Natural highlights of Bolivia holiday

Planet

CARBON REDUCTION

Human powered transport: Our tours visit important sites dedicated to nature conservation, protecting fragile ecosystems and also indigenous territories. In the Amazon, within the Madidi National Park, tourist routines include hiking in intact forests through an extensive system of trails that connect Chalalan Ecolodge, piers and viewpoints. Tours are complemented with rides inside the lake, in small paddle canoes to avoid impacts with the resident fauna that inhabits Lake Chalalan and its shores. In the Andes of Central Bolivia, our activities within Toro Toro National Park are on foot, under responsible tourism standards that take care not to degrade and pollute the fragile landscape and the various Andean ecosystems still unknown for science.

Our hostels use solar panels to pump water and generate electricity, and natural gas is used for kitchen and hot showers. Solid waste is collected and subsequently removed from Lake Chalalan, Toro Toro, the Salar de Uyuni and the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna Reserve to be disposed in dedicated collection centres in large cities.


ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE

On our tours, wildlife comes first. In the Amazon, fishing routines are not offered to tourists, and wild animals are not fed for photography. The handling of any type of wildlife is not allowed, nor is the cutting of lianas and trees allowed during nature tours. The fundamental concept of our tourism services is that visitors observe wildlife in its element, this being the best value of the tourist product offered to the visitor, which results in a true genuine experience that explores pristine nature.

While crossing the Altiplano on the way to the Uyuni Salt Flat and entering the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Reserve it is possible to cross paths with troops of wild vicunas, Lesser Rheas or find three species of flamingos roosting or feeding in hypersaline lakes. We do our best not to cause any disturbance to this majestic wildlife. To ensure that the impact of visitation is not negative, our groups are usually less than 10 people. In the Uyuni Salt Flat, to minimize negative effects, we use vehicles for 4 to 5 people to avoid impacting in the incredibly beautiful landscape of this salt flat.

Tourism, probably like no other economic activity, supports biodiversity conservation efforts in Madidi National Park, officially the richest protected area in biodiversity today. The Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna Reserve protect several rare hypersaline wetlands such as Laguna Colorada and several other and also a charismatic wildlife highly threatened by extinction. Toro Toro National Park protects valuable paleontological and speological sites, including dinosaur footprints, caves, and other significant geological formations. Local communities, together with environmental organizations, park authorities, have come together to implement sustainable tourism practices and protect the natural landscape that is admired by thousands of international tourists every year.

By following responsible tourism guidelines in all places we visit, we effectively support efforts to help conserve native flora and fauna, several endemic species, and biodiversity. Bolivia is one of the 20 richest countries in biodiversity in the planet.

People

LOCAL ECONOMY

Our tours generate economic income that benefits members of the Community of San José de Uchupiamonas, inside Madidi National Park, inhabitants of the Municipality of Toro Toro, also populations neighboring the Uyuni Salt Flat and the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna Reserve, all destinations that are using nature tourism as the most important and sustainable economy all year round.

Our operations are committed to support initiatives aimed to help preserve the rich cultural heritage of Bolivia. This tour will take you to visit the indigenous territory of the San José de Uchupiamonas, a Quechua Tacana etnia, that works in tourism in the Bolivian Amazon with the goal of saving its cultural identity and support biodiversity conservation inside Madidi National Park and also to visit The Municipality of Toro Toro where local communities and the Toro Toro National Park are working together to use responsible tourism to conserve their beautiful cultural landscape, small archaeological sites, caves, dinosaur footprints, and rock paintings. In addition, this tour will pass several Aymara communities inside or neighbouring the Uyuni Salt Flat and the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna Reserve, most of them working in tourism.

EMPLOYMENT, INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY

In Madidi National Park, for more than two decades we have been generating employment opportunities for 50 heads of households, including men and women, and young people from the Community of San José de Uchupiamonas, which has approximately 600 inhabitants. The impact of employment benefits a minimum of 150 people or 25% of the community. The tour includes routines that promote education and cultural exchange. This community, small in Bolivia, has unique traditions and is threatened by cultural extinction. Responsible tourism is perhaps the best alternative for the cultural and economic survival of this ethnic group.

In Toro Toro, we are committed to hire local guides, respecting the common agreement between the municipality, the national park and tour operators. In this way we are providing direct employment to Quechua and Aymara men and women involved in tourist services in the Municipality of Toro Toro. Beside local guides, there are other locals working in restaurants, small hotels, and handicraft production.

In the Bolivian Altiplano, for services in Uyuni and the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna Reserve, our guides and drivers are locals specialized in transporting tourists through remote locations.