Madidi-Travel, Rurrenabaque, Bolivia - Tourism Supporting Conservation

Madidi-Travel offers tours of the Serere Reserve and are the only tour agency in Rurrenabaque from which 100% of the profits go back to conservation work and empowering local communities, the only one to have this unique approach to make sure that tourism and conservation of the land and people exist in harmony.

 
The Serere reserve is part of the very wide Madidi Mozaic, which is a parcel of land that covers almost 15 million hectares of protected land in Bolivia including the Madidi National Park. This Mozaic contains the greatest biodiversity on earth and has the greatest number of ecosystems.

     

     

 Images in order : Caiman, Sloth, Capybara, Spider Monkey & Serere Birds (Madidi)

Casa Grande (Madidi)

Madidi-Travel has been and are still working hard at the conservation of their land and keeping a sustainable tourism. We were explained that unlike many tour companies in Rurrenabaque where they have very big groups heading out all at the same time. Madidi-Travel would only allow groups of a maximum of 8 people at a time and only a few groups at a time at the lodge. Exploring the Bolivian Amazon with them was a pleasure for this fact. I am not a big group type of guy and loved this, we were only five on our tour when we went and it was very nice that way. The accommodation that was in place was very nice. Well furnished small cabins, with up to three very good beds in them. Every cabin has it's own bathroom with shower, which was very nice after a day of walking in the warm and humid jungle. The main lodge is very big and cozy, this is where the included meals are served every day and has a second floor where you can make some birdwatching or simply relax in one of the many hammocks. Meals are all cooked with fresh organically produced ingredients from their own gardens right on the reserve or bought from the indigenous communities around when it's possible.

     

Inside ''Casa Grande'' - Main Cabin (Madidi)

   

Living Quarters

Anteater (Madidi)

Serere reserve is owned, protected and operated only by Madidi-Travel. They take pride in keeping a good relationship with the bordering indigenous lands and territories around. These communities are also helping in preservation and at the same time are helped by Madidi-Travel. The area has four very beautiful lakes that each have a broad variety of flora and fauna. It is deep in the tropical rainforest so you will get to see many types of trees and flora as well has animals from the jungle. Our guide was very good at pointing to us the different types of trees and explaining to us what they were used for by the indigenous people around. What types of animals you might see in the Serere reserves : Many types of monkeys live in the surrounding of the lodge (squirrel capuchin, howler and spider monkeys), you might also see tapirs, sloths, coatis, anteaters and wild boars, there is also a wide variety of insects, fish, amphibians and reptiles like the caimans and Anacondas. Hundreds of species of birds live around too, which you will surely wake up to their singing in the morning, you could spot macaws, herons, eagles. toucans and many others. They also is a variety of felines like the jaguar, ocelot, pumas and some more. Like they were saying if  felines live there it is a very good indicator of a healthy rainforest ecosystem.

Indigenous community (Madidi)

For the tour themselves, has a group you can customize your itineraries according to what you would like to see or do. The many choices are :
-Guided walks through the rainforest to identify fauna, medicinal plants and watch animals on the way.
-Night and or early morning treks. for animal spotting.
-Canoeing on the lake, day or night (all canoes on the reserve and aboriginal types of canoes made out of wood and are only used with paddles, no motors on the lakes of the reserve).
-Sport Fishing (fishing piranhas and the many other types of fish from the Serere)
-Relaxing in pristine rainforest surroundings
-Guide can show you how to make local crafts out of elements found in the jungle.
-If you decide they could also show you how to make local cuisine and cooking.

Would you not like to be walking in this beautiful place

I must say that I really enjoyed my 3 day/2 night stay with Madidi-Travel in the Selva Jungle, it was a great experience just to be walking around the jungle and being explained the many facet of this environment. Our guide and all other guides were all very nice and informative and most of all had a great sense of humor, which for me is always important. When we were looking and shopping for an agency for a tour. Most were offering to go to the Pampas which must also be very nice but with a lot less vegetation and were all making a promise that we would see all kinds of animals. When we got to Madidi-Travel, they were very straightforward saying that they could not promise such a thing, because animals being free on such a big land can be everywhere and you can never know where they will be. We did see a wide variety of animals, but I loved the straightforwardness and loved the fact they they would not make a promise that I might be disappointing if it was not true.

In the end I would say that I would gladly recommend Madidi-Travel to anyone. We did find a few tour agencies that were asking a little bit less for prices for the tours but in the end we opted for candidness other that promises, promises. And we were in no way dissapointed because there were no over the top expectations. I expected to have a good time, and this is exactly what I got. I cannot say that it gets any better than that.

Thank you Madidi-Travel for an experience of a lifetime and for all the good services and info that were given to us while we were in the reserve.
 

If you would like to join Madidi-Travel, here are the contacts info. :

Website : www.madidi-travel.com
E-Mail : info@madidi-travel.com

Office in La Paz
Calle Linares No.968 and Calle Sagarnaga No. 363
P.O. Box 8505
La Paz, Bolivia
Tel : 591-2-2318313
Fax : 591-2-2318314

Office in Rurrenabaque
Calle Commercio (between Santa Cruz & Vaca Diez)
Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
Tel : 591-3-8922153

Just a quick note in the end to mention that the Reserve has received a prize from the National Wildlife Federation (for extraordinary achievements in international conservation).


*All image identified with (Madidi) are property of Madidi-Travel and have been used with permission.