wanderlust and other stories: In the Jungle .. the Mighty Jungle

One landscape I really wanted to see in South America was the jungle. Being so close (relatively) to the Amazon it really was a 'must do' for me and the cheapness of Bolivia meant that it was the best place to explore from.

We booked a four day tour with http://www.sanmigueldelbala.com/ from Rurrenabaque in the north of Bolivia to take us into Madidi National Park and the primary rainforest where we would be able to see lots of wildlife.

First things first we had to get there. This time we treated ourselves to a flight as we had heard some horror stories about the bus journey and also we didn't have huge amounts of time in Bolivia. The plane is the smallest I have ever been on! 19 seats only and the only staff are the pilots! Which meant you felt the slightest bit of turbulence and heard a lot of nervous giggling from the rest of passengers ... and those stories of planes getting lost in the middle of nowhere start to flash in to your mind. I'm a very happy flier, but on this occasion I was very pleased when we landed ... albeit in a field!

Despite the nerves, I did manage to take in the landscapes as we flew over, from the cityscape of La Paz, across snow capped mountains and then into the jungle. Amazing for only a 40 minute flight.

The next morning, nerves restored, we picked up our long boat and headed into the jungle!

We arrived at our first lodge, just outside the National Park, and settled ourselves into our hut and then headed off to the jungle to see the local San Miguel del Bala community. We made sugar cane juice with them and wove baskets from palm leaves. In the afternoon we took a trip to some natural pools for some swimming and relaxation while watching hummingbirds and huge butterflies - a pretty easy start to the trip.

This butterfly is amazing ... what you can't tell from the pic is that it is luminous blue on the inside and also the size of a small plate!

Home for the night! Idyllic until you have to walk 10 mins to dinner in the dark surrounded by creepy crawlies with fluorescent blue eyes ... I kid you not!

Spending nights in the jungle is amazing; there is no light pollution so it is the blackest of black at night and then you fall asleep listening to the loud sounds of the jungle ... frogs and insects singing to themselves, while everyone sleeps. Waking up is pretty impressive too ... my first morning there I had hummingbirds at the window! Paradise.

Big Breakfasts of sugar cane juice, eggs, empanadas and coffee grown by the community. So tasty!

On our second day we took the long boat for 2 hours into the primary rainforest and spotted lots of wildlife along the way.

A Capibara family after their morning swim

We arrived at our next lodge to see more beautiful butterflies and to find our hammocks waiting for us for a bit more R&R!

Space invader style butterflies

Hammock time!

Once we were well fed and rested it was time to explore the Jungle!

We didn't see anything to exotic on our walk, but we did hear wild pigs and saw woodpeckers. Tracking in the jungle is pretty tricky as I reckon a bunch on gringos can be heard a mile off!

Our 3rd day started with a snake sighting at the lodge. Luckily it was only small, otherwise my stay could have been cut short as I would have turned into a nervous wreck!

And the rest of the day seemed to be filled with lots of other creepy crawlies. Well, it is the jungle after all!

An aethetically pleasing bug!

On the rest of our trips into the jungle we started to spot more things. Monkeys, racing through the treetops ... funnily enough they're quite shy so no pics of those! Coatis - a racoon like thing- which runs up and down the trees. We heard howler monkeys in the distance, wild turkeys and lots more.

Spending time in the jungle is amazing, the sounds and the humidity are exactly as you expect them to be ... there were moments when I really thought I was Indiana Jones, in reality I was more like the wimpy female sidekick wearing neck to ankle and wrist clothing and sliding around in the mud!