The Amazon rainforest is one of the most amazing places on earth. You can there for a just a day and start to mistakenly enter into an illusion that you are walking untouched ground. The place is so vast, so very vibrant, and so thoroughly unexplored that you’d be forgiven for thinking so. Moreover, the rainforest is beautiful, with lush greens, endless riverways and the best sunrises you’ll ever see. However, visiting the Amazon is not cheap. Most tourists who visit tend to go in a packaged tour to an eco-lodge, spending thousands in the process. However, if you were to visit a little town called Rurrenabaque, I’ll warrant you can do it for cheaper.

CHEAP TRIP TO THE AMAZON

**WHERE**: Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
**WHY**: The Amazon Rainforest?
**TIME**: 4 nights

Understand

Rurrenabaque is located in Bolivia, on the banks of the Río Beni, in the Amazon Basin. Rurrenbaque is on the tourist map largely due its proximity to the Amazon basin. read more about Rurrenbaque in my guide to visiting here. Despite being only a short distance away from La Paz, Bolivias most populous city, Rurrenbaque is smack back in the Amazon Rainforest, and sits on the banks of the Rio Beni, one of the feeder rivers for the Amazon River. Rurrenbaque, then, affords backpackers a fairly easy method of injecting themselves into the Amazon Rainforest without having to commit to leaving the Gringo trail and venturing off east towards Santa Cruz, which is closer to the border with Brazil. For more information about Rurrenbaque, read my backpackers guide to the town here. Despite being in the jungle, Rurrenbaque can be reached by either bus or plane. At this juncture, take my advice and catch the plane. While you’ll save heaps of money catching the bus, the plane is infinitely safer and more comfortable. Planes leave daily from La Paz, and you can book by visiting the tourist office directly in town, or by booking online here. The bus is not a fun experience, and any money you save will be a truly pyrrhic victory. Read more about my experience doing so here.

HOW TO SEE THE AMAZON FROM RURRENBAQUE

Once in Rurrenbaque, you have a few choices ahead of you. Trips to the Amazon from Rurrenbaque usually take one of two forms, either a ‘Pampas’ trip, or a ‘Jungle’ trip. These names are pretty well self explanatory, with pampas trips exploring the River Beni, and jungle trips exploring the forest floor in the surrounding region. Both trips tend to last about 2-3 nights and will comprise various activities in both settings. To generalize, this is what you can expect from each;

1. Pampas Trip: Involves you spending two days getting into and out of a boat as you journey up the River Beni. Will definitely involve you seeing a Caiman, will almost certainly involve you seeing howler moneys and several tapir, and you will get to swim with pink dolphins. Oh, and you will be able to fish for Pirahna.

2. Rainforest Trip: More time spent wandering the forest floor. In these you will likely see far fewer animals, but will be able to see and touch far more trees, and will be able to get to know the local flora considerably better.

No matter which way you go, either trip will involve you setting off into the jungle first via jeep, then via boat, until you reach accomodation. The accomodation will be really, really rustic - expect shack style accomodation - complete with mosquito netting. On the Pampas trip that I completed with Indigena Tours, we spent 2 nights out in the Jungle, exploring the riverways, playing with amazon river dolphins, fishing for piranha, and searching for caiman. Most River trips are essentially the same, and all tours will last 2 nights. You can read more about my experience in the Amazon at this post over here.

How to book and how Much should you pay?

Firstly, absolutely do not book any of your trips before arriving. My advice is to get into Rurrenbaque, drop your bags at the hostel, and then take a quick walk of the town, visiting each and every tourist office to get a feel for what prices are on offer. When I visited in 2014, still recovering form the hellish bus ride from la Paz (which you can read more about here) prices definitely seemed to waver depending on which backpacker was asking at what office, so it certainly pays to shop around a fair bit once you’re there. I spent a solid half an hour enquiring at each and every office in town and found that I was able to haggle far better knowing what each and every tour company was offering. My friends, on the other hand, whom booked online got slugged wth exorbitant prices, and generally paid almost twice what I did. generally speaking, these tours don’t book out, and each tour company runs several tours per week, so you’ve no fear of missing out by not booking ahead. Note; Rurrenbaque is tiny, so you can cover the entire town in about 10 minutes of solid walking. I paid around $70 USD for my Pampas trip, and booked with ‘Indigena Tours.’ My advice, don’t pay more than $100 USD for a trip.

WHO TO BOOK WITH

Max Jungle: Offers Jungle and Pampas tours. Charging $150 for both at time of writing. Also offers a 15-25 day ‘survival’ experience in the jungle. Not for the faint of heart or the avoider of mosquitoes.
Indigena Tours: Offers both Jungle and Pampas tours. Charging $190 USD for both at time of writing (you’ll be able to get it cheaper in Bolivia)
Dolphins Travel: Offers both Jungle and Pampas Tours. Charging $150 USD for both.
Fluvial Tours: probably the only non-local company listed. I heard good things about their guides, and was told they were charging $200 USD for both jungle and pampas trips.

WHAT SHOULD YOU EXPECT?

The author; thoroughly unprepared for the jungle.

Mosquitoes. Millions upon millions of mosquitoes. That’s to be expected though, given you are in a rainforest. However, the sheer amount that will be screaming towards you during the evenings and early mornings will be horrific – you are warned.
Rustic accomodation. Again, you are in the Amazon, and are paying less than
$40 per night, so you’ll be sleeping in tents, or small huts. However, each should have mosquito netting, and you’ll hopefully be tired enough to fall asleep quickly. However, don’t expect lush abodes.
Not see any animals: I got really, really luck in my trip to the Amazon River. From seeing leopard foot prints, to several caiman, being bitten on the foot by a river dolphin, yelling at a a whole family of howler monkeys, not to mention watching a sloth dangling precipitously from a tree branch, my time here was extremely fortunate. However, you might not be so lucky – don’t have high expectations for wildlife.