Peru & Bolivia overland tour, 34 days
Highlights
Lima | Ballestas Islands | Ica Desert | Nazca Lines | Arequipa | Colca Canyon | Inca Trail | Cuzco | Lake Titicaca | La Paz | Uyuni Salt Flats | Siloli Desert | Sol de Manana Volcano Crater | Potosi | The Cretaceous Park | Madidi National Park | Yacuma River | The PampasDescription of Peru & Bolivia overland tour, 34 days
This Peru and Bolivia overland tour takes you on a mammoth 34 day journey across these two fascinating countries. Starting in Lima and ending in La Paz, you’ll explore everything from modern city delights to hidden landscapes to mysterious ancient sites.Highlights along the way include a four day trek along the Inca trail, visiting the floating islands of Lake Titicaca, exploring the Bolivian Salt Flats by 4WD, viewing rare and exotic sea birds and mammals at the Ballestas Islands, and zipping up and down the sand dunes at the Oasis of Huacachina in a beach buggy.
You’ll travel in a purpose built overland vehicle along with a group of up to 24 likeminded travellers. These trips are fully participatory, meaning that you take turns shopping, cooking and setting up camp. The roads are sometime rough and you might not always get a hot shower, but sleeping under incredible starry skies and making lifelong friendships more than makes up for this.
Travel Team
If you'd like to chat about this holiday or need help finding one we're very happy to help. The Travel Team.
01273 823 700 Calling from outside the UK? rosy@responsibletravel.comCheck dates
Overland
If you’re looking for adventure, an opportunity to travel with like-minded travellers and to get off the beaten track then this type of trip is for you! We will sometimes be covering long distances over a period of a few days but will then most often be camped up for a few days with opportunities for adventure activities, visiting local communities, time in a town or city to chill out or wildlife viewing experiences. The roads are sometimes bumpy and you need to expect the unexpected! This type of travel is through regions where things can change and experiences are more important than luxury – borders sometimes close and there may not always be hot water in the showers! You will generally be camping out under the stars, sometimes out in the bush, but generally more on campsites. (Our South America and Central Asia trips also use small locally-run hostels and guest houses). The trips are fully participative so you will be involved shopping for food in local markets, cooking for your group (on a rota system), collecting water and setting up camp. If you’re not confident about doing any of these things beforehand, don’t worry our crew are there to help you and you’ll be good at it by the time you finish!You will be travelling on one of our own purpose built overlanding vehicles with up to 24 travellers, many of whom will be travelling on their own. It is a great way for solo travellers to travel. We have lost count of the number of travellers who have met their future spouse on one of our trips! Our vehicles are fully equipped with tents and cooking equipment and are designed for great all-round viewing and a sociable seating plan. You will be accompanied on your trip by a Driver and Tour Leader and, depending on your trip, we often use local guides at sites of specific interest for more detailed information.
This type of travel will provide you with a plethora of memories and stories to tell, new-found travelling companions and friends and a well-exercised spirit of adventure!
Responsible tourism
As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we screen every trip so you can travel knowing your holiday will help support conservation and local people.
Wildlife: one of the highlights of this trip will be your stay in the Amazon Jungle. The Jungle Lodge we use has a huge commitment to preserving the local habitat, flora and fauna and are very keen to share their knowledge and passion with you. On arrival, they will brief you on steps you can take to minimise the impact of your stay on the local environment., including guidelines on how to interact with the local wildlife and sticking to designated trails. They also include information on culturally sensitive behaviour with the local community, such as not taking photos without permission first.Waste: at the point of booking a tour with us, all our travellers receive detailed pre-departure information which contains a large section on travelling responsibly. This includes advice on minimising the amount of waste they create on the trip. This informs travellers on what they can do before they go, for example removing toiletries from unnecessary packaging and taking a reusable water bottle and gives advice on what they should do whilst on the tour, for example, disposing of litter appropriately. Our operator in Bolivia is regularly involved in City Hall litter and tourist attraction clean-up events in La Paz.
All of this information on waste reduction is re-iterated at the pre-departure meeting at the start of the tour, with specific advice for the areas we visit on the tour. As a company we have a big commitment to reducing, reusing and recycling in our UK office. We are very aware of the environmental impact of our office in the UK, so we recycle and compost as much of our waste as possible. We try to reduce paper usage , but when necessary we use recycled paper and stationery. Our brochure is available to view or download online and the paper version is printed on stock produced from sustainable sources and vegetable based inks.
