2-DAY COMMUNITY TOUR (SAN MIGUEL DEL BALA)

Price
$180.00
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In this two day tour you will get to visit the Tacana community of San Miguel del Bala and learn about their culture and traditions. You will see first hand the community lifestyle and visit the surrounding rainforest with a knowledgeble local guide. You will learn about traditional hunting techiques, forest medicines, visit a jungle waterfall and can take a jungle hike to a canyon. You will also see how this community-owned lodge benefits from the tourism project buy funding various project with the village.

OVERVIEWOVERVIEW

In this two day tour from Rurrenabaque you will get to visit the Tacana community of San Miguel del Bala and learn about their culture and traditions. You will see first hand the community lifestyle and visit the surrounding rainforest with a knowledgeble local guide. You will learn about traditional hunting techiques, forest medicines, visit a jungle waterfall and can take a jungle hike to a canyon. There will be a delicious lunch cooked by the skilled local cooks. You will also see how this community owned lodge benefits from the tourism project buy funding various project with the village.

ITINERARYITINERARY
DAY 1
You will be picked up from you accommodation or from the airport and taken to the office (pickup from the airport is also included if arriving the day before). After a short briefing you will be escorted to a waiting motorised boat that will take you on the 45 min river trip to get to the village. You will be welcomed and offered a tropical fruit juice, then shown to your private cabin. Once you have settled in your guide will take you on a walk in the jungle to show you ancient trapping techiniques used by the native Tacana people. After the walk you return to the lodge for a delicious lunch prepared by the local cooks. In the afternoon you will visit the village of San Miguel and learn how the tourism project has helped improve the lives of the villagers. You will visit the local school, your guides home and learn how to weave, make thatched roofing and squeeze sugar cane to make a refreshing juice drink.
 
DAY 2
You will awaken to the sound of tropical bird songs and take breakfast by the river. We will then set off by boat up the River Beni to the mouth of a stream and start a 20 min hike to a waterfall. Here you can relax and swim in the refreshing pool before we hike back and return for lunch at the lodge. In the afternoon you have a choice of two activities:
  • 1 - San Miguel's Pharmacy - Explore the forest and discover the incredible variety of medicinal plants and their uses, Your guide , who has used these plants all his life, will explain the many remedies that can be found and what they can be used to treat - stomach ache, colds, anemia, natural antibiotics and as insect repellents.
  • 2 - The Canyon - Explore a stunning 150m long canyon in the jungle with a choice of a short walk or a 3 hours trek that passes through the canyon near the end.
After your chosen activity you will return to Rurrenabaque by motorboat arriving approximately 16.00 pm - you will get dropped off at the airport if having a late flight back to La Paz the same evening.

INCLUDED / NOT INCLUDEDINCLUDED / NOT INCLUDED
INCLUDED
  • Airport and / or accommodation pickup and dropoff
  • Transportation in motor boat
  • English-speaking guide
  • Cook and meals (veggie options available if pre requested), drinking water
  • Accommodation in lodges - mosquito nets, beds, sheet/cover
 
NOT INCLUDED
  • Travel Insurance - recommended 
  • Extra beverages
  • Breakfast on first day, dinner on last day
  • Sunglasses & Sun cream 
  • Insect Repellent 
  • Others not mentioned

IMPORTANT INFORMATIONIMPORTANT INFORMATION
  • This tour starts in Rurrenabaque and DOES NOT include the cost of transport for getting there. We can arrange flights for getting to Rurrenabaque. We cannot be responsible if you book a tour and then you cannot find a transport to Rurrenabaque on time - please make sure you know how to get to Rurrenabaque before booking this tour (you can also book flights through us together with the tour and we will confirm the tour only if flights are available too). There is a minimum group size of 2 people for this tour to be confirmed (you can make a booking of one person and we can check to see if there are others booked for that date).
  • Groups are usually from 2 to 8 people in size and there may also be other groups in the lodges.If you wish to book for just one person you can pay a single person supplement to guarantee departure (depending on availability) , please choose this option when booking below.
  • Malaria is extremely rare in the pampas and jungle near Rurrenabaque and there has not been any cases contracted locally for many years.That said, there are plenty of mosquitos in the area so it is considered a possibility. Other insect bourne diseases such as yellow fever and dengue are in the area so a good insect repellent and long sleeve shirt plus long trousers are essential.

