I wrote all about why you should visit the Amazon Rainforest via Rurrenabaque in my post on the matter over here. However, what I didn’t write about was my own experience of visiting the Amazon Rainforest. My time spent here stands out amidst all the other truly fantastic memories from South America, largely due to a few reasons; the natural splendour of the rainforest, the breathtaking sight of animals in the forest and on the river, and one particularly drawn out mudfight. Read on for my day to day breakdown of my time in the Amazon rainforest.

DAY 1

The first day of our trip into the Amazon Rainforest comprised the usual backpacker tropes. A ragtag group of misfits brought together for no other reason than booking the same tour boarding a jeep and shooting off into the dusty hinterland of Bolivia. We left Rurrenbaque in the mid morning, myself and three English backpackers, Jake, Lawrence and James. Shortly after leaving Rurrenbauqe we were bantering in the back of the jeep, forming some of the tightest bonds that I was to make in all my travels there (though I wasn’t to know that at the time.) After driving for nearly an hour in the baking sun, pausing only once to let a snake slither across the clay road, we reached the River Beni. My first impressions of the river were those of underwhelmed. I found myself wondering how this tiny trickle of a river could feed into the Amazon, the mightiest river in the world? However, shortly after we met our guide for the two days, known only as, ‘Chocco,’ whom took the helm at the back of our motorized boat, and drove the four of us into the green leafy unknown of the Amazon Rainforest. The first thing that struck me after entering the Amazon rainforest proper was just how beautiful it was. A million shades of green leered out at me from every angle, filtering sunlight in a myriad of beautiful ways. I was awestruck.

As we motored along the river, Chocco would point out various animals to us, lining the river bank. It was truly a bucolic sight – Tapir, howler monkey and even a sloth clinging to a tree were spotted in those first few hours of driving. I thought rainforest creatures were supposed to be shy? Evidently not. After a few hours in the boat, we reached a small series of wooden huts, which Chocco informed us would be our accommodation for the evening. Given the humidity, midday sun, and general lack of activities at that stage, we all opted to go for a quick swim in the river – only after we were completely covered by the water did Chocco run out of the nearest building yelling, ‘watch out for the dick fish! Watch out for the dick fish!’

That afternoon was spent taking a quick boat ride further up the river, Chocco informing us that we were entering ‘Pirahna Waters.’ Wondering if this too, was hyperbole, I was shortly proven wrong – no sooner had he cast a small lump of meat into the water than it began to bubble. There is no better way to describe it. A thousand tiny jaws snapping at the water, all about our boat, snatching at the stray bits of meat. I began to quickly wonder about the structural integrity of the boat, but was shortly distracted by Chocco handing me a fishing line and a bucket of bait. We then proceeded to spend the afternoon luring piranha aboard the ship via our fishing lines, which, in retrospect, seems like the opposite of what you’d wanna do with a flesh eating fish. After catching a veritable seasons worth of piranha (seriously, it was genuinely easy), we headed back to our campsite. However, before reaching it, Chocco took us to a local ‘bar,’ located at a soccer oval in the middle of the rainforest. Here, we had a few beers, played a game of soccer with some other backpackers and watched the sun set over the Amazon – the squawking and chittering of birds and animals nearby punctuating our banter on the field. In hindsight, it was one of the best afternoons that I spent in South America.

In the evening, the full ‘mosquito experience,’ began. I use those words, rather than ‘onslaught,’ due to how dramatic that sounds, nearly 5 years later. However, I shed some blood baby. All evening we were covered in mosquitoes - each of us almost in a blanket of the beasts. You couldn’t move without hearing a whining or buzzing in your ears. I wrapped myself up in my jacket, sweating profusely, trying to protect myself from them as the sun fell.

Later that night, Chocco took us out for a boat ride. Gliding along the river in the pitch black was an eerie yet beautiful experience, made more so by Chocco’s consistent joke of turning all the lights off and pointing out Caimin eyes to us. At one stage we paused in a small inlet, with Chocco bidding us to turn all lights and electronics off. Despite the constant swarms of mosquitoes sucking the blood from my face, arms and body, I tried to remain still. As soon as we did so, he flashed a very dull light about the river Hundreds of glowing eyes blinked back. Without dramatizing the event, we were surrounded by Alligators. Even for an Australian, that was pretty spooky. However, given the torrent of mosquitoes floating about, the trip was short-lived, and we promptly zoomed back up the river to our shack - mosquito netting looking like a veritable safe haven at that stage.

