The Amazon Pampas
The three hour trip to Santa Rosa across bumpy stone and dirt roads was rewarded with the sight of pink river dolphins quietly grazing on small sardines, a promising start to the wildlife spotting tour. A narrow motorised canoe would take us to the ecolodge another three hours upriver. Our guide, Oscar, a cheeky local topped with a white cowboy hat, pointed out scores of caymans basking in the sun, turtles stacked upon each other on branches sticking above the water, many birds, curious squirrel monkeys, and docile capybaras.
The day was mostly gone when we arrived at our accommodation, basic wooden cabins on stilts. Before the last of the light left, Oscar took us to a sports field where tourists were able to mix with locals playing volleyball and soccer. Dusk arrived with the mosquitoes and we made our way back to the ecolodge in the canoe, shining our torches at the river banks where the eyes of many caymans lurking in the dark glinted back.
The following morning, we embarked on a 20 minute boat ride and another 20-odd minutes on foot, through mud, small streams and long reeds to reach a field where we would find anacondas. It was an immense wetland with ankle to knee deep water, and knee to waist high grasses. We spread out, in search for a black and brown snake. "If it is brown and white, it's a cobra," Oscar told us offhandedly, notably omitting any advice if a cobra was discovered. He admitted that he didn't have much confidence that we would find an anaconda as he failed to recall dreaming of naked women, his indicator of anaconda-finding good luck. His roomie had snored all night. The sun beat down on us mercilessly and the tramping was tiring. After nearly 2 and half hours, we cursed Oscar's snoring room mate. But there must have been at least one naked woman dreamt that night, because we did find a small anaconda eventually. It was 2m long and Oscar allowed us to handle the poor thing for photos.
We were longing for a cool swim and buzzed up and down the river, looking for a "safe place to swim". Everywhere was safe according to Oscar, despite caymans being sighted every 20m or so along the shore. When we came upon a place that appeared cayman-free, the tourist party would joke that it was only because the pointy-toothed critters were all in the water already. Shortly, we came across some pink dolphins in a wide part of the river and jumped in with them, a truly special experience.
Our final morning was to be spent fishing. Oscar showed us his impressive hand at catching piranhas and we joked that it was the same one over and over again that he pulled out of the water. I managed to catch two white piranhas (there are yellow and red ones as well), and Julie caught a fish that Oscar identified as a sardine. Satisfied with the memories created the past few days, we returned to nearby Rurrenabaque where we sat on the grass with tour mates Valentine and Delfin, and watched the sun set to lively Latin music celebrating Bolivian Independence Week.
The day was mostly gone when we arrived at our accommodation, basic wooden cabins on stilts. Before the last of the light left, Oscar took us to a sports field where tourists were able to mix with locals playing volleyball and soccer. Dusk arrived with the mosquitoes and we made our way back to the ecolodge in the canoe, shining our torches at the river banks where the eyes of many caymans lurking in the dark glinted back.
The following morning, we embarked on a 20 minute boat ride and another 20-odd minutes on foot, through mud, small streams and long reeds to reach a field where we would find anacondas. It was an immense wetland with ankle to knee deep water, and knee to waist high grasses. We spread out, in search for a black and brown snake. "If it is brown and white, it's a cobra," Oscar told us offhandedly, notably omitting any advice if a cobra was discovered. He admitted that he didn't have much confidence that we would find an anaconda as he failed to recall dreaming of naked women, his indicator of anaconda-finding good luck. His roomie had snored all night. The sun beat down on us mercilessly and the tramping was tiring. After nearly 2 and half hours, we cursed Oscar's snoring room mate. But there must have been at least one naked woman dreamt that night, because we did find a small anaconda eventually. It was 2m long and Oscar allowed us to handle the poor thing for photos.
We were longing for a cool swim and buzzed up and down the river, looking for a "safe place to swim". Everywhere was safe according to Oscar, despite caymans being sighted every 20m or so along the shore. When we came upon a place that appeared cayman-free, the tourist party would joke that it was only because the pointy-toothed critters were all in the water already. Shortly, we came across some pink dolphins in a wide part of the river and jumped in with them, a truly special experience.
Our final morning was to be spent fishing. Oscar showed us his impressive hand at catching piranhas and we joked that it was the same one over and over again that he pulled out of the water. I managed to catch two white piranhas (there are yellow and red ones as well), and Julie caught a fish that Oscar identified as a sardine. Satisfied with the memories created the past few days, we returned to nearby Rurrenabaque where we sat on the grass with tour mates Valentine and Delfin, and watched the sun set to lively Latin music celebrating Bolivian Independence Week.
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