Jungle Lodge Offers Unique Experience to Adventurers

The Chalalan Ecolodge offers a unique once-in-a-lifetime experience for adventurers visiting Bolivia.

Ruta al río Piraí, Bolivia / Mandatory Credit - Manuel Terceros

The Amazon Rainforest in Bolivia provides thrill-seeking adventurers with an incredible experience. However, there is a new experience that will change the people’s lives who are lucky enough to take part.

At the Indigenous community-owned Chalalan Ecolodge, a remote jungle getaway is available. Located on the Tuichi River in Madidi National Park, the Chalalan Ecolodge can hold only 20 people at a time.

The intimate setting allows visitors to see some sights that you won’t be able to take in anywhere else in the world. One of them is two-meter-long giant otters, which are an endangered species.

Seeing the group of otters had one tour guide, Gilder Macuapa, giving an animated response while with a group that included Brianna Randall of BBC. "We have never seen this many here before. It means our conservation is working,” Macuapa said.

Macuapa is the son of one of the founders of the Chalalan Ecolodge, Emerecia Nabia. Founded in 1997, it has been providing community members with a consistent source of income because of the eco-tourism that people love. It also helps keep the jungle they all have strong feelings for healthy.

"Chalalán has been a school for everyone," Macuapa said. "Many people from other communities also came to work here and saw how important it was to conserve the trees and the animals."

Madidi National Park is grand in size. With over 1,895,750 hectares, there are hundreds of thousands of different wildlife living there. They range from plants to insects, birds and mammals such as jaguars and the giant otters mentioned previously.

You can have a vastly different experience depending on where you are in the park. Snow-covered peaks in the Andres overlook forests, rainforests and trails teeming with so many living things.

Getting to Chalalan is an adventure in itself. A flight from La Paz to Rurrenabaque, a small town close to the lodge, is where Marcuapa picked up the family. The following day, a six-hour canoe ride through the Beni and Tuichi rivers gets you to the Ecolodge.

One other passenger, Margrethe Rasmussen was with the family of four for the trip. Making her second visit, Rasmussen said, "It's the best place I can be, in the jungle. You can feel it's so clean in there… so alive," she said. "And Chalalán is absolutely my favourite."

A mini-hike is then required to get to the lodge once you reach Chalalan which took 20 minutes through the rainforest. During that walk, there was plenty to see, setting the scene for what was to come for their five-day stay.