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Bolivian Pampas

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dconlisk
dconlisk
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Exploring the Bolivian Pampas

  • April 3, 2002
  • Rated 3 of 5 by dconlisk from Dublin, Ireland
Exploring the Bolivian Pampas

I did my pampas trip from Rurrenabaque, where you have a choice of quite a few agencies who organise taking you to the pampas and/or the jungle. At the time I was there, in late December, it was possible to arrive with no bookings and leave the next morning on a trip. So after spending the afternoon soaking up the sun in the local swimming pool, we headed off the following morning for the pampas.

This involved three hours in the back of an uncomfortable 4WD to get to the river, then another two hours or so in a wooden boat with a motor until we finally reached our camp in the jungle.

The journey to the camp wasn't all bad though, as of course we got to see plenty of wildlife on the way, including one of the highlights for me - pink dolphins! The great thing about these creatures is that they scare away all of the nasty piranhas and crocodiles so it is safe to swim with them, which we did immediately.

Day Two of the trip was spent on the river, seeking out crocodiles, howler monkeys, sloths, porcupines, manta rays, and whatever else we could find. It was amazing, we got up close to a couple of crocs, and even got to feed some cheeky little monkeys. I woke up to find that my back was completely covered in mosquito bites, literally hundreds. They had bitten me through my black t-shirt: mosquitos are attracted to dark colours. My advice is to wear all white, and cover up as much as possible.

Day Three we ditched the boat to go searching for anacondas in the swampy grasslands bordering the river - this is the real pampas. Because the water levels were high, we had to wade up to our knees in search of deadly snakes - a weird experience. Our guide was barefoot and eventually found us an anaconda by stepping on it. We all had a good look and then got the hell out of there, most of us were relieved to be back in the relative safety of the boat.
That night we went out in the boat with torches to find crocodiles - the reason behind this being that their eyes glow bright red in the dark when you shine the torch at them, it looked amazing. We also found a manta ray asleep on the surface of the water, as a bonus.

Day Four we spent some time fishing for piranhas, but because the water levels were so high we were wasting our time. Then it was time to head back to Rurrenabaque, an unpleasant, uncomfortable trip to be honest. But the pizza and beers in the local restaurant more than made up for it. All in all a fantastic trip, not something you get to see to often.

From journal Ten Weeks of Madness in South America

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