Last Updated: 02/10/20 | February 10th, 2020

Bolivia supplies a budget-friendly option for exploring the rainforest. It’s more affordable and less congested than the Amazon tours from Brazil. In this guest post, Erin from never Ending Voyage shows us how we can experience the rainforest by going through Bolivia at a more affordable price!

The Amazon Rainforest. It’s the world’s largest tropical rainforest, covering some 5.5 million square kilometers. using the opportunity to see rare flora and fauna, it’ must come as no surprise that it’s at the top of lots of travelers “to-do” lists.

When a lot of travelers think of the Amazon, they tend to think of Brazil.

Yet the Amazon basin actually stretches across nine countries in South America, which indicates that you don’t have to take an expensive excursion in Brazil to see the jungle. For the budget-savvy traveler, Bolivia supplies an remarkable (and affordable) alternative from which to check out the basin.

Not only is it more affordable and less congested but it’s just as biologically diverse as Brazil!

In this post, we’ll show you everything you need to know to have an remarkable Amazon experience in Bolivia!

Var börjar du?

The starting point for trips into the Bolivian Amazon is the town of Rurrenabaque. It’s straightforward here to sign up for tours, and it’ll be more affordable than if you book in development in La Paz. Moreover, it’s a small town, so it’s easy to wander around and find a guesthouse for around $5-10 USD a night while you check out a few excursion agencies.

There are two ways to check out the Amazon from here:

1. The Pampas

The pampas tours are the cheapest option and are where you’ll see the most wildlife, including alligators, squirrel monkeys, and the gigantic rodent capybara. It may not be the classic Amazon jungle experience you envisioned, though, as the pampas are a wetland savannah on the edge of the Amazon basin rather than deep in the jungle, but the lack of trees indicates it’s much much easier to spot wildlife.

All the excursion operators operate nearly similar two-night/three-day trips for around $75 USD plus the park entrance fee (which will be around $20 USD). tours normally include all transportation, food, and a guide. You get what you pay for, so expect basic lodging and meals (I recommend bringing snacks), and your guide may not be the most knowledgeable if you opt for a low-cost operator.

Since guides are so crucial to the overall experience, make sure you ask around for a company with good, knowledgeable guides.

After a very bumpy three-hour jeep ride to the jungle, you’ll transfer to a motorized canoe and travel a additionally three hours along the river to your lodge. The river trip was the highlight for us, as we got up close to an remarkable amount of wildlife: hundreds of alligators, entire families of capybara (giant semiaquatic rodents), turtles sunbathing on logs, and trees full of tiny yellow squirrel monkeys. All while birds such as egrets, herons, roseate spoonbills, blue kingfishers, eagles, and hoatzin (pheasant-like birds with blue faces and spiky hair) flew and nested around us.

The riverside camp is in a serene setting among the trees, with plenty of wildlife-spotting opportunities (I had monkeys peering into my room!). lodging is in shared wooden huts on stilts, and you’ll wake up to the raucous sounds of howler monkeys. A generator supplies power until 10pm so you can take pleasure in cold beers while lounging in a hammock and watching the sunset over the river.

The pampas tours are a terrific way to view lots of wildlife for a very economical price, but choose your excursion operator very carefully and make sure they don’t touch or feed any of the wildlife — especially the anacondas.

2. The Jungle

For a a lot more classic Amazon experience, select a jungle tour. You can stay at an eco-lodge in the jungle and do activities from there, but this can be pricey. We (my other half and I) paid $207 USD each for a two-night/three-day excursion with Madidi travel to their Serere Lodge, but we did get a large, comfortable bungalow, terrific food, and a very professionally run trip. We also liked that revenues from the trip go back into conservation work for the area.

Although triple the price of a pampas trip, this is still much less than you’d pay for a similar experience in Brazil.

Serere Lodge is reached by a three-hour canoe ride and a short trip through the jungle. You can choose from a range of activities, including canoe trips on the lake next to the camp (at night you can see the glowing red eyes of caiman), day and night treks in the jungle, piranha fishing, and making jewelry from nuts and frön.

