North-east of La Paz, mountain valleys plunge into Bolivia’s semi-tropical lowlands, the forested slopes of the Yungas, gateway to the Amazon. The 1.5 million hectare Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, where waterfalls tumble over sheer cliffs, is on the Brazilian border.
The most popular starting point for jungle adventures into the Amazon headwaters is the tiny village of Rurrenabaque, on the Beni river. It is reached from La Paz either by a short flight or along the ‘death road’ - a spectacular winding track which drops thousands of metres from the heights of the Andes, through the Yungas and into the lowlands. The Bolivian jungle contains well over half of all the country’s mammals and birds and savanna (pampa) trips are especially good for wildlife.
Our preferred accommodation
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Chalalán Jungle Lodge
Lodge/Hosteria - RurrenabaqueThe Chalalán Ecolodge is in the Madidi National Park, an area of some 4.5 million acres ranging from snow-peaked Andean Mountains to the Western Amazon basin.