Day 2: Rurrenabaque to Madidi National Park

On the way we keep our eyes peeled for snakes on the side of the road and sloths in the trees. We had a couple of false snake alarms but were lucky enough to get out and see two sloths.

After passing through a few lovely little tropical towns we arrived at the park entrance where tickets and official tour guides are mandatory to enter. This area continues to battle with wildlife poachers and now that it's officially recognised it's great to see the level of protection it's getting.

Welcome to the jungle!

From here we happily say goodbye to the hot, dusty roads as where we're going for the next 3 days can only be accessed by riverboat!

We got our first proper taste of the Amazon during the 40-minute trip upstream to our jungle lodge and cabins, Las Tortugas. Within minutes we passed rafts of turtles, families of capybaras, constant fish jumping and dozens of bird types like herons, parrots, kingfishers, eagles, vultures and falcons.

We were also blown away by the number of caiman basking on the riverbanks and swimming alongside and sometimes under the boat!  At this point we reminded the kids to keep their hands out of the water.

We were introduced to two species:

• the smaller and much more common Yacare Caiman, which reach up to 3 metres
  
• and the largest caiman species, the Black Caiman, growing up to 6 metres
  

July is winter and one of the driest periods of the year so the rivers were much lower than the summer rainy seasons making the caiman very concentrated.

Caiman are related to alligators and belong to the same family Alligatoridea. Caimans teeth are longer and more narrow than alligators and they are more agile.

Las Tortugas Eco-Lodge

Arriving at our lodge was a like a dream come true. We rounded a gentle bend and there up high off the river we could see traditionally built cabins with thatch roofs peaking through the palms. Our guide parked our boat and we were immediately greeted with refreshing juices and shown around by the friendly local staff.

We chose Mashaquipe Tours because friends had recommended them for the knowledgeable guides and great accommodation and food. But during our stay we were delighted to discover their commitment to responsible practices and sustainable tourism and that they were founded, managed and owned by a society of indigenous families from the local communities.

Our cabin was perfectly simple with everything we needed. Namely, comfy beds with mosquito nets and 3 hours of electricity in the evening for recharging cameras and phones.

After dropping off our bags we had lunch and then some rest time in the hammocks before the afternoon's planned exploring.