Jungle treks are tiring in the heat and humidity, and there were lots of a lot more mosquitoes than in the pampas. It is also much a lot more tough to spot wildlife — you could spend hours and not see one monkey, while we’dHOW TO check out THE AMAZON RAINFOREST IN BOLIVIA (###) Last Updated: 02/10/20 | February 10th, 2020

Bolivia supplies a budget-friendly option for exploring the rainforest. It’s more affordable and less congested than the Amazon tours from Brazil. In this guest post, Erin from never Ending Voyage shows us how we can experience the rainforest by going through Bolivia at a more affordable price!

The Amazon Rainforest. It’s the world’s largest tropical rainforest, covering some 5.5 million square kilometers. using the opportunity to see rare flora and fauna, it’ must come as no surprise that it’s at the top of lots of travelers “to-do” lists.

When a lot of travelers think of the Amazon, they tend to think of Brazil.

Yet the Amazon basin actually stretches across nine countries in South America, which indicates that you don’t have to take an expensive excursion in Brazil to see the jungle. For the budget-savvy traveler, Bolivia supplies an remarkable (and affordable) alternative from which to check out the basin.

Not only is it more affordable and less congested but it’s just as biologically diverse as Brazil!

In this post, we’ll show you everything you need to know to have an remarkable Amazon experience in Bolivia!

Var börjar du?

The starting point for trips into the Bolivian Amazon is the town of Rurrenabaque. It’s straightforward here to sign up for tours, and it’ll be more affordable than if you book in development in La Paz. Moreover, it’s a small town, so it’s easy to wander around and find a guesthouse for around $5-10 USD a night while you check out a few excursion agencies.

There are two ways to check out the Amazon from here:

1. The Pampas

The pampas tours are the cheapest option and are where you’ll see the most wildlife, including alligators, squirrel monkeys, and the gigantic rodent capybara. It may not be the classic Amazon jungle experience you envisioned, though, as the pampas are a wetland savannah on the edge of the Amazon basin rather than deep in the jungle, but the lack of trees indicates it’s much much easier to spot wildlife.

All the excursion operators operate nearly similar two-night/three-day trips for around $75 USD plus the park entrance fee (which will be around $20 USD). tours normally include all transportation, food, and a guide. You get what you pay for, so expect basic lodging and meals (I recommend bringing snacks), and your guide may not be the most knowledgeable if you opt for a low-cost operator.

Since guides are so crucial to the overall experience, make sure you ask around for a company with good, knowledgeable guides.

After a very bumpy three-hour jeep ride to the jungle, you’ll transfer to a motorized canoe and travel a additionally three hours along the river to your lodge. The river trip was the highlight for us, as we got up close to an remarkable amount of wildlife: hundreds of alligators, entire families of capybara (giant semiaquatic rodents), turtles sunbathing on logs, and trees full of tiny yellow squirrel monkeys. All while birds such as egrets, herons, roseate spoonbills, blue kingfishers, eagles, and hoatzin (pheasant-like birds with blue faces and spiky hair) flew and nested around us.

The riverside camp is in a serene setting among the trees, with plenty of wildlife-spotting opportunities (I had monkeys peering into my room!). lodging is in shared wooden huts on stilts, and you’ll wake up to the raucous sounds of howler monkeys. A generator supplies power until 10pm so you can take pleasure in cold beers while lounging in a hammock and watching the sunset over the river.

The pampas tours are a terrific way to view lots of wildlife for a very economical price, but choose your excursion operator very carefully and make sure they don’t touch or feed any of the wildlife — especially the anacondas.

2. The Jungle

For a a lot more classic Amazon experience, select a jungle tour. You can stay at an eco-lodge in the jungle and do activities from there, but this can be pricey. We (my other half and I) paid $207 USD each for a two-night/three-day excursion with Madidi travel to their Serere Lodge, but we did get a large, comfortable bungalow, terrific food, and a very professionally run trip. We also liked that revenues from the trip go back into conservation work for the area.

Although triple the price of a pampas trip, this is still much less than you’d pay for a similar experience in Brazil.

Serere Lodge is reached by a three-hour canoe ride and a short trip through the jungle. You can choose from a range of activities, including canoe trips on the lake next to the camp (at night you can see the glowing red eyes of caiman), day and night treks in the jungle, piranha fishing, and making jewelry from nuts and frön.

Jungle treks are tiring in the heat and humidity, and there were lots of a lot more mosquitoes than in the pampas. It is also much a lot more tough to spot wildlife — you could spend hours and not see one monkey, while we’d