Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
PRIVATE TOUR OPERATORS
Generally cheaper than community-run operators and hence more popular with backpackers,
private agencies offer trips to the rainforest and the pampas, generally lasting three nights,
and with varying standards of rustic accommodation - this is long enough to see the pampas
properly, though to really appreciate the rainforest it's worth taking a longer trip.
Bala Tours Santa Cruz and Comercio 03 8922527, balatours.com . Professional and
highly regarded operator offering regular three-day pampas and selva tours, with jungle ac-
commodation in their solar-powered, Río Tuichi-sited albergue , as well as a five-day com-
bined option geared towards birdwatching.
Flecha Avaroa and Santa Cruz 03 8922723, flecha-tours.com . Super friendly, family-
run agency long geared towards the backpacker market, with standard pampas and selva
tours, as well as a boat tour to Guanay (and on to La Paz) if you're heading that way.
Fluvial Next to the Hotel Tuichi on Avaroa 03 8922351, fluvialtours@hotmail.com .
The tour operator that started it all, with experienced guides and frequent departures to the
pampasand selva ,aswellaslongerjungletrips.Theowner,TicoTudela,“theoriginalBolivi-
an Tarzan”, apparently, was the man who helped find Yossi Ginsberg .
Jaguar Tours Avaroa and Santa Cruz 7370 5600, jaguar.tours@hotmail.com . Owned
by Germán, the amiable brother of the woman who runs Flecha, Jaguar is a more high-end
operator staffed by long-serving guides and specializing in small-group tours.
Mogli Jungle Agency AvaroaandPando 72519548, mogli-jungle.com . Runbythefor-
midable Tereza Hodkova de Nava, with the motto “no chairs, no tables, no beds”, Mogli offer
ascetic three-day to three-week, well off-the-beaten-tourist-track expeditions with indigen-
ous guides, no home comforts whatsoever and various levels of extremity, culminating in the
three-day “hardcore survival” option; all you get is a machete, a mosquito net and a guide.
YOSSI GINSBERG AND RURRE'S TOURIST YEAR ZERO
Rurrenabaque's tourist boom was in part inspired by the adventures of Yossi Ginsberg , an
Israeli traveller who in 1981 tried to reach Rurrenabaque independently from the highlands
with his two companions, trekking down through what's now Parque Nacional Madidi.
Lost in the forest and running out of food, the group split up. Ginsberg continued and even-
tually reached the Río Tuichi, where he was rescued and taken to Rurrenabaque. His two
companions were never seen again. Ginsberg's account of the ill-fated expedition, Back
from Tuichi , became a bestseller in Israel, inspiring many Israeli backpackers to visit the
region, while his rescuer founded Rurrenabaque's first rainforest tour company (see Fluvi-
al ) . A film is in the works.
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