Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ECOTOURISM IN RURRENABAQUE
The term ecotourism has, in the past, often been used in Rurre in connection with practices
that are rather dubiously ecofriendly, and with tours where prices have been driven down
to unhealthy and unsustainable levels. Yet things are changing: the local tour operators'
association, ASOPTUR, has now established minimum pricing (currently Bs700 ($100)
for a three-day pampas tour and Bs250 ($36)/day for the rainforest); as the signs displayed
around town sternly warn, buy cheaper than this and you potentially expose yourself - and
the environment - to all manner of danger. With support from both the German Develop-
ment Service and USAID, moreover, strict guidelines have now been developed for stand-
ards in safety, environmental awareness, sustainable tourism and socio-cultural sensitivity
which agencies must adhere to in order to be certified.
One of Rurre's great successes has been its community-run projects, with the internation-
ally renowned Chalalán leading the way. Established with support from international con-
servation groups in a bid to demonstrate how rainforest conservation can provide sustain-
able livelihoods for local people who might otherwise turn to logging or other destructive
activities, it's owned and managed by the 116 families that make up the Quechua-Tacana
community of San José de Uchupiamonas, located 25km further up the Río Tuichi, and the
only settlement of any real size inside Parque Nacional Madidi. Other respected commu-
nity operators include Mapajo Ecoturismo Indígena , whose Albergue Ecologico Mapajo
is wholly owned by the indigenous communities of the Río Quiquibey, and was established
at a fraction of the cost of Chalalán and with a greater degree of community autonomy;
and San Miguel del Bala , co-owned by 35 families and founded with help from both the
United Nations Development Programme and USAID.
Parque Nacional Madidi itself wouldn't exist, however, without the efforts of the re-
markable Rosa Maria Ruiz, manager of Madidi Travel . The company emerged from Eco
Bolivia, the foundation Ruiz created in the early 1990s and with which she convinced the
government - with support from the World Bank and Conservation International - to cre-
ate the national park. After a series of setbacks that could fill a book in their own right,
she went on to create the Reserva de Serere, a pristine, privately owned, forty-square-kilo-
metre protected area, which forms part of the Madidi Mosaic, a 150,000-square kilometre
network of protected areas stretching to the Peruvian border.
Pampas del Yacuma
Northeast of Rurrenabaque, the dense forests of the Andean foothills quickly give way to the
Pampas del Yacuma : the vast, swampy grasslands that dominate much of the Beni. Though
they have been grazed by cattle for hundreds of years, the pampas still support a great deal
of wildlife, particularly along the forested banks of the great rivers that meander across them.
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