Travel to your eco-lodge in the Amazon Jungle with a boat ride down the Yacuma River.
Depart Rurrenabaque for the Amazon(L/D)
Start your adventure at 8:45 AM from Rurrenabaque. We will travel by land from Rurrenabaque to Santa Rosa, passing through sleepy Amazon villages and past small family fincas. We arrive by noon at Santa Rosa, a small town on the banks of the Yacuma River. Here we share a traditional Bolivian lunch of hot soup, meat, rice, yucca, vegetables, and fresh fruit.
From Santa Rosa, we proceed by boat down the Yacuma River. We drift downstream slowly, careful not to disturb the wildlife. You will notice the abundance of fauna immediately: the trees are alive with birds and monkeys, and it is not uncommon for the boat to be escorted for miles by pink, freshwater dolphins. Your guide will be happy to stop the boat to point out hard-to-spot animals or to wait for you to get amazing photographs of wildlife and landscapes.
We arrive at our eco-lodge around 4:00 PM. You can enjoy a snack and fresh juice, take a shower, or just unwind in a hammock for a bit before we head out again. Just a few minutes down river, a local family tends a small shack selling wine, cold beer, and snacks. Here, you can meet travelers from other lodges and share a drink before dinner or challenge them to a game of soccer or volleyball. Once the sun has set over the open expanse of the pampas??always a breathtaking spectacle??we head back to the lodge for dinner.
When the sun sets, the pampas wakes up. Birds and monkeys cry out in the darkness, and small predators dart through the bushes in search of breakfast. We set out in the boat with flashlights in search of the biggest predator of all: caimans. These members of the gator family can grow to 12 feet long. Pitch-black, they hunt along the river during the night, eating snakes, fish and the stray bird. Though hard to see during the day, the caimans are easy to spot at night; their eyes reflect the moonlight, glowing red in the darkness.