Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Reserva de Vida Silvestre Ríos Blanco y
Negro
This 1.4-million-hectare reserve, created in 1990, occupies the heart of Bolivia's largest
wilderness area and contains vast tracts of undisturbed rainforest and
cerrado
with myriad
species of plants and animals. These include giant anteaters, peccaries, tapirs, jaguars,
bush dogs, marmosets, river otters, capuchin monkeys, caimans, squirrel monkeys, deer
and capybaras. The diverse bird life includes curassows, six varieties of macaw and hun-
dreds of other bird species.
The area's only settlement, the privately owned
estancia
(ranch),
Perseverancia
, is
350km north of Santa Cruz. It started as a rubber production center in the 1920s, working
until the last
seringueros
(rubber tappers) left in 1972. When the airstrip was completed,
professional hunters went after nutrias and large cats. By 1986 the
estancia
had again
been abandoned, and it remained so until tourism - albeit scanty - began to be promoted
in 1989.
In the mid-1990s Moira logging concerns began encroaching on the eastern portion of
the reserve and USAID recommended that loggers clear a section of the forest rather than
cut selective trees. Things have calmed down in recent years, though it is the difficulty of
access to most of the park that has been the reason for this, rather than a more effective
program of protection.
Getting There & Away
Perseverancia is most easily accessed by a 1½-hour charter flight from El Trompillo air-
port in Santa Cruz. For those with a solid backside there's a 100km 4WD track between
Asunción de Guarayos and Perseverancia that's passable year-round - with considerable
perseverance. Currently no tour companies run trips to the park.
PARQUE NACIONAL NOEL KEMPFF MERCADO
The wonderfully remote and globally important Noel Kempff Mercado National Park is home to a broad spectrum
of Amazonian flora and fauna and has a wide range of dwindling habitats, from open
cerrado
to dense rainforest.
