Lowri Some might argue that a backpacking venture around South America is not complete without a visit to the world-famous Amazon rainforest.
It’s hard to disagree with this statement but we respect that it typically comes down to time and expense. This is why we want to share how travellers can in fact visit the Amazon on a budget.
The immense Amazon region spans over 5.5 million km² and covers 9 countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname & Venezuela .
We were lucky enough to pass through several of these countries during our South American adventure and we always asked, “How can we visit the Amazon on a budget?”.
People across the world typically associate Brazil with the Amazon, which makes sense since the majority of it spans this country. However a trip in Brazil can often be way too costly for backpackers on a budget.
After some advice and a bit of research, it seemed to us that the most budget-friendly way to visit the Amazon was in Bolivia.
Getting to Bolivia’s Amazon
The gateway to Bolivia’s Amazon is via the country’s northern town of Rurrenabaque.
Given it’s remote location, it’s not surprising that getting to Rurrenabaque itself can still be quite costly. There are basically two options when travelling from La Paz:
#1 By Bus: The most time consuming, definitely the most fear-inducing but the cheapest by far.
We read that the bus can take anywhere from 20 to 36 hours but is a bargain at about 100 Bolivianos ($15 USD). Many savvy backpackers opt for this option. And maybe we would have if it wasn’t rainy season when roads are much more questionable. Maybe I am just making excuses but I swear Bolivian drivers have a death wish.
#2 By Plane: Quicker, more efficient, much safer but, unfortunately, much more expensive. A flight takes just 30 minutes and will set travellers back at least $150 USD.
It’s completely down to time and budget (not to mention courage) on which option suits best.
Despite the costs, we actually splashed out here and chose the latter. It was painful to part with the money but ultimately it was the right decision for us.
Amazon Jungle or Pampas Wetlands?
While figuring out how to get to Rurrenebqaue, there is also the question of what to actually see from there. Again, there are two main options: the Jungle (rainforest) or the Pampas (wetlands).
Many backpackers on a budget will just opt for one but if you can do two, then go for it!
We hadn’t been able to decide, so splurged on both. I mean, once we factored in the expense of a flight it didn’t seem worth our while not to do both.
That’s how we chose to justify it anyway, ha! But in all seriousness, how often does such an opportunity come around? So our savings took a bigger hit but we were still unquestionably visiting the Amazon on a budget.
The Amazon Jungle Tour
In our opinion, we would have to say the Jungle Tour was hands down the best all-round experience of the two.
It was exactly what we envisioned when imagining ourselves exploring the Amazon rainforest and we loved it!
We had initially meant to do the pampas first, but a guide surprised us at the airport as we arrived and said we were heading straight off to the jungle! It didn’t matter to us.
Day 1 in the Amazon jungle
Including a quick stop to pay our Amazon park-entry fee of $20 USD, our boat journey up-river took just over 2 hours.
On arrival we were shown to our own, private lodge. It literally blew our minds.
After settling in came our first of many delicious lunches and dinners. Each was a buffet consisting of locally grown produce including quinoa, potatoes and numerous vegetables.
Belly’s full we set off, amazed to discover it was just the two of us plus our guide! The perks of rainy season.
Our guide Reinaldo was brilliant! Having grown up in the Amazon he had an exceptionally keen eye for spotting even the smallest of things!
He was clearly very knowledgeable and enjoyed teaching us about his home.
While our first hike was exceedingly fascinating, we hadn’t yet spotted much animal life. Our second hike the following morning however proved much more fruitful.
Day 2 in the Amazon jungle
Reinaldo pointed out various insects and birds. We were amazed to spot an ant-eater, a tortoise (who knew the Amazon had these!?), howler monkeys, and, of course, spiders.
Night time in the jungle
Something that we had not realised was included on this trip was a night walk. Literally, we went into the jungle after dark. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous.
The pinnacle, apparently, is to see a jaguar. We had no such luck. But there were a good couple of tarantulas!
It was a certainly a unique experience, especially when Reinaldo had us turn off our flashlights. With nothing but darkness your ears can open to just how loud the jungle is!
Day 3 in the Amazon jungle
Our third and final morning we made our way to the shore of the river. The activity this morning was to build our very own raft! Which we were then going to ride down the river. The Amazon river.
Madness!
Yes another unique, and fun, experience.
There were a few rapids down-river that threatened to undo our handiwork, but the raft held strong. We even spotted and tried to catch a massive catfish on-route which Reinaldo was super-psyched about.
We were sad when it was time to head back to Rurrenabaque that afternoon. A last minute send-off from a troop of Capuchin monkeys was the perfect finale to our trip.
The Amazon Pampas Wetlands Tour
Day 1 of the Pampas
Reading any of our earlier blogs you may think that I am a little over-enthusiastic on how ‘awesome’ things are. I don’t intend to fluff things up, I’m just a pretty positive person! Rhys might be a little more level-headed than myself, but we tend to agree opinions on most things. Like our Amazon Pampas tour.
