Amazon Basin

The 6950-sq-mi (18,000-sq-km) Parque Nacional Madidi is one of South America’s most intact ecosystems, taking in a range of habitats from steaming lowland rainforests to 19685ft (6000m) Andean peaks. This little-trodden utopia is home to an astonishing variety of Amazonian wildlife: 44% of all mammal species in North and South America, 38% of neotropical amphibian species and more than 1000 species of bird. Some scientists call it the most biodiverse place on earth.

The populated portions of the park along the Río Tuichi have been accorded a special Unesco designation permitting indigenous inhabitants to utilize traditional forest resources.

The gentle whisking of brooms on the plaza serves as a wake-up call in sleepy Rurre, a gringo crossroads sliced by the deep Río Beni and surrounded by mossy green hills. Mesmerizing sunsets turn the sky a burnt orange, and a dense fog sneaks down the river among the lush, moist trees. Once darkness falls, the surrounding rainforest comes alive with croaks, barks, buzzes and roars. This is civilization's last stand.

Backpackers fill the streets, and restaurants, cafes and hotels cater mainly to North American and European tastes. Some travelers spend their days relaxing in the ubiquitous hammocks, but at some stage the majority go off on riverboat adventures into the rainforest or pampas.

The area’s original people, the Tacana, are responsible for the name of ‘Rurrenabaque,’ which is derived from ‘Arroyo Inambaque,’ the Hispanicized version of the Tacana name ‘Suse-Inambaque,’ the ‘Ravine of Ducks.’

San Ignacio de Moxos is a friendly, tranquil indigenous Moxos village, 57 miles (92km) west of Trinidad, with an ambience quite distinct from any other Bolivian town. The people speak an indigenous dialect known as ignaciano, and their lifestyle, traditions and food are unique. The best time to visit is during the annual festival on July 30 and 31. This is when the villagers let their hair down and get their feather headgear up, and don’t stop drinking, dancing and letting off fireworks for three days.

The village was founded as San Ignacio de Loyola by the Jesuits in 1689. In 1749 it suffered pestilence and had to be shifted to its present location on healthier ground.

This tour company specializes in la ruta del bufeo, a one- or two-day boat journey through the Área Protegida Municipal Ibare-Mamoré to view the pink Amazon river dolphins. Departures are typically from Puerto Ballivián (8km from Trinidad). English-language guides cost extra.

Strung out along the Cochabamba–Santa Cruz highway, Villa Tunari is an odd combination of truck stop and tourist town that offers a small introduction to the wilder Amazon. It's a pleasant spot to hike or swing in a hammock, and the hot, steamy jungle air will make you grateful for the proximity of las pozas, a series of natural swimming holes.

As visitor numbers increase – mostly weekenders from Cochabamba – so have the prices and your bolivianos won’t go as far here as they do further north in the Amazon. That said, it's a great base for probing into the wonderful Parque Nacional Carrasco.

Rosa María Ruiz is a towering figure in Bolivian conservation and one of the key people involved in creating the park we now know as Madidi. She lived in Madidi in its early years as a self-described hermit, but her outspoken criticism of Sernap – and its inability to control illegal logging and hunting – resulted in death threats, a ban from the park and, eventually, the torching of her jungle lodge. Undeterred, she set up shop three hours upriver from Rurrenabaque, creating her own private reserve: Serere.

Named after a bird with a blue face and punk-rock hair, this 4,000-hectare refuge has four lagoons, a week's worth of hiking trails, and enough monkeys, birds and reptiles to please the pickiest of wildlife watchers. Guides say they have more luck finding the famed Madidi wildlife here than along the increasingly crowded Rio Tuichi, where nearly every other Rurrenabaque-based outfit has its jungle camps.

When you visit Serere you create your own itinerary based on your specific interests, with the help of indigenous guides. You eat organic food (much of which comes from the garden on-site) and sleep in spacious thatch-roofed cabins with screens for walls, so you feel like you're right in the thick of it when the critters saunter by. The income earned by the ecolodge gets pumped back into local conservation efforts.

The March 2000 National Geographic cover story that first put Madidi on the map is a great read for those who want to learn more about Ruiz and her remarkable conservation work in the face of innumerable obstacles. You can find a copy of it – and book a trip to her reserve – at the Madidi Travel office in Rurrenabaque.

Trinidad is the place you’ll come to if you’re after a trip down the long and deep Río Mamoré, or on your way between Santa Cruz and Rurrenabaque. Despite its colonial architecture and colonnaded streets, it’s a modern city that is growing rapidly. Yet, it's surprisingly easy to trade the hum of motorbikes for the sounds of blue-throated macaws or pink river dolphins in the surrounding wetlands.

The city of La Santísima Trinidad (the Most Holy Trinity) was founded in 1686 by Padre Cipriano Barace as the second Jesuit mission in the flatlands of the southern Beni. It was originally constructed on the banks of the Río Mamoré, 8.5 miles (14km) from its present location, but floods and pestilence along the riverbanks forced relocation. In 1769 it was moved to the Arroyo de San Juan, which now divides the city in two.

The most established agency in town, offering four- and five-day tours of the region that encompass a visit to Tumichucuá, a riverboat ride, wildlife watching, fishing and a visit to the rubber boom town of Cachuela Esperanza. Tours can also stop at Brazil-nut-processing plants or açaí-producing communities, but arranging these activities requires at least two weeks notice.