The National Parks

Increasing numbers of travellers are coming to the Chiquitania not only for its historic Jesuit mission towns and as a gateway to the Pantanal and Brazil, but also for its national parks. While the Chiquitania may not seem as awe-inspiring as the Andes mountains of the altiplano, or the vast Amazonian jungles of the Beni or Pando Departments, it is every bit as fascinating to the naturalist, scientist, adventurer, and trekker, and is home to six protected areas, each of which has innumerable good reasons for visiting, ranging from prehistoric art to still-uncatalogued species of flora and fauna.

The lion's share of visitors go straight to northeastern Velasco Province, to the Parque Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado, for which there is an abundance of material on the Internet and in every Bolivia guide book. There's even a museum on it in Santa Cruz, the Museo de Historia Natural "Noel Kempff Mercado" (3.3366574), located on Avenida Irala 655 and open daily from 0800 to 1200 and again from 1500 to 1800.

It's easy to see why this place rocks. The park has one of the highest bio-diversity rates on earth; you'll likely see more types of wildlife there in a single week than you will almost anywhere else in a lifetime, and possibly discover a new species of two in the process. As with the Jesuit mission churches, UNESCO has declared the park a World Heritage Site. Why? You can read all about it (in rather dry terms) here. If you read Spanish, the best source is the NGO Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza Web site. (It has some English text, but not as regards the park.) There is also an outstanding non-profit group, Friends of the Noel Kempff Mercado Museum (or Fundación Amigos del Museo de Historia Natural Noell Kempff Mercado in Spanish), whose work you can read about in Spanish, and even support if you have the inclination.

N.B.: For directions to both Noel Kempff Mercado and San Matías (see next paragraph), check the page on San Ignacio de Velasco.

The other parks receive considerably fewer visitors, although the two Pantanal-based areas, the Área Natural de Manejo Integrado San Matías (in Angel Sandóval Province), and the Parque Nacional y Área Natural de Manejo Integrado Otuquis (in Germán Busch Province) are receiving more visitors nowadays. For an excellent overview of the Pantanal itself, visit the World Conference on Preservation and Sustainable Development in the Pantanal Web site.

Two important caveats: One, apart from Noel Kempff Mercado, none of these parks have much of an infrastructure as yet. You won't find anyone selling raspadillas or guide books. In fact, you probably won't find anyone, period (including park wardens). Sadly, most of the parks include áreas naturales de manejo integrado, a clever designation concocted by the Bolivian government under intense pressure from loggers and ranchers, which permits people to live on the periphery of the park and carry on environmentally devastating activities. If you do come across other humans within the confines of the parks, they're more likely to be foreigners than Bolivians. It isn't that Bolivians don't appreciate their natural heritage. They certainly do, and they interact with it much more than does the average tourist at home. But for most Bolivians, a trek to a distant park doesn't make much sense when one factors in the cost of transport and the fact that much of the fauna and flora can just as easily be seen closer to home.

The second point is that with the exception of Santa Cruz la Vieja, these parks are remote...with a capital R. You can get to the entrances easily enough, but once you're inside, it's another world. If you like finding places on your own and don't mind challenges, like no signs, roads, or means of contact with the outside world; no food or water except what you bring or find; and in the case of Kaa-Iya (whose official, Spanish-only Web site is here), the remote but still real possibility that you may not come back - these final frontiers are a dream come true. If you want all mod cons and w.c.s along the way, you're in the wrong country.

For those interested in learning more about these beautiful places and what is being done to support them, do check the Web sites of Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza above, as well as La Fundación para el Desarrollo del Sistema Nacional de Areas Protegidas (FUNDESNAP).

There is a high likelihood that in the next few years there will be several new parks and otherwise (theoretically) protected areas in the Chiquitania and elsewhere in Bolivia. The issue is a hotly contested one in political circles due to the impact this would have upon indigenous groups (possibly beneficial, as with Kaa-Iya) and logging interests (possibly negative). In fact, the actual number of protected areas within Bolivia vacilates with alarming frequency, which is to say that what is an área protegida one year may be downsized the next to an área natural de manejo integrado, or even taken off the list altogether. For a reasonably accurate look at what territories in Bolivia currently are considered as áreas protegidas by Servicio Nacional de Áreas Protegidas (SERNAP, the official agency charged with oversight of most of Bolivia's protected lands), download the map here.