DAY 2

The next morning, we went on a further boat ride up the river. As we left just after dawn, we were cruising down the river as the jungle began to come alive. As dawn broke over the jungle, the sounds of our boat were drowned out by the screaming of monkeys and hooting of birds. The noise was deafening, but awesome. Pulling up beside a long stretch of wetlands, Chocco handed us each a pair of wellington boots, and informed us that we would be ‘hunting for Anaconda.’ With those prophetic words in mind, we proceed to tramp through knee deep mud, looking for snakes that could strangle a leopard. However, our search was not in vain, with Chocco, the perennial expert, promptly pointing out a coiled mass of snake. The thing was monstrous, a full half of it buried in the mud. Chocco then proceeded to find a series of other Anaconda in the area, pointing them out, and noting, ‘these are just the kiddies.’

Afterwards, we made our way further up the River Bio. After pausing at a local’s hut to watch him feed steak to a Caimain, we ventured deeper into the jungle. After reaching a widening in the river, Chocco killed the engine, and threw out a coca-cola bottle into the water. Before we could criticize him for such flagrant littering, the bottle exploded from the water as a pink river dolphin collided with it. Chocco gave us leave to swim with the dolphins, telling us to be ‘as still as possible,’ and tread water. These experience, whilst amazing, was genuinely terrifying – treading water too dark to see through, waiting for unseen shapes below the surface to join us. Whenever a dolphin did come near, that would generally nip at our toes (in the belief they were fish), or nudge past us. Writing this now, it doesn’t seem overly terrifying, but mark my words – all kinds of ‘creatures of the deep’ stories came to mind as I blithely treaded the murky waters of the River Bio.

That night we made our final camp for the trip. This time at another series of huts further along the river, we whiled away the time on a series of hammocks with a bottle of rum, playing, ‘never had I ever.’ Stereotypes for backpackers be damned, it was an excellent evening.

DAY 3

Leaving days are always a bit sad aren’t they? However, despite the mosquitoes and heat, I was sad to be bidding farewell to the rainforest. We spent the day motoring back along the river towards the road back to Rurrenbaque, with Chocco continuing to point out animals along the way. At one point, as we paused for a quick bite to eat on the banks of the river he pointed to a muddy set of paw rings on the river bank, ‘jaguar,’ he said simply.

 Chocco left us at the banks of the River Bio, awaiting his next set of naïve backpackers. As we boarded the jeep, I began to fondly think of my first beer and shower back in Rurrenabaque. However, as we took off, thick droplets of rain began to fall, spattering the ground into a mucky miasma in instants. Our driver took it slowly, meandering the jungle path as carefully as he could. However, before long, we were bogged, along with several other jeeps at a fork in the road. The locals, lining the road, watched in dumbstruck silence as the foolish westerners offered to help push not only one, but all three stuck jeeps from their bog. But help we did, getting a generous spattering of mud in the process. Not seeing the point in squandering a good opportunity, the whole jeep load of us then proceeded to engage in a violent mud fight, much to the bemusement of the watching Bolivians. The fight lasted a full half an hour before our driver summoned us back into the car. Each covered in mud, stinking and sweaty, we crammed in like sardines into the back of the jeep and took off back towards Rurrenabaque. Before long, we were bogged again, another downfall engulfing us along the way. Again, we got out and pushed the jeep, and once more, mud was slung. It turned into a sort of trench warfare - teams of us hurling mud at one another before those brave enough would charge from their positions. Again, the locals looked on in disbelief, until we were summoned back to the jeep, coated completely in fresh mud. The drive back into Rurrenabaque was miserable. The hours stretched on unendingly - the mood now cooling and sticking to our skin like concrete. Mercifully, we reached the town shortly before another deluge, each of us racing to the nearest hostel that would take us for hot showers. I have to say; there’s never been a better feeling in my entire life than washing that mud off.

THE BREAKDOWN

Who to book with: Indigena Tours

How much to pay: $80-100 USD

When to go: all year

What to bring

• High SPF sunscreen.

• Long-sleeved shirt and long trousers to protect against insect bites and sunburn

• Flashlight.

• Spare or rechargeable batteries and a charger.

• Insect repellent (only high grade DEET will do.)

• Waterproof bags to protect equipment on boat rides.

• Light walking shoes or boots

• Sandals or other light shoes.

• Waterproof jacket or rain poncho.

• Swimwear.

• Warm layers if visiting between May and September.

• Sun hat/cap.

• Sunglasses.

• Towel, toiletries and toilet paper

Any questions about what to expect doing a Pampas Trip from Rurrenbaque? Ask away in the comments down below!