Our aim with these posts is to be as honest as possible. Therefore it is only fair to share that Bolivia’s Pampas wetlands had both ups and downs for us.
Why the wetlands?
What sets the wetlands apart from the jungle is the sheer volume of wildlife travellers can spot.
Being much more open than the dense jungle, cruising down the wetlands it’s possible to spot something exciting around almost every corner. That makes it an easy sell to backpackers.
The tour
Our trip to the pampas was another 3-day/2-night excursion. We set off the morning after returning from the jungle, having stayed in Rurrenabaque for the night.
This time we were not alone but our group still totalled just three.
From Rurrenabaque, we were driven over two hours by jeep to a dock (our excitement peaked after a very brief sloth sighting on route).
While waiting for our boat, it seemed our luck was finally up with the weather. We couldn’t complain. We had managed both Machu Picchu and our recent jungle tour with little hindrance from it.
For a short time, we thought the rain would be our biggest annoyance. Then came the mosquitos. We’ve never experienced anything close to that scale before.
Finally on board, the rain eased and we were free from the biting pests!
Our accommodation for the trip was a lodge deep in the wetlands. It was a two+ hour boat ride to get there and it genuinely has to be one of the best boat rides we’ve ever taken!
Wildlife
We saw so much wildlife; it was bonkers!
Howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, capybaras, terrapins and caimans (crocs). The famous pink river dolphins even teased us with a few sparse glimpses.
Accommodation
Our lodge was quaint and minimalistic, as expected. We were surprised that it could actually accommodate a good size group (maybe 20?) but we were the only three there!
Rhys and I continued to get spoilt, being given our own en-suite this time! A huge bonus.
Our travel buddy was happy with a dorm to herself however the shared bathrooms were less than ideal. Even though they were all hers, they were mozzie central.
Thankfully for us there was again no shortage of food on our pampas trip.
A single cook made our 3 meals a day, plus tea in the afternoon! We were certainly spoiled and never went hungry.
As a great finale for our first day we ventured out to a local ‘bar’ (read: glorified farm) for a beer and to watch the sunset.
Day 2 of the Pampas
Day two saw us go anaconda hunting after breakfast. This is sadly where our tour took a turn for the worse.
That morning our guide advised us that our efforts would be futile, even before going. Apparently these water-loving snakes don’t like the rain in wet season. Go figure.
This left us questioning why we were even going in the first place. But we were taken anyway.
‘Anaconda hunting’
Lets just say that wading through a boggy, mosquito-infested swamp in the rain, when your guide abandons you, is not my idea of fun. Thank the universe that I never found a bloomin’ anaconda!!
We returned to the boat after what felt like an eternity and headed back for lunch.
Swimming with river dolphins
Next on the itinerary was swimming with river dolphins! In theory, it sounds magical. In reality? Mmm, not so much.
Being in the wild, you can never guarantee an animals presence. Even in their ‘special place‘ as our guide kept referencing to one particular spot.
With no luck we moved on and were graced with one that would occasionally gift us with a brief sighting.
So the reality of this portion of the tour was to spot a dolphin, jump in the water, and then “Hey, presto! I’m swimming with river dolphins!“. It was a bit of a farce.
It would be quite cool simply to swim in the wetlands (without the bogus river dolphin swim claim) but we’d heard of some travellers getting sick after. More importantly, we were covered in bug spray, something that annoyingly didn’t phase our guide when I raised the point.
Needless to say, we declined on the swim.
Back at the lodge, food perked our spirits. We were even served a bottle of wine with dinner and the cook baked us a lush cake! She was the star of our trip.
Day 3 of the Pampas
We were all really excited for this mornings activity! It involved us getting to keep our clothes on and not happen upon giant reptiles, alone in the wilderness.
Piranha fishing
We were going piranha fishing!
Our guide had left us by this point and we now had a new guide who spoke zero English. Helpful!
Luckily it wasn’t too great a skill to master, attaching a baited hook to a line and dropping it off the side of our boat…
Better yet was we got to keep the piranha we caught and our cook would fry them up for us for lunch!
I thought they were delicious but the other two couldn’t stomach them. More for me, I say!
The return journey
After lunch it was time to head back to Rurrenabaque. It’s fair to say we were all ready, and quite keen, to leave at this point.
Of course, given the topsy-turvy nature of this tour, it was never going to be that simple.
The problem
We had unknowingly timed our return on an election day (note, it was a Sunday too) The issue with this, apparently, is that on election days, there are legal restrictions on what times cars can drive on the road.
Therefore when we arrived at the dock, eager to get back to town, we deciphered from our new guide that we would need to wait an hour for transport. Of course it was longer.
To add insult to injury, we watched on while six other tour groups arrived back at the dock and loaded into vehicles, without any issue. When I tried to question our guide in broken Spanish he literally ran away from me. This frustrated me no end but what could we do?
