Walking through the Rain Forest, Madidi National Park, Amazon Rain Forest, Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
When coming to explore the “Selva” or Rain Forest, do not expect to see many animals, for that you need to go to the “Pampa”. In the forest, you might get to see a few monkeys, wild boars, birds, but do not expect jaguars or tapirs crossing your path. However, the lack of seeing animals is greatly compensated by what you hear around you. Some birds or insect can sound like a dentist’s drill or a chain saw. Wild bore can be heard rampaging through the forest from far away and the smell that should keep away their potential predators is intensive, to put it mildly.
But above all, the real pleasure comes from immersing in this green, green vastness, the sounds around you. During the morning the heat is bearable and the canopy protects the wanderer from the scorching sun.
Walking through the Rain Forest, Madidi National Park, Amazon Rain Forest, Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
Walking through the Rain Forest, Madidi National Park, Amazon Rain Forest, Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
Military Parrot, Madidi National Park, Amazon Rain Forest, Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
Only on our last day we walked for 6 hours and around noon time the heat was getting to us, on top we were tired and had been bitten by plants, mosquitoes, ants, spiders and any kind of bugs, you actually prefer not know what it was … At the end of the day, Gilles must have been bitten around 100 times …
The trail we walked was only visible for the first two hours, then Pedro, who had come along, had to use his machete. Many times our bodies ploughed our way through. Yadmani told us that it was more than a month ago that somebody walked this path, so you can imagine what this means in this kind of environment.
Walking through the Rain Forest, Madidi National Park, Amazon Rain Forest, Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
Walking through the Rain Forest, Madidi National Park, Amazon Rain Forest, Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
Walking through the Rain Forest, Madidi National Park, Amazon Rain Forest, Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
The final destination of this long walk was a Tacana community, the local indigenous ethnic group. What should have been the great reward of our long haul turned out to be a settlement consisting of three huts. Of the two families who live there only a few children and two women could be seen, the kids immediately hid in one of the huts once we came out of the woods.
The only person we encountered was a young woman who was taking apart a wild boar the family had hunted the day before. It was done quite systematically, but still it was a messy affair, with the chicken and ducks trying to get their share of the bounty. Gilles cannot stomach such sight, but even he had to laugh when the women called a little girl from the hut to pick up one of animals’ legs, and take it inside. The piece of meat was as large as the girl. It was hard resisting taking a photo.
After a good laugh we left this place and would not recommend anybody to take this walk to see this community. There is really nothing to see and if it had not been for the unusual butchery we would never remember it.
Walking through the Rain Forest, Madidi National Park, Amazon Rain Forest, Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
Walking through the Rain Forest, Madidi National Park, Amazon Rain Forest, Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
Walking through the Rain Forest, Madidi National Park, Amazon Rain Forest, Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
Walking through the Rain Forest, Madidi National Park, Amazon Rain Forest, Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
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