Madidi National Park Voyage Tips and guide

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From snow-capped peaks in the Apolobamba range of the Andes to tropical lowland basins in the Amazon. The landscape includes an incredible range of ecosystems, from high altitude grasslands to clouds forests, lowland tropical forests to pristine lowland savannas. Madidi is part of a vast wilderness that includes neighboring protected areas in Bolivia and southeastern Peru.

Madidi is one of the most biologically diverse protected areas on the planet. The park is home to over 1,000 bird species, representing a whopping 11% of the world’s 9,000 bird species. Madidi contains large populations of Latin America’s most charismatic wildlife species: jaguar, spectacled bear, maned wolf, vicuña, giant otter, Andean condor and military macaw, among others. The newly discovered monkey species lives in Madidi and nowhere else.

The Madidi National Park can be reached from Rurrenabaque.

Be careful to choose a good tour and a good guide. Don't be the next to become disappointed. There are many tour operators and travel agencies with a wide range of tours and prices. And of course you can find really good quality. Quality and price are connected. But first of all you have to spend time on investigation. Ask for proper information and testimonials.

More information on tours in article Rurrenabaque.

The entrance fee is mostly not included in the prices of the tour operators and was 125 Bs in June 2011.

Some eco-lodges are found in and around the Madidi National Park. The oldest and best known is Chalalan Ecolodge in Chalalán on the Tuichi River. Another is the San Miguel del Bala Eco-Lodge on the banks of the Beni River, reached by boat 40 minutes up stream from Rurrenabaque.

• Berraco del Madidi, ☏ +591 3892-2966. "Calle Comercio esq.Vaca Diez" (Rurrenabaque). A Bolivian rainforest eco-camp, specializing in multi-day tours. Located deeper than any other operator in the Amazon's Madidi National Park. The tours are individually tailored, with only 8 guests at any one time. 
• San Miguel del Bala Eco-lodge. 7 comfortable cabins each with 3 beds, electricity and private bathroom, and a dormitory of 8 beds with shared bathroom. The cabins are scattered, giving the feeling of living alone in the rain forest. The eco-lodge is owned and operated by the indigenous community of San Miguel del Bala. The inhabitants of San Miguel have built the eco-lodge with the help and guidance of NGOs including CARE, Conservation International, the UNDP and the Wildlife Conservation Society. In a traditional round-house, there is an interpretation center with an exhibition about the Tacana culture.