The Impacts of this Trip
Friends and Neighbours: This tour is led by a Peruvian Tour Leader in Peru (usually Ricardo) and a Bolivian Tour Leader in Bolivia (usually Marco). We receive consistently great feedback about their Tour Leading skills and the way they are able to immerse you into the local culture from trips to lesser known, more traditional, restaurants and bars to explaining local traditions and teaching you some basic local language.
All the accommodation and restaurants we use on the tour are small, locally-owned establishments. We use local transport providers, guides and operators throughout the tour. One of our aims as a company is to ensure that as many local people as possible benefit from our tour-both financially and in terms of employment.
Our stay at Lake Titicaca for example, also helps to support local communities financially -as we pay them directly for our homestay.
One of the highlights of this trip is obviously trekking the Inca Trails to Machu Picchu. This trek offers opportunities of employment to large numbers of the local community. Porters, cooks and guides are required. However, much of this employment is poorly paid and working conditions are not good. The local company we use to organise our trails has a commitment to the welfare of their porters-providing them with a professional wage and health insurance . They have also built overnight pre-trek accommodation for the porters and guides as many of them have to travel in from their home areas at significant distance from the start of the Trail.
Your Tour Leaders will tell you the best places to buy local crafts-from alpaca socks to silver jewellery! They share our enthusiasm for supporting local artisans and skills!
Wildlife: one of the highlights of this trip will be your stay in the Amazon Jungle. The Jungle Lodge we use has a huge commitment to preserving the local habitat, flora and fauna and are very keen to share their knowledge and passion with you. On arrival, they will brief you on steps you can take to minimise the impact of your stay on the local environment., including guidelines on how to interact with the local wildlife and sticking to designated trails. They also include information on culturally sensitive behaviour with the local community, such as not taking photos without permission first.Waste: at the point of booking a tour with us, all our travellers receive detailed pre-departure information which contains a large section on travelling responsibly. This includes advice on minimising the amount of waste they create on the trip. This informs travellers on what they can do before they go, for example removing toiletries from unnecessary packaging and taking a reusable water bottle and gives advice on what they should do whilst on the tour, for example, disposing of litter appropriately. Our operator in Bolivia is regularly involved in City Hall litter and tourist attraction clean-up events in La Paz.
All of this information on waste reduction is re-iterated at the pre-departure meeting at the start of the tour, with specific advice for the areas we visit on the tour. As a company we have a big commitment to reducing, reusing and recycling in our UK office. We are very aware of the environmental impact of our office in the UK, so we recycle and compost as much of our waste as possible. We try to reduce paper usage , but when necessary we use recycled paper and stationery. Our brochure is available to view or download online and the paper version is printed on stock produced from sustainable sources and vegetable based inks.
The Impacts of this Trip
Friends and Neighbours: This tour is led by a Peruvian Tour Leader in Peru (usually Ricardo) and a Bolivian Tour Leader in Bolivia (usually Marco). We receive consistently great feedback about their Tour Leading skills and the way they are able to immerse you into the local culture from trips to lesser known, more traditional, restaurants and bars to explaining local traditions and teaching you some basic local language.
All the accommodation and restaurants we use on the tour are small, locally-owned establishments. We use local transport providers, guides and operators throughout the tour. One of our aims as a company is to ensure that as many local people as possible benefit from our tour-both financially and in terms of employment.
Our stay at Lake Titicaca for example, also helps to support local communities financially -as we pay them directly for our homestay.
One of the highlights of this trip is obviously trekking the Inca Trails to Machu Picchu. This trek offers opportunities of employment to large numbers of the local community. Porters, cooks and guides are required. However, much of this employment is poorly paid and working conditions are not good. The local company we use to organise our trails has a commitment to the welfare of their porters-providing them with a professional wage and health insurance . They have also built overnight pre-trek accommodation for the porters and guides as many of them have to travel in from their home areas at significant distance from the start of the Trail.
Your Tour Leaders will tell you the best places to buy local crafts-from alpaca socks to silver jewellery! They share our enthusiasm for supporting local artisans and skills!
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