Área Natural de Manejo Integrado San Matías	Noel Kempff Mercado National Park

Several tour operators offer trips to these places; you'll find plenty of them touting their skills in La Paz and Santa Cruz and all over the Internet (some of the better ones are included below and in the Links page on this site). Very few of these tour groups operate outside of major Bolivian cities, and none are based in the Chiquitania, although you sometimes can locate a good guide or small-time outfit through the local alcaldía or - if the town has one - oficina de turismo.

If you're travelling with a multi-lingual group, note that Ruta Verde is unique amongst operators in that they offer tours in English, and also Dutch and Spanish. They have an excellent appreciation for the still-pristine environments for which they organise and lead tours, and are amongst the best of the ecologically sound agencies out there.

Other consistently recommended, English-speaking travel agencies, strong on ecological awareness and offering reasonable packages include (in Santa Cruz; many also have offices abroad and/or in La Paz): Anavin Travel; Forest Tour Operator; Fremen Tours; Magri Turismo; Rosario Tours; Tiluchi Tours; Travel Center Anavin; Turismo Balas; Uimpex Travel; and Vicuñita Tours.

The old dictum applies with any of these groups: As with any transaction where you're entrusting your wallet and well-being to someone else, just make sure you know exactly what you're getting before you hand over your plastic or paper!

There are at present five parques nacionales and one reserva de vida silvestre (wildlife reserve) that lie either wholly or partially within the Chiquitania. One begins to sense just how large the region is by the size of its parks: With the exception of Santa Cruz la Vieja, these are enormous by anyone's standards. Kaa-Iya, for example, is the largest in the country, continent, and entire hemisphere, and Otuquis isn't far behind it. The table below gives the key facts of each. There is much information available on these protected regions now available online, albeit mostly in Spanish. The external links selected below are only one each of several sources.

Note that each supposedly requires an entrance fee, which varies from about US$1.00 in the case of Santa Cruz la Vieja to upwards of US$30.00 for Noel Kempff Mercado (which also requires that you be accompanied by a guide). In practice, however, given the size of and multiple entrances to most of these areas - and their lack of personnel - few visitors pay anything at all.

Two essential resources when considering the national parks of the region (and for that matter, all of Bolivia) are the Bolivia National Parks map (2nd ed., 2000) by Liam O'Brien, and Footprint Books' Bolivia (4th ed., 2004). Footprint is without a doubt the best source for accurate information, and also puts out first-rate guides to every country in South America (and elsewhere), should your travel plans include other destinations. If you're serious about spending some time in Bolivia and can't locate the O'Brien map, a large selection of vaguely accurate ones is available at Maps 2 Anywhere. In the USA, MAPSCO also can locate most Bolivian maps with advance notice.

Don't leave home without it.

Want an idea of what the flora and fauna are like in many Bolivian parks? Check out the Yvaga Guazú Ecological Park Web site (which incidentally also happens to be one of the best-designed Web sites in Bolivia). The park itself (whose name means "Grand Paradise" in Guaraní) is located in Santa Cruz, on the Carretera Doble Via La Guardia at the 12.5 km mark. (Call them if you need directions: 3.3575789.) This ecological gem is a good introduction to what you can expect to find in the parks. It has knowledgeable tour guides, a huge array of plants and wildlife, and is wholly committed to responsible eco-tourism. It is a first-rate learning experience, and the next best thing to actually heading off to one of the national parks. If you're in Santa Cruz, do not miss out on this experience.

If you're hanging about the city a bit longer, you also could check out the new Biocentro Güembé across the river in the Los Batos neighbourhood, home to a lovely orchid garden and the largest butterfly farm in the country. Much of what you'll see here is a preview of what the Chiquitania holds, in a beautiful but decidedly more sanitised environment.

The National Parks of the Chiquitania

Note that the Reserva de Vida Silvestre Ríos Blanco y Negro is in a state of disuetude at the moment and organised trips there are not currently available. On the other hand, plans may be afoot to carve out another national park, Parque Nacional Lomerío, which would encompass parts of Chiquitos, Germán Busch, and possibly Angel Sandóval Provinces.