About five minutes before landing the two pilots started cracking up laughing (we could all see and hear this because there was no door to the cockpit) which confused the 19 passengers on board even more. We did eventually land safely in a field at Rurrenabaque Airport. The duty free in said airport left a little to be desired however
We had booked a 3 day Pampas tour which was to involve a few boat rides, a few walks and a lot of flora and fauna. We had an entertaining 3 hour jeep journey to the river from Rurrenabaque which wouldn't have been quite so interesting had it not been for the fact that I had to switch places with a guide who was in another bus. Nothing strange there you might say except for the fact that instead of squeezing into the jeep with the rest of the lads, he jumped onto the roof and hung on for an hour and a half with the driver averaging about 80 km/h on little more than a dirt track. Our long boat had a Dutch couple, the five of us and a lad called Paul from Bishopstown. We were expecting a lot of animals in fairness but nothing prepared us for the barrage that followed. Literally around the first corner we saw a load of these lads just lounging about.
Then we saw some Capybaras (largest rodents in the world)
Throw in a few of these little guys
We had booked a 3 day Pampas tour which was to involve a few boat rides, a few walks and a lot of flora and fauna. We had an entertaining 3 hour jeep journey to the river from Rurrenabaque which wouldn't have been quite so interesting had it not been for the fact that I had to switch places with a guide who was in another bus. Nothing strange there you might say except for the fact that instead of squeezing into the jeep with the rest of the lads, he jumped onto the roof and hung on for an hour and a half with the driver averaging about 80 km/h on little more than a dirt track. Our long boat had a Dutch couple, the five of us and a lad called Paul from Bishopstown. We were expecting a lot of animals in fairness but nothing prepared us for the barrage that followed. Literally around the first corner we saw a load of these lads just lounging about.
Then we saw some Capybaras (largest rodents in the world)
Throw in a few of these little guys
some eagles, turtles and pink river dolphins and you had a fairly interesting three hour boat ride! Our base for the night also happened to have the local bar and football pitch. The heat didn't help the gringo performance and the blisters after playing barefoot weren't exactly helpful with the piranhas in the river afterwards. That night after dinner we headed back out onto the river to go hunting caiman (a bigger, meaner version of an alligator). Unfortunately or maybe fortunately we didn't find any but we did come across some baby alligators who were out for a midnight dip. Mick obviously didn't have enough for dinner......
The following morning we were up early on an Anaconda hunt (not every day you get to say that). This involved wading through chest high grass and swamps searching for a creature that, if large enough, could swallow you whole. Makes perfect sense! About 20 minutes in we stopped about 100m from a small lake where an alligator was looking for some breakfast. Mick stepped up to take a photo and on his return he managed to annoy an Anaconda Cobra (there are two types........this was the bite you before it eats you one) who took a swipe at him before darting off into the bush. Our two guides dived in after it however and soon after managed to capture it. This time it was Darragh's turn to be hungry. Why is everyone trying to eat live animals??
We continued on the hunt for the fabled Constrictor Anaconda but to no avail. The nearest we came was a couple of shed skins and a dead 2m specimen most probably left by an eagle. After lunch we went for a swim in the same river as the said alligators, piranhas, caiman and anacondas. The guardian angels were definitely working overtime that day. We decided to round off the afternoon with a spot of piranha fishing. Basically you get a hook attached to a line and some raw meat as bait. You then drop the line into the water and try to yank the piranha out as it devours the meat. They very rarely bite the hook so you invariably end up with piranhas literally flying through the air into the boat. Anyone not wearing shoes got quite nervous with all the flesh eating fish flapping around the boat. We did prove quite adept at catching the little monsters though
That night we retired to bed after removing countless insects and even a few frogs from our beds in anticipation of a fantastic 5 am morning call for the impending sunrise. The somewhat anti-climactic sunrise prepared us for quite an eventful last day however. With our bags stowed away we set off back up the river to get our jeep back to Rurrenabaque. We made a stop along the way though to give a lad called Pedro some lunch.
In fairness he was quite a nice lad and didn't mind when we got in for a swim
We then sped back to base camp not before taking in the myriad of creatures along the way once again. Our 6 o' clock flight back to La Paz with Air Amaszonas was uneventful apart from the take off, looking out the window and seeing a mountain peak next to you and of course the landing. In all seriousness though, the trip couldn't possibly have gone better and it was definitely one of the highlights of our voyage so far.
No comments:
Post a Comment