Frequently Asked Questions

Please read through these common questions & answers - if you cant find what you want to know send us your questions using the Ask a Question button

How does rainy season affect the Pampas & Jungle Tours & Rurrenabaque Flights?

You will read various reports about how rainy season affects Bolivia and traveling there - many of these will contradict each other simply because Bolivia is a large country, with different conditions throughout and also people experiences with weather will vary from place to place and also from year to year. In general (although there are various opinions on this) rainy season is considered to be from Oct/Nov through to Mar/April. Rain can occur outside these months of course especially in lowland and jungle areas but the rainfall is definitely more during these months. Usually up until December there is not too much and we tend to get periods of a few days when it rains and periods of a few days when it does not. From Jan onwards until Mar/Apr there is more frequent and heavier rain and this can cause some problems  but it is still perfectly possible to visit Bolivia during this time as long as you take some possible delays into account (which you should do any time of year anyway due to the chance of protests and roadblocks!). 

Pampas and Jungle Tours - These tours run year round and in general rain does not stop tours from going. The exception is when there has been very heavy sustained rainfall and the Rurrenabaque area becomes flooded (the pampas, the jungle floor, the local roads and even the town itself). This is not common but has happened some years and you just have to check local news prior to departure times or ask us for latest info.
Rurrenabaque Flights
The main issued caused by rainy season for Rurrenabque is delays to the flights between La Paz - Rurre and Rurre - La Paz which can regularly be delayed due to weather. We advise flying the day before your tour and flying back early am the day after you tour in order to give yourself some time for delays. Also if you have something you have to be back for such as an international flight we recommended having one more buffer day before to make sure. Delays of a whole day are possible. The way it works when there are delays is that your flight reservation can be looked at like a number in a queue, so if there was a flight or flights scheduled earlier than yours delayed then the passengers booked on those flights are first "in the queue" to get the next avaialble flight out. This is why we recommend not relying on getting the first early morning flight to start a tour or the last flight of the day to return to La Paz as during rainy season you are often bumped forward due to delays on previous flights.
Most people fly to Rurrenabaque but there is also a bus service that takes about 18 hours in dry season. In rainy season this journey time can rise to as much as 40 hours as the road is washed away, blocked with landslides and becomes a river of mud. We strongly recommend against trying to take this bus in rainy season (we don't really recommend it in dry season!).
Do you pick me up at the airport for flights to Rurrenabaque?
Depending on the individual tour this might be included with the tour or a chargeable extra. Please ask at the time of booking with us or check the tour description in the Included/Not Included  or product FAQ section. For example if you book a tour at the MashaquipeChalalan or Madidi Jungle Ecolodges, then yes a pickup will be arranged for no extra price (whenever you arrive, even if it's the day before). Also, these companies will provide a transfer back to the airport at the end of the tour. Other operators such as Indigena Tours or Bala Tours can provide a transfer to/from the airport only if you book a private tour or by special arrangement.
If you do not have a pickup arranged it is easy to get from the airport to Rurrenabaque as there is always transport waiting to meet the flights arriving. Sometimes there is an Amaszonas bus and sometimes just local taxis. The fare should cost around 15 to 20 Bs and the journey is about 20 minutes.
Is there malaria in Rurrenabaque and in the areas where pampas and jungle tours take place?
Whilst it is feasible that malaria could exist in Rurrenabaque, the pampas and the jungle areas nearby because there are plenty of mosquitoes, there have not been any reported instances of malaria. We do not consider it necessary to take malaria tablets for our tours but if you wish to do so then you should bring them with you as you might not be able to get the brand/type you want in Bolivia. There is the possibility of Dengue fever and yellow fever also, so you must protect yourself from insect bites as much as possible. You should bring a good insect repellent with you as there are not many good options available to purchase in Bolivia.

Booking Form

HOW TO BOOK

Fill in the required details and click "add to cart".You can then continue shopping for more items or click on the "cart" link at the top right hand corner of the page to complete your booking.

IMPORTANT

You must provide details for each passenger that you are booking for and also ensure that you change the qty box to show the correct amount of passengers that you are booking for.

  

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