Jungle trip in Bolivia - Trinidad o Rurrenabaque? Or Pampas?

Hi fellow travellers,

I wonder where is best to do a jungle tour in Bolivia, is it Trinidad o Rurrenabaque or elsewhere?
Or is perhaps a Pampas tour best? In that case where would be the best place be?

Also, has anyone travelled to Trinidad from Santa Cruz? What is the quickest (and cheapest) route?

A few years ago I did a 5 day jungle in Brazilian Amazon and I've also done Pantanal and loved both. Don't know if this info is useful or not. I know it all up to ones personal taste and what we make of every tour but I am just so torn on which one to pick (don't have time to do both)!!

Thank you very much in advance for any help.

Enjoy you day/eve/night

There's a cheap direct flight between Trinidad and SC with Aerocon if that's of interest. Can depart from either SC airport.

Rurre is more set up for jungle & pampas tours than Trinidad, but possible from either. If you're in the area at the end of July I highly recommend the annual festival at San Ignacio de Moxos, on the road between the two towns via San Borja. Good luck.

Thank you for your help! It's much appreciated.

Just wondered, is the road to Rurre really as bad as they say, specially during rain season?? We are going in December/January.

Rainy season = more mud, less dust. Good asphalt from La Paz to about 5 miles other side of Yolosita (near Coroico) then graded dirt road. However, road from Trinidad to Yucumo (junction with La Paz - Rurre road) difficult in wet, better to fly if you have the $$$ and intend doing that section in Dec/Jan.

Do a pampas tour from Rurrenabaque.

Thank you both for your advice. I am very excited!

Once you get to Rurrenabaque you need to take a decision – if you wanna go on a pampas or a jungle tour or if you’ve got enough time if you wanna see both, so you can get an impression of two completely different sites. I have seen that you are discussing these tours and as I am from Rurrenabaque I just want to give you some information.
The Pampa is characterized to be a quite open site with a small river and where all the animal live that you can observe in the Pampas . That’s the reason why the major part of the tourists wants to go there to see lots of animals like krokodiles, monkeys, different kinds of birds, pink dolphins and anaconda.
But what’s actually happening is that all the agencies sell exact the same packet – go by jeep to Santa Rosa and from there by boat to a big campsite with a basic service where all the agencies rent a small part. From there you are gonna go for boatrides to look for the animals. Those still often get caught, for examle baby alligators or anacondas, so the tourists can touch them and take fotos from pretty close. Or they get fed so there are actually monkeys addicted to coke that come to the camp to steal cans.
The other problem is that all the tourist stay in the same camp and do the same tour which means all the boats leave at the same time to the same site so you can see as many tourists as animals.
But still the 3 day tours are quite cheap, the costs are vary from 400 Bs. to 500 Bs. Aditionally the entrance fee to the Pampas.
The reason why this situation exists is because everybody can open an agency and take people to a pampas tour for there isn’t any control at all of what’s happening there.
On the other side you need to get a permission from the National Park to take people to the jungle within the National Park Madidi. That’s why only certain agencies which follow the instructions of the Park offer jungle tours to the people.
The jungle is a completely different region where you will not find much open space but high trees and lots of different plants. That’s why you cannot see animals that easy but they are all there except for the dolphins you just need to go and look for them.
There are to types of authorized agencies on the one hand privat ones and on the other hand agencies from the indigenous communities such as Chalalan, Mapajo, San Miguel de Bala y Mashaquipe. This not only makes the difference of where they money goes but furthermore you get the chance to get to know the indigenous people visiting a community. You can learn about their way of life, their medizin and their handicraft together with them and of course walk in the jungle, observe animals and so on. If you choose a privat agency it is more likely only visiting the jungle looking for animals and impressing plants without the cultural part.
The typical jungle tour is 3 days but if you have more time you can stay 4 or 5 days as well to take part in all the activities that are offered to you. The prices differ a lot more than in the Pampas as the agencies offer a high quality as well as more basical tours. Another option is to go for a trekking to the Alto Madidi if you want to spend at least 15 days in the middle of the jungle.
There isn’t an exact layout for such a tour as they vary a lot more than the Pampas ones so choose the agency with care.

Great post wilmar1.

Ta Wilmar1 I like your input. I am a traveller that do take those things into account. I rather spend my cash where it's needed and where nature is respected for what it is, a precious gem that needs to be cared for with love.

Wilmar1, also I like your post # 6. It really provides the background for a choice.

Wilmar1, can you tell a little about the airport of Rurrenabaque ? Is there any news about the paving of the runway ?
¿Puedes contar un poco sobre el aeropuerto de Rurrenabaque? ¿Hay alguna noticia sobre el pavimento de la pista?

A recent thread about ecolodges and tours from Rurre/Rurrenabaque: Some questions for our Bolivia experts, 07-Mar-2010. (Reply # 3).

And of course also Mashaquipe should be mentioned.

The encyclopedia Wikipedia and the travel guide WikiTravel may also be of interest. But check the information elsewhere, especially for WikiTravel.
Rurre/Rurrenabaque in Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rurrenabaque
Madidi NP: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madidi_National_Park

Estimado, Erik07, creo tu hablas español, en lo que respecta la construccion del pavimento de la pista de aterrizaje del aeropuerto de Rurrenabaque se tiene un importante avance, en realidad esta en la ultima etapa, se ha construido 1300 metros, y falta 200 metros los cuales necesariamente requeriran cerrar la actual pista de aterrizaje por unos dias ya que se sobre pone a la actual, pero pienso que hasta el mes de julio Rurrenabaque tendra su pista de aterrisaje, con lo cual se solucionara el problema de cancelacion de vuelos por motivo de lluvias. Espero que te sirva esta informacion, un saludo

Estimado, Wilmar, ¡Muchas gracias! Thank you so much!
Two month ago, in March, I heard that the pavement would become reality, hopefully to be finished at the latest in July 2010. And my source in Rurrenabaque quite recently confirmed that July would hold good.
But you are the first to provide details, and the first to tell that already 1300 meters have been paved.
Hurrah! - ¡Hurra!

A translation of your post:
Dear Erik07, I think you speak Spanish. The construction of the pavement of the runway in the airport of Rurrenabaque has a major progress. In fact it is in the final stage, 1300 meters has been made. 200 meters is lacking, which will require closing the current runway for a few days. I think that in July Rurrenabaque will have its runway, thus solving the problem of cancellation of flights because of rain. I hope this information helps you. Greetings.

Saludo, Erik

is it possible to do a 1-day tour in the pampas, 1-day tour in the rainforest, and 1-day tour with an indigenous community? I only have 3 nights/4 days in the Rurre area. thanks!