Drink beer.
A local vendor turned up with a cooler and was thankfully selling beer! This helped us relax and make light of the hilarity of our situation. Plus the strong winds were keeping the mossies away (a monumental plus!).
Our carriage arrived
Three hours later, our transport arrived. The tiny smashed up taxi was not quite the 4×4 we were expecting. Nor was the local family squashed in with us hitching a ride.
But it had an engine and would get us to Rurrenabaque!
We just reminded ourselves of where we were and, of course, that things could always be worse.
Reflections
We were so grateful to return to Rurrenabaque, I can’t exaggerate enough.
Once we were back, and in the time since, it has given us time to reflect more on the pampas excursion as a whole.
Despite the negatives I’ve shared, we would never discourage anyone from doing a trip to Bolivia’s pampas wetlands. Again, it’s the best way to see the Amazon on a budget!
It would be best, instead, to learn lessons from our experience and try to avoid the same issues.
Maybe avoid rainy season. Maybe don’t travel on a so-called ‘election day’. Maybe don’t be swayed by a ‘river dolphin swim’ (not that this was our case).
To be honest, I think the majority of a trips success comes down to the guide.
I think we could have dealt with the rain and mosquitos had we had a better guide. Ideally one that spoke English a bit better – since that’s how it was sold – but one that was actually enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the wetlands.
How to book the Amazon on a budget
We booked everything through our hostel while in La Paz.
We did this out of ease and because we were able to negotiate a marginal discount for booking several tours (both Amazon’s jungle and pampas tours as well as a day mountain biking down Death Road)..
In hindsight, we probably could have done more research to try and get a better deal. But it didn’t seem extortionate so we were happy to pay.
It’s important to remember that costs will always be more when booking through a third party.
While even if there is no immediate inflation for the guest, third parties can hinder the negotiation process as discounts typically come out of their fee.
Book direct
I have little doubt that travelling to Rurrenabaque and booking direct with tour groups would be the cheapest option to visit Bolivia’s Amazon. We met a few backpackers who did this.
Better yet, maybe email tour companies before forking out for transport to Rurrenabaque, particularly if travelling during peak season (if tours are full you may need to wait a couple days for an available spot, so factor in accommodation costs too).
If you’re wondering on which operators ran our tours, we had Max Adventures for the Amazon jungle and Dolphin Travel for the wetlands. We didn’t know any better at the time but I would recommend the former for both excursions for a better experience than we had in the pampas.
Our essential tips:
Regardless of how you book or which tour you choose, we think that clarifying and comparing the following key points are essential to ensure the best all-round experience:
– Cost; the obvious factor to consider. The government sets a minimum of 1,200 Bolivianos ($173USD) for each the pampas and jungle tour. If you find a tour offering less, they are more than likely illegal and unlicenced.
– Accommodation; factor where you’ll be sleeping. It’s all well and good if one tour is $20 cheaper but you might want to pay that marginal extra, if you will get a better night’s sleep.
– Activities; does every tour offer the same activities or does one offer more for the same cost? Don’t be afraid to question what certain activities involve.
– Food; almost every multi-day tour includes meals but of course you want to be certain there’s no hidden extra charges.
– Conservation efforts; be consious of the operator you go with. We had thought booking with a licenced operator through a popular hostel would automatically make them eco-friendly but this is not always the case. We do feel that it is important to factor in that an operator has at least some basic measures in place to protect the environment they are showcasing (for example, not having guides that feed the wildlife to entertain guests).
– English-speaking guide; obviously this is for those whose Spanish may still need some improvement (like ours). Operators can sometimes exaggerate their guide’s English-speaking skills so but I’m not really sure how to combat this other than to just do your best to bridge the gap.
A final note on the town of Rurrenabaque
A small regret we have was not allowing ourselves more time to enjoy the town of Rurrenabaque itself. Even just one extra day in between tours to recharge would have been sufficient!
We did discover a couple of gems however that we would literally go back for alone.
The French Bakery is one of these gems. When we had read rave reviews about this place, we weren’t sure it could live up to the hype.
But it did, in spades. We managed to squeeze in two trips here and ate 3 pasties each, each time!
Another must for dinner is El Nomadico. We were recommended here by the chef at our hostel specifically to order the Thai Fish Curry with a side of mashed potatoes.
As far as accommodation goes, there are two hostels in town: El Lobo and El Curichal. We stayed at the latter which was perfect for our needs.
There was a pool, friendly staff, breakfast included and private rooms were cheap. And, most importantly, they had a dog and a rescue kitten!
Signing off
I know this was a long one, but we had a lot to share!
Despite certain aspects being far from ideal along our journey to the Amazon, what we have a taken away from it is still an incredible experience.
Not everything in life is smooth sailing!
As with every adventure we share, we hope this post will have you on your way to planning your trip to the Amazon on a budget.
Like this blog? Pin it!
