there were huge birds of paradise swooping through the air, we saw more alligators than I could count, the occasional capybara (a rodent the size of a pig), and of course monkeys, and some turtles too. So while it wasn't quite evidence of that concentration of biodiversity I'd heard about, it was still pretty bloody amazing. Back in Rurre afterwards, the roads were by now open again, but we were still stuck for a couple of days waiting for the backlog to clear. We had fun there and I could happily have been stuck there for longer, it was such a great little spot.
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