Serere Sanctuary
So, we have flown in and out of the highest airport in the world – aptly named El Alto – on our way to Rurrenabaque and the Bolivian amazon jungle. The views of La Paz from the plane on takeoff were amazing. The airport is on the altiplano above La Paz and the drop off to the valley La Paz is settled in is very stark and abrupt, the altiplano just suddenly falls away.It was nice to arrive in Rurre in the sun – some warmth! From there it was a 2 1/2 hour boat trip down the Beni river to Serere park. It is a private park, and not actually in Madidi National Park, but was set up by the lady who was the brains behind Madidi. For reasons we don’t quite understand she has the lodge here rather than in the national park itself.
On our way down the river we were lucky enough to see turtles and caiman sunning themsleves and it was a beautiful trip.
In total we spent four nights at the lodge, sleeping in cabañas with roofs and mossie nets as walls – this took some getting used to – as did the night noises – but it was incredibly comfortable and we slept very well.
We spent our time, with our guide Jesus – who would have spotted the animals if they’d been there to spot, walking through the jungle and paddling on one of the five lakes near the lodge.
We were lucky enough to see three types of monkies, squirel, capuchin and howler. We heard the howler monkies more than we saw them, and the noise is amazing. It is like a low, deep, wind through the trees. I would never have guessed it was a monkey making the noise when it was first pointed out to us – such a strange noise. We also saw red and blue macaws circling in the trees above us. Beautiful birds.
Despite the lake near the main lodge containing too many piranahs in it, of the 5 of us on the boat we only caught 3. I was lucky enough to catch one, although I didn’t like the look of it alive – it was much tastier for lunch the following day!
Unfortunately it rained on our penultimate day and it was cold for the last two days we were there. This meant that the animals went into hibernation (I don’t blame them – it was freezing & we’d left most of our wamr clothes in La Paz, thinking the jungle was supposed to be warm). It was also a full moon, which meant that they weren’t coming out at night either, so we didn’t get to see the many tapier that wander around at night (saw lots of footprints though). the only animal at night that we did see was the caiman which lives in the lake by the lodge – sitting there watching us in the evenings. Apparently you can swim in the lake, but with the caima and piranahs, it didn’t appeal to us!
Tags: Bolivia, Jungle, Travel
Jenni
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